March 5, 2025 • 12 mins
Episode Title: "Stop Chaos Before It Starts: The Leader’s Playbook"
Host: Colby Morris
Episode Overview
Chaos doesn’t have to define your leadership. In this episode, Colby Morris turns Jocko Willink’s chaos-detachment mindset into a proactive game plan. Learn three practical tools—clear expectations, extreme ownership, and relentless communication—to build a team culture that stops mayhem in its tracks. Packed with real-world stories and steps you can use today, this is leadership made simple.
Key Topics: Leadership strategies, chaos-resistant culture, team clarity, ownership, communication
Listen Now!
Available on your favorite podcast platform—search "Things Leaders Do" and hit play!
Key Takeaways
- Set Clear Expectations: Use Role Clarity Conversations to wipe out confusion and keep chaos away.
- Build Ownership: Teach your team to ask, “What can I own?”—it’s the ultimate chaos-stopper.
- Communicate Relentlessly: Run a 10-minute Daily Huddle to keep your team synced and surprises at zero.
Listener Challenge: Try one tool this week—like the Daily Huddle—and let me know how it goes on LinkedIn!
Episode Highlights
- Colby shares how a team turned chaos into calm by asking, “What’s your top three?”—a simple fix with big impact.
- Inspired by Extreme Ownership, hear about a project manager who saved a deadline by stepping up when it wasn’t “his job.”
- The Daily Huddle in action: Colby contrasts a CEO’s launch flop with a team that nailed it through daily syncs.
- A final nudge: Pick one tool and run with it—plus, a hint about next week’s episode!
Resources Mentioned
- Book: Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink
- Connect with Colby: LinkedIn Profile –
- (https://www.linkedin.com/in/colbymorris/)
- Book Colby for keynotes, workshops, and coaching.
- (nxtstepadvisors.com)
Why You’ll Love This Episode
Overwhelmed by team chaos? Colby Morris, COO and leadership expert, breaks down three tools—clarity, ownership, and communication—to stop mayhem before it starts. From a team turnaround to a deadline-saving win, this episode delivers real examples and a clear plan to lead with less stress. Perfect for new managers or seasoned pros.
SEO Keywords: Leadership in chaos, proactive culture building, team clarity, ownership, communication strategies
Get Involved
- Share Your Story: Have a chaos tale? Connect or message on LinkedIn—it could feature next time!
- Rate & Review: Loved it? Drop a 5-star review on your podcast platform—it helps us reach more leaders.
- Connect: Share your favorite tool with #ThingsLeadersDo and tag @ColbyMorris.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Things Leaders Do, the podcast that
uncovers the secrets of becomingan extraordinary leader.
If you're a leader who'sconstantly seeking growth,
inspiration and tangible ways tolevel up your leadership, then
you've come to the right place.
Remember, the world needsexceptional leaders, and that
leader is you.
Now here's your host, colbyMorris.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hey leaders, welcome back to the TLD podcast.
Who am I?
I'm Colby Morris, your host andfellow leadership traveler.
If you're new here, here's thequick rundown.
I've been in the game fromgrinding out on the front lines
to steering the ship from theexecutive suite.
My mission To hand you toolsthat make you better, make you a
(00:55):
better leader, that make you abetter, faster leader, starting
right now.
No fluff, just stuff you canuse now.
No fluff, just stuff you canuse.
Today.
We're diving into chaos becauseif you've led for more than a
hot minute, you've felt itcreeping in.
This week's not about justsurviving chaos, though.
(01:15):
It's about building a cultureso rock solid that chaos doesn't
even get a foothold.
I kicked off on LinkedIn thisweek with a gem from Jocko
Willink, retired Navy SEAL.
He was the co-author of ExtremeOwnership.
He said Spot on is actuallyhappening.
(01:46):
Spot on, jocko.
Detaching is critical when thestorm hits, but here's the twist
.
What if we didn't have to dealwith so much chaos to begin with
?
What if we could forge a teamculture so tight, so aligned,
that chaos barely gets a chanceto breathe?
That's where we're going todayThree tools to create a
(02:08):
chaos-resistant culture.
Let's roll.
Tool number one.
