Leveraging the Existential Angst of AI
My client got there first. I'd been linked into AI since 2022, but he'd started using it more deeply in the development of his second business. He’s optimistic and tolerant of risk, built a business at a young age, sold it, and tends to eschew easy answers or...
How to Assess Experts
I was unconscious when he introduced me. January 2025: “This is Dr. Tricia Groff. She is a business psychologist. Her goals are to hike, run, go shopping, and attend festivals with her friends.” September 2025: 7-month surgery follow-up Tricia: "Dr. A, it’s okay if...
Leadership Communication: Interacting with AI is Revealing My Growth Edges
I’m working on an app using AI. My commitment to using artificial intelligence comes from a deep-seated belief that the only way I can truly understand the challenges and the opportunities it poses, is by using it. Little did I know that the process would highlight...
Using Artificial Intelligence to Optimize Decision-Making
It’s Monday. If you're like me, sometimes you're excited, and sometimes you want to pull the covers back over your head and stay in bed. Sometimes, it's because you didn't catch a break on the weekend, and you feel hurled into the week whether you're ready or not. At...
How to Cope with Disappointing People
"I just don't want to disappoint people," she said. I have heard this statement numerous times from leaders at all levels. What I know now is that for some of us, disappointing people feels like a hard stop, a death of sorts. Sometimes, it feels like the end of a...
Am I Wasting My Life If I Retire at 40?
“Am I wasting my life if I retire at 40?” I heard the angst in his voice, and I wanted to hug him. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard about the uncertainty and isolation of business success. I have a habit of writing about what I hear behind the scenes so that people...
Analytical and Intuitive Decision-Making: Understanding how intuition works for better decision-making, risk-mitigation, and relational genius.
I didn't debate the executive's dismissal of intuitive decision-making as he stated that his company uses objective standards for assessing new hires. He was proud about the metrics and noted that “we don’t put much weight on gut feelings.” I could have argued that...
Clear the Cache; Delete the Code – Make Your Effort Count. Optimizing high-achieving mindsets and organizational change principles to get the results you want
High-Achievers, Organizations, and Websites All Run on Code I rebuilt my website. (Why would I not have someone else do it? Some people like football; some people like knitting; I like technology). Back to the point. When building websites, there is a process through...
Human Due Diligence in Hiring: How ChatGPT Applicant Answers Saved Time in My Interviewing Process
The epiphany happened on Indeed. I specialize in human due diligence, so I set up my interviewing process as I’d advise my clients to do—get as much information as possible to screen people out
The Rights of a Business Owner
The personal rights of a business owner are rarely discussed. Business owners with high-achieving personality styles have something in common. They are very responsible and they care a lot. Sometimes the caring combined with the heightened sense of responsibility...
Common Hiring Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
How to Avoid Common Hiring Mistakes Everyone wants to get great employees. Hiring the right people grows a company, creates a sustainable culture, and allows an organization to execute its vision. The path to success, however, usually comes from a string of...
Straight-Up Encouragement: Can You Still Kill Snakes?
“Can you still kill snakes?” I asked him. My client is transitioning from a difficult, lucrative, and “secure” business into building another one. We assessed his skill sets, emotional fortitude, and possible trajectories
Dealing with a Difficult Board Member
Are you dealing with a difficult or toxic board member? It’s the person who expects his opinion and vast experience to outweigh everyone else’s voice. Or maybe the one who seems bent on creating drama and cannot be trusted to be straightforward in
Co-Founder Relationships – How to Win
He is the big picture thinker, with grand ideas, fantastic people skills, and the focus of a squirrel. She is detail-oriented, precise, and has an optimized system for…everything. She complains that she is tired of planning
My People Have Arrived! A Warm Welcome to Gen Z
When I was 12 years old, my father and I talked about jobs as we headed out of the grocery store. I was making the point that I wanted to work at a job I liked. He informed me that every job would have
When a Colleague Dies
returned the call, expecting that the team needed me to help with an internal dilemma of some type. Instead, I learned that my client had died.
