Paul Zarou — Writing https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/ Notes on leadership, culture and resilience. en Telling someone they did not get the promotion https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/did-not-get-the-promotion https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/did-not-get-the-promotion Sun, 06 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT You chose someone else, and now you have to sit opposite the person who wanted it. What you say decides what they do next. You know something about their jobs that you cannot tell them https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/something-you-cannot-tell-them https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/something-you-cannot-tell-them Thu, 03 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT You are in the room where it is being discussed, and your team is asking you directly. Silence is not lying. You have lost the room and the meeting has forty minutes left https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/lost-the-room https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/lost-the-room Tue, 01 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT The room went cold and nobody said why. Getting it back starts with a smaller conversation than the one you are planning. Your strongest person is the last one you will check on https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/your-strongest-person https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/your-strongest-person Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT The person who never misses is the easiest to overlook, and the first signs that they are running empty show up in the work. Nobody is afraid of your standard https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/nobody-is-afraid-of-your-standard https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/nobody-is-afraid-of-your-standard Tue, 25 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT A high bar is not what makes people careful around you. Not knowing which version of you they will get is. The team you inherited has been fixed before https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/inheriting-a-struggling-team https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/inheriting-a-struggling-team Sun, 23 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT You were handed a team that is not working, and your first three ideas have probably already been tried here and dropped. You agreed to something you cannot deliver https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/saying-no-upward https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/saying-no-upward Thu, 20 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT You said yes to a date you knew was wrong. The way out is pricing the work rather than refusing it. Owning a mistake without handing over the room https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/owning-a-mistake https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/owning-a-mistake Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT You got a call wrong and your team already knows. Saying so plainly builds standing, provided you stop at the right point. The feedback conversation that went well and changed nothing https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/feedback-that-changed-nothing https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/feedback-that-changed-nothing Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT You were clear, they agreed, and six weeks later nothing has moved. The problem is usually not your delivery. Always being available is a decision you never made https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/always-available https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/always-available Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT You reply within minutes, at any hour, and call it service. Your team is learning something from it that you did not intend to teach. Managing someone who knows more than you do https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/managing-someone-who-knows-more https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/managing-someone-who-knows-more Sun, 09 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Someone on your team has been doing this far longer than you have, and is better at it. Your authority does not come from closing that gap. Promoting your best person is not automatically a reward https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/promoting-your-best-person https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/promoting-your-best-person Thu, 06 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Your strongest individual contributor is the obvious candidate for the manager job, and that is exactly why the promotion so often goes wrong. Carrying a decision you argued against https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/decision-you-argued-against https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/decision-you-argued-against Tue, 04 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT You lost the argument upstairs, and now you have to deliver the outcome to your team. How you do that is watched closely. Your team is having a second meeting without you https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/second-meeting https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/second-meeting Thu, 30 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT If the honest conversation only starts once you have left the room, the problem is not disloyalty. It is the room. Why you keep taking the work back https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/taking-the-work-back https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/taking-the-work-back Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Delegation rarely stalls because you are short of time. It stalls because handing work over means letting someone else risk your name. Optimism is not the same as pretending https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/optimism-is-not-pretending https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/optimism-is-not-pretending Thu, 23 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Forced positivity asks people to lie about how bad it is. Real optimism starts by admitting it, then looks for what can still be done. You can be right, or you can be listened to https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/right-or-effective https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/right-or-effective Tue, 21 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Being correct is not the same as being persuasive. The gap between them is where a lot of good ideas quietly die. What you walk past is what you've agreed to https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/what-you-walk-past https://coaching.grcsac.com/blog/what-you-walk-past Sun, 19 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Culture is not built in the offsite. It is built in the small moments a leader decides to say nothing.