Set clear expectations from dayone.
Here's why it works.
Chaos thrives in confusion.
When people don't know what'sexpected, they guess they wing
(02:29):
it, and that's when things startto spiral.
Clear expectations, man.
They're like.
That's like spraying chaos,repellent all over your team.
Here's how to do it.
I want you to kick off a roleclarity conversation for every
team member.
Lay it out this way One, whatsuccess looks like in their role
(02:53):
.
Two, their top three priorities.
Keep it tight like no laundrylist here.
And then three, how their workties into the bigger mission.
Do this on day one and thenrevisit it every quarter to keep
it fresh.
(03:14):
Let me take you back to a timewhen I inherited a team that was
pure chaos.
Picture this Everyone's busy,right, but nothing's moving
forward.
Projects are stalled, stress issky high.
I'm sitting there thinking do Ijust start barking orders to
(03:34):
stop the bleeding?
But I didn't.
Instead, I pulled each personaside for a role clarity
conversation.
I'd ask what do you think yourtop three priorities are?
Half the time, their answersdidn't even match what I needed.
One guy, great worker, totalhustle thought his gig was
(03:56):
answering customer emails allday.
Turns out he was hired to leadproduct demos.
No wonder clients were startingto ghost us.
Then there was Sarah.
She was drowning in admin tasksspreadsheets, follow-ups, you
name it.
I sat her down and said yourrole is to own client onboarding
(04:17):
, not chase paper trails.
We reset her priorities.
She started actually delegatingand within a month our
onboarding process andonboarding times dropped by 30%,
she told me later.
I just didn't realize how muchI was spinning my wheels until
it got clear.
(04:37):
That's the power of clarity, see.
It's not just about tellingpeople what to do, it's about
freeing them to do what matters.
Chaos didn't stand a chanceafter that.
So think about your team.
When's the last time youchecked their priorities?
Clarity is your first shield.
(04:57):
You need to wield it All right.
Tool number two build a cultureof ownership.
Here's why it works.
Jocko's extreme ownership,that's not just a buzzword, it's
a chaos assassin.
When everyone owns their pieceof the puzzle, problems don't
(05:21):
fester, they get fixed.
Chaos doesn't spread whenpeople step up.
Okay, so here's how you do it.
First, train your team to askthis question what can I own
here?
And they do that every timesomething hits the fan.
Two celebrate the ones who stepup, even if it's not in their
(05:47):
job description.
Maybe I should say, especiallyif it's not in their job
description.
And then three show them howit's done.
Own your wins and yourscrew-ups in front of everyone.
Here's a story for you.
A few years back I had aproject manager named Mike Solid
guy.
(06:07):
He was always on it.
One day he gets cc'd on anemail about a project Not his
project, but one that's clearlyslipping.
The deadline's looming and theteam's just dropping the ball.
Most people would have shruggedand just said you know, not my
circus, not my monkeys, but notMike.
He pings me and said hey, thislooks off track.
(06:31):
Want me to jump in?
I said, go for it.
So he rounds up, the team,rejigs some priorities and we
hit the deadline with hours tospare.
That's ownership.
It's seeing a fire and grabbingthe extinguisher, no questions
asked.
But I have seen the oppositetoo.
(06:51):
I worked with a marketing leadonce who tanked a campaign,
wrong messaging, missed targets,the works.
It was bad.
When I asked what happened, shesaid that's not my job, I just
follow the brief Cue the chaos,finger pointing, blown deadlines
(07:12):
and a client who bailed.
The team scrambled for weeks torecover and morale took a
serious nosedive.
Ownership could have stoppedthat train wreck dead.
It's not about taking blame,it's about taking charge.
Mike showed me what a culture ofownership looks like.
(07:32):
Imagine if every person on yourteam thought like that.
Chaos wouldn't know where tostart.
So ask yourself who's owningthe chaos on your team right now
?
All right.
Tool number three communicate.
Like your life depends on it.
(07:53):
Silence breeds chaos.
I'm going to say that one moretime.
Silence breeds chaos.
When info doesn't flow, peopleguess they freak out or they
check out Over.
Communicate and you keepeveryone locked in.
No room for mayhem.
