The personal trainer

19 February 2026

There’s a lot written about supportive leadership. Psychological safety. Fail fast. Flexibility. No micromanagement. Softly-softly leadership.    All of this matters, but.....

Somewhere along the way, many leaders have quietly lost sight of something just as important:

👉 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺.

Not a comfortable team.
Not a busy team.
A team that delivers results 𝗮𝗻𝗱 grows capability.

Those two ideas are not in conflict. They’re inseparable.

Psychological safety doesn’t mean low standards.
Tolerance of mistakes doesn’t mean tolerance of mediocrity.
Empathy doesn’t mean accepting someone not giving their best.

In fact, the real responsibility of a leader is this:

👉 𝗧𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳.

Think personal trainer.

A good PT is supportive.

They care about injuries, recovery, energy levels.
They adjust when life happens.

But they also push.
They hold the line on effort.
They don’t accept “that’ll do”.

Because they know something the client doesn’t yet know:

"If I hold you to a higher standard today,
you'll rise to it tomorrow."

Great leaders do the same.

They create safe environments 𝗮𝗻𝗱 make expectations unmistakably clear.
They support people 𝗮𝗻𝗱 refuse to lower the bar.
They tolerate learning mistakes 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲.

That’s how people grow.
That’s how teams perform.
That’s how cultures compound.

Supportive leadership isn’t the opposite of high performance.

It’s how you build it.

Written by Jonathan Stern
ICF Certified Coach | Gallup CliftonStrengths Certified | Former MuleSoft ANZ Leader
I coach high-potential leaders and high-potential scale-ups.
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