🔥 5 Minutes of Leadership Fuel
✉️ This post is part of The 5-Minute Mentor — my weekly leadership newsletter. If you’d like to get it delivered straight to your inbox, click here to subscribe.
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🫶 A Dose of Inspiration
“Freedom lies in being bold.”
— Robert Frost
Mediocrity rarely announces itself. It arrives quietly… as the safe option, the way it’s always been done, the choice that won’t ruffle anyone.
Bold is the decision to not go there. It’s not recklessness… it’s the refusal to let “fine” be the ceiling.
The leaders who create something remarkable aren’t more courageous by accident. They choose it, on purpose, again and again.
📥 Download the quote graphic to use in your next staff email or meeting.
🤓 A Dose of Learning
An easy trap to fall into as leaders: we treat joy and seriousness like they’re a fork in the road. You either lead a fun, human, energizing culture… or you’re rigorous, disciplined, and serious about the mission. Pick one.
This week convinced me all over again that the best leaders refuse the choice. It’s not joy or the mission. It’s joy and the mission. And often, the joy is exactly what makes the serious work sustainable… and remarkable.
I landed here after listening to Robert Glazer interview Jesse Cole, the founder of the Savannah Bananas, on the Elevate Podcast. If you don’t know the Bananas, picture a sold-out stadium, a yellow-tuxedoed owner, choreographed dance numbers, and a waiting list for tickets most sports teams only dream of. It would be easy to write Jesse off as the fun guy. That would be a mistake. Underneath the spectacle is an extremely disciplined leader.
Three things resonated with me.
🔭 He refuses to lead from inside his own bubble. Jesse doesn’t study other baseball owners. He studies Disney. P.T. Barnum. Cirque du Soleil. Anyone, in any field, who has ever created a truly remarkable experience. His best ideas don’t come from the people doing exactly what he does… they come from the greats doing something entirely different.
I’ve believed this for a long time. For years, I’ve studied leaders outside my own field of education, gaining from their wisdom and translating it to my world.
The invitation here is simple: whose brilliance are you learning from that has nothing to do with your industry?
🗺️ He treats clarity as an act of care. For years, Jesse’s outside hires kept struggling. His first instinct was that he’d picked the wrong people. The truth was harder… he hadn’t been clear enough up front. So he built something he calls a VCE – Vision, Challenges, Expectations. Before he ever brings someone on, he writes out where they’re headed, exactly how hard it’s going to be, and what he expects. He’ll look a candidate in the eye and tell them clearly what their commitment will demand.
This is the co-creation principle I come back to again and again: the invitation only works when the leader also supplies the vision, the constraints, and a real picture of what great looks like. Clarity up front is purpose and humanity in action.
🔄 He built a culture where failure is safe to name. After every single game, Jesse’s team runs what they call an LCP – Learn, Change, Plus. They walk through what happened, moment by moment, and ask how to make it better. And the rule that makes it work is one every leader should steal: they criticize ideas, not people. They ask why something didn’t work… never who decided it.
The “Plus” is my favorite part, and Jesse credits Walt Disney for it. Walt believed Disneyland was never finished… you never stop enhancing the show. So Jesse’s team doesn’t just fix what broke. They ask how to make the good moments even better, every time. That’s continuous improvement with joy baked into it.
Here’s what ties it together for me. None of Jesse’s discipline reads as heavy, because he’s willing to be bold… to be misunderstood, to make small bets and learn in public, to take the mission seriously without ever letting it feel joyless. That’s the “genius of and” in action.
Take your work seriously. And seriously enjoy doing it. #ohyeah
🎧 You can hear the whole conversation here: The Elevate Podcast: Savannah Bananas Owner Jesse Cole On Changing The World Of Sports
🎯 A Dose of Action
This week, catch yourself in the moment you’d normally treat joy and mission as a trade-off… the meeting focused on a current challenge, the deadline that’s approaching, the day that feels extra heavy.
Then ask: what would it look like to hold both right here? Not joy instead of the work. Joy inside it.
Do one small thing to intentionally invite joy along. Not as a reward at the finish line… woven into the work itself. A fun song to open up the meeting, a moment of connection and play, a bit of celebration mid-stream.
Then tell your team why. Say plainly that taking the mission seriously and enjoying the work aren’t competing… they’re what make each other sustainable and better. Because the people you lead take their cue on what’s “allowed” from what you model.
And if you want an easy place to start… scroll to the PS at the bottom of this email. Every week, I close with something that has nothing to do with leadership, just a little levity and laughter to end on. That’s me practicing this on purpose. Borrow the idea (and feel free to use any of my PS’s): end your next staff email with a bit of lightness that has nothing to do with the work. It’s a small, low-risk way to tell your people that joy is welcome here too by inviting a bit of laughter into their day.
You got this. Let’s lead with belief.
In your corner,
Melody
Founder, Culture of Belief
PS: Spoiler alert… 🚂😅
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