(08:14):
And, by the way, there's reallyno such thing as
over-communication.
Here's how I want you to do it.
I want you to launch a dailyhuddle.
10 minutes standing up, nononsense.
Everyone answers Okay.
Three questions What'd you doyesterday, what's on deck today
(08:35):
and do you have any roadblocks?
Just keep it crisp.
Make it daily and you will seeyour team sync up like cockwork.
I once consulted for a CEO whoseteam botched a product launch
literally so bad it was almostcomical.
Well, if it weren't so painful,here's what happened Engineers
(08:56):
were grinding on one feature,but marketing was hyping a
totally different one.
And sales?
They had no clue what to pitch.
Why?
Because no one talked.
Assumptions just piled up,wires got crossed and, yes,
chaos took over.
The launch flopped.
(09:16):
They spent weeks cleaning upthe mess.
I asked the CEO how often doyou check in as a team?
He said we have a big meetingevery month.
A month, that's an eternity inleadership time.
Contrast that, with the team Iled later, we were drowning in
(09:38):
long, pointless meetings, hourslost and still no one knew the
plan.
So I scrapped it all andstarted a 10-minute daily huddle
.
Day one people grumbled thisfeels like micromanaging.
By day five they were hooked.
One engineer said I didn'trealize how much I needed to
(10:03):
know what marketing was up to.
Roadblocks got flagged early,like when our designer was stuck
waiting on specs.
We fixed that fast.
Within a week we were movinglike a unit.
No chaos in sight.
It's really simple Talk more,flail, less.
Could Huddle save your teamfrom the next meltdown?
(10:24):
I bet it could.
So let's put it all together.
Let's circle back to Jocko'swisdom here.
Detaching from chaos to makeclear calls is a must-have skill
.
But why stop at playing defense?
Build a culture where chaosdoesn't even get in the door.
All right, recap time.
(10:47):
Tool one set clear expectations.
Those role clarityconversations.
They kill confusion.
Tool number two fosterownership.
Get your team asking what can Iown?
And tool number threecommunicate relentlessly, daily
(11:07):
huddles, keep everyone aligned.
All right, I want you to pickone.
Start this week, start today,Start tomorrow, but pick one and
start this week and watch theshift.
Your team will run smoother,and chaos It'll have to find
another playground.
Hey, if this fired you up andyou want more, I am here to help
(11:31):
.
I speak at conventions, I runworkshops and even hop on Zoom
calls with teams who arewrestling chaos to the ground.
Want to build yourchaos-resistant culture together
.
You can find me on LinkedIn oryou can find me on my webpage,
nextstepadvisorscom.
Again, next has no E, just NXTnextstepadvisorscom.
(11:51):
And we can make it happen thisweek.
Pick one tool maybe that dailyhuddle and test it out.
Chaos doesn't wait, so whyshould you?
If this hit home, hit,subscribe, share it with a
leader who may be in the thickof it and drop me a note on
LinkedIn.
That's in the show notes.
(12:13):
I want to hear how you'rekicking chaos to the curb.
Until next time, lead withpurpose and kill that chaos.
And you know why?
Because those are the thingsthat leaders do.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Thank you for listening to Things Leaders Do.
If you're looking for more tipson how to be a better leader,
be sure to subscribe to thepodcast and listen to next
week's episode.
Until next time, keep workingon being a better leader by
doing the things that leaders do.
Welcome to Things Leaders Do, the podcast that
uncovers the secrets of becomingan extraordinary leader.
If you're a leader who'sconstantly seeking growth,
inspiration and tangible ways tolevel up your leadership, then
you've come to the right place.
Remember, the world needsexceptional leaders, and that
leader is you.
Now here's your host, colbyMorris.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hey leaders, welcome back to the TLD podcast.
Who am I?
I'm Colby Morris, your host andfellow leadership traveler.
If you're new here, here's thequick rundown.
I've been in the game fromgrinding out on the front lines
to steering the ship from theexecutive suite.
My mission To hand you toolsthat make you better, make you a
(00:55):
better leader, that make you abetter, faster leader, starting
right now.
No fluff, just stuff you canuse now.
No fluff, just stuff you canuse.
Today.
