klaas.

Lessons in leadership and life.

Essays on leading people with kindness, building teams that win, and living with purpose.

Featured · Career

Show Up, Shut Up, & Speak Up

What Bill Parcells can teach the rest of us about being in the room, and knowing when to talk.

Read the essay

All essays

Life

It's a Wonderful Life... even when it's not

There might be be more famous lines from the excellent script of 'It's a Wonderful Life', but I find no more memorable nor poignant reference to the hidden danger…

Leadership

On Strength & Strategy: A-Rod, the Greeks, & Achilles’ Connection

Four plays into the 2023 season, the New York Jets' greatest weakness was once again exposed for the world to see and it might just be the best thing that ever…

Career

I'm not scared to fail: Rickie Fowler and redefining failure

'I'm not scared to fail' said Rickie Fowler, former #4 player in the world, winner of 8 international events (5 on the PGA Tour), 45 Top 5 finishes, 15 second place…

Teams & culture

Done Different is Forward Thinking

It’s easy to get trapped in the woulda, coulda, shoulda's of life, especially when times don’t go as we would have hoped.

Life

Lessons from Lasso: feelings and friendship, leadership and life

'Feelings get you stuck, but feelings also set you free.

Life

Are you giving way to your anxiety?

I believe I'm a fairly even keeled individual.

Leadership

The Recipe for A+ Leadership: authority + access

The moment you take on a leadership position, you are granted two unique powers: AUTHORITY and ACCESS.

Career

Just Keep Swimming: Finding Nemo; Lessons for Life during Layoffs

In the month of November alone, over 46,000 people lost their jobs.

Career

Why you should start your job search now: Even if you have a job

Add another item to the list of things you should have started…yesterday.

Teams & culture

Kissing Frogs: 4 Reasons Great Talent Fails

Before I know it, my kids will be dating and I know that at some point, they're going to bring home a 'bad seed' or as my wife and I may try to more politely…

Career

What's your Call Sign: Lincoln, Maverick, Impostor Syndrome

In 1859, Abraham Lincoln was brought to Milwaukee, Wisconsin by the State Agricultural Society to give a speech on agriculture.

Leadership

The Foundation of Humble Leadership

Search for 'Humble Leadership' in Google and you'll pull 29MM hits.

Leadership

Performance Boosting Superfood: Feedback vs. Advice

There's an old saying, 'advice is easy to give but hard to take.' Which may lead one to then believe that if advice is so easily cast around and the ability to…

Teams & culture

Breaking Cultures of Losing: Lessons from Rodgers and Stafford

Last weekend‘s divisional round of the 2021 NFL playoffs was wildly entertaining.

Teams & culture

Plymouth, Pilgrims, and Pipe Dreams...the cost of change

As we sit on the eve of Thanksgiving, ready to consume ourselves with Turkey and Pie, we can just as easily consume ourselves with the amount of opinions on the…

Career

You're No Tom Brady: Reframing your professional decline

The average age of an NFL player is 26 years old.

Teams & culture

3 Signs Your Culture is Sinking

Spend enough time on the water and eventually you'll experience sinking.

Leadership

Your Ego Needs 4 Mentors

Long before the movement of the dark complicated superheroes of today's cinema there was the purity of Superman, built for the idealist, the role-model for young…

Teams & culture

How Kid Rock & Kind Leadership Get Results in Pipeline Reviews

It’s the end of the month, you’re just off pace for your quota, and you have your 1:1 with your manager.

Leadership

The Root of Effective Leadership

We confuse authority with leadership: 'I have power, therefore I lead, therefore others will be led'.

Leadership

What humble leadership REALLY looks like

The terms servant and humble leadership are thrown around so casually we can miss their true purpose or fail to recognize it when we see it.

New essays, in your inbox.

Whenever there's something worth saying.