Leadership State Of Mind

About Leadership State Of Mind

Through a combined 50+ years worth of leadership experience Armon and Tony share their expertise concerning every facet of leadership. The goal of this podcast is to help you become the best possible leader for the people you lead. The focus is to help you become a better person because through this process you will naturally become a better leader.

Publisher

Leadership State Of Mind

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

17 Feb 2023

Latest episode

8 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

29 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   8 Oct 2026

   You're Doing Too Much....and Making Your Team Weaker

   What if your constant involvement is making your team weaker?Leaders are often rewarded for visible activity: attending every meeting, answering every question, approving every decision, correcting every mistake, and staying later than everyone else. But being the busiest person in the room is not the same as being the most effective leader.In this episode of Leadership State of Mind, Armon Owens and Anthony “Tony” Amato examine why effective leadership often requires doing less; not caring less, lowering standards, or becoming passive, but doing less of the work your people should own so you can focus on the work only the leader can do.They explore the leadership philosophy of wu wei, the organizational lessons of The Goal and Team of Teams, and real experiences from submarine leadership where stepping away created ownership, confidence, and stronger future leaders.In this conversation:- Why being the smartest person in the room limits collective brilliance- How excuses quietly steal potential- What The Goal teaches about leaders becoming organizational constraints- Why your team should know what to do when you are not there- How seeking to understand can completely change a leadership interaction- Why visible activity is not the same as meaningful output- How constant involvement can prevent people from thinking and learning- When a leader should remain involved in non-negotiable areas- How to transfer principles without demanding that people copy your personality- Why recoverable failure can build more capability than immediate intervention- How doing less creates ownership- Why you do not receive a trophy for working sixteen hours- How clear systems and expectations create freedom- Why bandwidth gives leaders the clarity to respond when they are truly neededThe principle is simple:Do less of the work your people should own so you can do more of the work only the leader can do.Tell us in the comments: What are you still doing that someone on your team needs the opportunity to own?If this conversation challenged how you measure leadership, subscribe, share it with another leader, and join the Leadership State of Mind community.The Mindset. The Skills. The Next Level.

2. 

   23 Sept 2026

   YOU INHERITED THE MESS!! NOW WHAT?

   You do not get to choose what you inherit. You do get to choose what you do with it.Every leader eventually walks into something they did not create: a struggling team, a broken process, low morale, neglected training, poor performance, or a culture shaped by decisions made long before they arrived. The conditions may not be your fault—but once they are entrusted to you, what happens next becomes your responsibility.In this episode of Leadership State of Mind, Armon Owens and Anthony “Tony” Amato examine the difference between owning a position and stewarding it. Using Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz's assumption of command of the Pacific Fleet after Pearl Harbor as the central leadership case, they explore what it takes to inherit disruption without becoming trapped in blame.They also discuss:Why consistency beats last-minute intensityHow a leader's demeanor affects the people searching for feedbackWhy control is often an illusion—and why reality always winsHow to simplify your thinking when emotion distorts the signalThe relationship between stewardship, humility, failure, and graceWhy taking care of people does not mean making everything easyHow to be demanding without becoming demeaningThe three things every leader must steward: the environment, the people, and their influenceWhy your leadership should be measured by what you contribute, not what you accumulateThe challenge is simple: stop spending your energy explaining what happened before you arrived. Ask the question that moves the mission forward:What happens next—and what am I going to do about it?If this conversation sharpened your thinking, subscribe, share the episode with a leader who has inherited a difficult situation, and tell us in the comments: What have you been entrusted to make better?Follow Leadership State of Mind on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, and LinkedIn for practical leadership conversations designed to help you change the way you think, lead with greater clarity, and build stronger people and teams.#Leadership #Stewardship #LeadershipDevelopment #OrganizationalCulture #Accountability #TeamBuilding #MilitaryLeadership #Management #PersonalGrowth

3. 

   23 Sept 2026

   Not Every Door Is Yours: The Leadership Skill Nobody Talks About

   What separates a leader who is constantly busy from one who is actually effective?Discernment.Leadership constantly puts something in front of you demanding your attention: a problem, an email, a conflict, an opportunity, somebody else's emergency, or a decision that supposedly needs to be made right now.But not everything deserves the same response.And not every door is yours to walk through.In this episode of Leadership State of Mind, Armon and Anthony break down one of the most overlooked leadership skills: discernment, the ability to see beyond the obvious, separate emotion from truth, distinguish what matters from what doesn't, and respond with the appropriate level of action.Because when leaders can't discern, the consequences show up everywhere:False urgency.Micromanagement.Burnout.Busy work.Poor prioritization.Reactive decision-making.Exhausted teams.And leaders spending enormous amounts of energy solving the wrong problems.We also introduce a simple framework you can immediately put into practice:SEE CLEARLYGather the facts before forming conclusions.THINK DEEPLYConsider the real problem and the second- and third-order effects of your decisions.ACT WISELYChoose the response that aligns with your values and the situation, not simply your emotions.LEAD CONSISTENTLYTurn discernment into a repeatable discipline your people can trust.We also get into:• Why everything becomes an emergency when leaders lack discernment• The relationship between discernment and burnout• Why micromanagement can actually be a failure of perception• Separating disagreement from disrespect• Distinguishing compassion from enabling• Why leaders need to ask, “What do I know to be true?”• The danger of confusing movement with progress• The “minimum effective dose” of leadership• Why understanding should come before effort• How graceful reflection can make you a better leader• The three-minute morning reflection• How leaders create stability when everyone else is reacting• Why your response should change based on what the situation actually requiresAnd we leave you with one idea:Good leaders know what to do. Great leaders know what NOT to do. Discernment is the difference.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

10,287

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

6 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

7 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 44 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

36

Social presence

0

YouTube

76

Engagement

51