We're diving into chaos becauseif you've led for more than a
hot minute, you've felt itcreeping in.
This week's not about justsurviving chaos, though.
(01:15):
It's about building a cultureso rock solid that chaos doesn't
even get a foothold.
I kicked off on LinkedIn thisweek with a gem from Jocko
Willink, retired Navy SEAL.
He was the co-author of ExtremeOwnership.
He said Spot on is actuallyhappening.
(01:46):
Spot on, jocko.
Detaching is critical when thestorm hits, but here's the twist
.
What if we didn't have to dealwith so much chaos to begin with
?
What if we could forge a teamculture so tight, so aligned,
that chaos barely gets a chanceto breathe?
That's where we're going todayThree tools to create a
(02:08):
chaos-resistant culture.
Let's roll.
Tool number one.
Set clear expectations from dayone.
Here's why it works.
Chaos thrives in confusion.
When people don't know what'sexpected, they guess they wing
(02:29):
it, and that's when things startto spiral.
Clear expectations, man.
They're like.
That's like spraying chaos,repellent all over your team.
Here's how to do it.
I want you to kick off a roleclarity conversation for every
team member.
Lay it out this way One, whatsuccess looks like in their role
(02:53):
.
Two, their top three priorities.
Keep it tight like no laundrylist here.
And then three, how their workties into the bigger mission.
Do this on day one and thenrevisit it every quarter to keep
it fresh.
(03:14):
Let me take you back to a timewhen I inherited a team that was
pure chaos.
Picture this Everyone's busy,right, but nothing's moving
forward.
Projects are stalled, stress issky high.
I'm sitting there thinking do Ijust start barking orders to
(03:34):
stop the bleeding?
But I didn't.
Instead, I pulled each personaside for a role clarity
conversation.
I'd ask what do you think yourtop three priorities are?
Half the time, their answersdidn't even match what I needed.
One guy, great worker, totalhustle thought his gig was
(03:56):
answering customer emails allday.
Turns out he was hired to leadproduct demos.
No wonder clients were startingto ghost us.
Then there was Sarah.
She was drowning in admin tasksspreadsheets, follow-ups, you
name it.
I sat her down and said yourrole is to own client onboarding
(04:17):
, not chase paper trails.
We reset her priorities.
She started actually delegatingand within a month our
onboarding process andonboarding times dropped by 30%,
she told me later.
I just didn't realize how muchI was spinning my wheels until
it got clear.
(04:37):
That's the power of clarity, see.
It's not just about tellingpeople what to do, it's about
freeing them to do what matters.
Chaos didn't stand a chanceafter that.
So think about your team.
When's the last time youchecked their priorities?
Clarity is your first shield.
(04:57):
You need to wield it All right.
Tool number two build a cultureof ownership.
Here's why it works.
Jocko's extreme ownership,that's not just a buzzword, it's
a chaos assassin.
When everyone owns their pieceof the puzzle, problems don't
(05:21):
fester, they get fixed.
Chaos doesn't spread whenpeople step up.
Okay, so here's how you do it.
First, train your team to askthis question what can I own
here?
And they do that every timesomething hits the fan.
Two celebrate the ones who stepup, even if it's not in their
(05:47):
job description.
Maybe I should say, especiallyif it's not in their job
description.
And then three show them howit's done.
Own your wins and yourscrew-ups in front of everyone.
Here's a story for you.
A few years back I had aproject manager named Mike Solid
guy.
(06:07):
He was always on it.
One day he gets cc'd on anemail about a project Not his
project, but one that's clearlyslipping.
The deadline's looming and theteam's just dropping the ball.
Most people would have shruggedand just said you know, not my
circus, not my monkeys, but notMike.
He pings me and said hey, thislooks off track.
(06:31):
Want me to jump in?
I said, go for it.
So he rounds up, the team,rejigs some priorities and we
hit the deadline with hours tospare.
That's ownership.
It's seeing a fire and grabbingthe extinguisher, no questions
asked.
But I have seen the oppositetoo.
(06:51):
I worked with a marketing leadonce who tanked a campaign,
wrong messaging, missed targets,the works.
It was bad.
