56: We Learn to be Great Leaders Through Hardship and a Curiosity Mindset w/ Carrie Cahill

Carrie Cahill shares her background in HR and executive coaching, highlighting the importance of leadership development through hardship. She emphasizes the need for leaders to be able to operate effectively in adversity and to have a curiosity mindset. She also discusses the gap between being a great manager and a true strategist, and the importance of teaching people how to lead. Cahill suggests that leaders should have someone in their corner who can provide honest feedback and help them break the dialogue with their ego. She also emphasizes the need for organizations to focus on developing leaders and creating a culture that values leadership development. The conversation explores the dynamics between immediate supervisors and leaders two levels up in a hierarchical organization. They discuss the importance of having a supportive immediate supervisor who can be a mentor and friend, as well as the role of leaders two levels up in providing guidance and discipline. They also touch on the concept of the Peter Principle, where individuals are promoted to positions of incompetence, and the need for leaders to develop their people and evaluate them for roles before promoting them. The conversation emphasizes the importance of having hard conversations, establishing trust and respect, and focusing on confidence, competence, character, and commitment as key qualities of effective leaders.

Carrie's Website and best contact:
Compassnorthcoaching.com 

Follow the Podcast @nolimitsleadership

Leaders learn to be good leaders through hardship and operating in adversity.

Leaders need to have a curiosity mindset and be willing to learn and adapt.

There is a gap between being a great manager and a true strategist, and leaders need to learn how to lead and create strategy.

Having someone in your corner who can provide honest feedback is crucial for personal and professional growth.

Organizations need to focus on developing leaders and creating a culture that values leadership development. The immediate supervisor should be a supportive mentor and friend to their subordinates.

Leaders two levels up have the role of providing guidance and discipline.

Leaders should develop and evaluate their people for roles before promoting them.

Hard conversations are necessary for growth and improvement.

Trust and respect are more important than being liked as a leader.

Effective leaders exhibit confidence, competence, character, and commitment.

"We learned to be good leaders through hardship."

"Leaders need to have a curiosity mindset."

"There is a gap between being a great manager and a true strategist."

"Your immediate supervisor is like, that's the person you have free conversations with. Like that's the person that's your friend, that's your developer, that's your buddy, that's your mentor."

No Limit Leadership is the go-to podcast for growth-minded executives, middle managers, and team leaders who want more than surface-level leadership advice. Hosted by executive coach and former Special Forces commander Sean Patton, this show dives deep into modern leadership, self-leadership, and the real-world strategies that build high-performing teams. Whether you're focused on leadership development, building a coaching culture, improving leadership communication, or strengthening team accountability, each episode equips you with actionable insights to unlock leadership potential across your organization. From designing onboarding systems that retain talent to asking better questions that drive clarity and impact, No Limit Leadership helps you lead yourself first so you can lead others better. If you're ready to create a culture of ownership, resilience, and results, this leadership podcast is for you.