When I asked what happened, shesaid that's not my job, I just
follow the brief Cue the chaos,finger pointing, blown deadlines
(07:12):
and a client who bailed.
The team scrambled for weeks torecover and morale took a
serious nosedive.
Ownership could have stoppedthat train wreck dead.
It's not about taking blame,it's about taking charge.
Mike showed me what a culture ofownership looks like.
(07:32):
Imagine if every person on yourteam thought like that.
Chaos wouldn't know where tostart.
So ask yourself who's owningthe chaos on your team right now
?
All right.
Tool number three communicate.
Like your life depends on it.
(07:53):
Silence breeds chaos.
I'm going to say that one moretime.
Silence breeds chaos.
When info doesn't flow, peopleguess they freak out or they
check out Over.
Communicate and you keepeveryone locked in.
No room for mayhem.
(08:14):
And, by the way, there's reallyno such thing as
over-communication.
Here's how I want you to do it.
I want you to launch a dailyhuddle.
10 minutes standing up, nononsense.
Everyone answers Okay.
Three questions What'd you doyesterday, what's on deck today
(08:35):
and do you have any roadblocks?
Just keep it crisp.
Make it daily and you will seeyour team sync up like cockwork.
I once consulted for a CEO whoseteam botched a product launch
literally so bad it was almostcomical.
Well, if it weren't so painful,here's what happened Engineers
(08:56):
were grinding on one feature,but marketing was hyping a
totally different one.
And sales?
They had no clue what to pitch.
Why?
Because no one talked.
Assumptions just piled up,wires got crossed and, yes,
chaos took over.
The launch flopped.
(09:16):
They spent weeks cleaning upthe mess.
I asked the CEO how often doyou check in as a team?
He said we have a big meetingevery month.
A month, that's an eternity inleadership time.
Contrast that, with the team Iled later, we were drowning in
(09:38):
long, pointless meetings, hourslost and still no one knew the
plan.
So I scrapped it all andstarted a 10-minute daily huddle
.
Day one people grumbled thisfeels like micromanaging.
By day five they were hooked.
One engineer said I didn'trealize how much I needed to
(10:03):
know what marketing was up to.
Roadblocks got flagged early,like when our designer was stuck
waiting on specs.
We fixed that fast.
Within a week we were movinglike a unit.
No chaos in sight.
It's really simple Talk more,flail, less.
Could Huddle save your teamfrom the next meltdown?
(10:24):
I bet it could.
So let's put it all together.
Let's circle back to Jocko'swisdom here.
Detaching from chaos to makeclear calls is a must-have skill
.
But why stop at playing defense?
Build a culture where chaosdoesn't even get in the door.
All right, recap time.
(10:47):
Tool one set clear expectations.
Those role clarityconversations.
They kill confusion.
Tool number two fosterownership.
Get your team asking what can Iown?
And tool number threecommunicate relentlessly, daily
(11:07):
huddles, keep everyone aligned.
All right, I want you to pickone.
Start this week, start today,Start tomorrow, but pick one and
start this week and watch theshift.
Your team will run smoother,and chaos It'll have to find
another playground.
Hey, if this fired you up andyou want more, I am here to help
(11:31):
.
I speak at conventions, I runworkshops and even hop on Zoom
calls with teams who arewrestling chaos to the ground.
Want to build yourchaos-resistant culture together
.
You can find me on LinkedIn oryou can find me on my webpage,
nextstepadvisorscom.
Again, next has no E, just NXTnextstepadvisorscom.
(11:51):
And we can make it happen thisweek.
Pick one tool maybe that dailyhuddle and test it out.
Chaos doesn't wait, so whyshould you?
If this hit home, hit,subscribe, share it with a
leader who may be in the thickof it and drop me a note on
LinkedIn.
That's in the show notes.
(12:13):
I want to hear how you'rekicking chaos to the curb.
Until next time, lead withpurpose and kill that chaos.
And you know why?
Because those are the thingsthat leaders do.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Thank you for listening to Things Leaders Do.
If you're looking for more tipson how to be a better leader,
be sure to subscribe to thepodcast and listen to next
week's episode.
Until next time, keep workingon being a better leader by
doing the things that leaders do.
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