Early in my career, multiple well-intended professionals told me not to care too much about my clients.
Workplace Languages of Appreciation: A High ROI, Low-Cost Method of Employee Retention
“I don’t need gift cards or a new grill. I don’t even need a lot of praise. I’d just like to feel appreciated now and then. The money is good, but if I found a similar position with a better culture, I’d leave in a heartbeat.” I’ve heard the above statements from many
Every Day Feels Like Ground Hog Day
First, let me explain the cultural reference. Groundhog’s Day is a terrible movie in which the main character has to repeat his day over and over again. I remember throwing a tantrum when I watched it because of the utter insanity of watching
Who Keeps You Awake at Night? – Letting Go of Customers, Employees, and Opportunities
My heart still hurts a little when I think about it. It’s easier to break up when someone or something is all bad. In this case, I saw so much potential in both the person and the organization. There was an opportunity to create
Yup, You are Probably Normal – Encouragement for High Achievers
You have been kicking ass–managing businesses (or waiting to manage them), trying to lead well, engaging with crazy work dynamics or simply trying not to kill your spouses, whom you love so much. Many of you have asked me about intermittent lulls in energy and motivation.
Managing Leadership Anxiety – Staying Calm for Yourself and Your Teams
“Whose anxiety, Tricia? My own or the employees?” Both. You are trying to respond to their anxiety while managing your own tough decisions.
Viral Anxiety: How to Avoid Contamination
I had one goal this week—to buffer myself against the fear mongering around me and maintain focus for the clients who needed to make tough business decisions
Barrett Jackson Car Values – Lessons in Confidence for High Achievers
It was my first time at the Barrett-Jackson collector car auction. I watched in fascination as each car came up the ramp and the bidding began. One of my clients had
I Want Men in the Room
This week I reached out to a tech investment forum to inquire about an event. I received a response which said: “this event is closed to non-members, but here is the information for a women’s event you may want
How to Fire – Encouragement for Leaders Who Need to Make the Tough Call
Firing people is one of the highest sources of stress that my owners and executives encounter. Let me remind you why firing people is necessary. Then I’ll include suggestions and comments from people who have been fired.
Emotional Engagement for Leaders – “You’re Going to Hate This”
It is the one statement my clients do not want to hear. “You’re going to hate this.” Newer clients look surprised when I say it. Ongoing
Terminated? – Encouragement for Executives Who Find Themselves Released From Employment
Fired. Released. Dismissed. Terminated. Expendable. Not Valuable. Unimportant. Confused. Angry. Lost. You feel like you just got
Coping with Incompetence – Using Frustration to Fuel Your Performance
I remember a particularly frustrating brush with incompetence in my PhD program. The assignment started out as just another step in compiling
Leadership, Failure, Movies, and a Broken Nose
I was flying home from a leadership conference. The man beside me was a veteran and was gradually building both his skill set and his network so that he could lead his own business.
Data Lost
Data Lost - The Mistake We Make When Assessing Our Productivity It's easy to be lopsided and inaccurate when we do a productivity assessment. Last night, my friend said, “it was a ‘hilly day’. I spent 45 minutes thinking about what went wrong so that I wouldn’t repeat...
Struggling to Win
“make forceful or violent efforts to get free of restraint or constriction.” Client: “Dr. Tricia—I should have figured this out by now. I own a successful company. I’m smart. Why is it so hard? I feel like something is wrong with me.”
Choosing Your Emotional Nutrition
Emotional nutrition. Last night, I thought about the power we have over what we feed our emotions. Here is the backstory. Last Night's Emotional Nutrition TRIUMPH. She had decided that deafness would not define her future. From the ashes of losing the life she’d...
GPS
I like to move fast. My clients prefer the speed of light. The irony in the discipline of reflection is that slowing down allows you to speed up. We have no way to learn from our mistakes, gauge our progress, or ensure that we are headed in the right direction unless...
Private Victory, Silent Triumph
Personal discipline is a private victory. It happens behind the scenes, where no one is watching. Sometimes, no one will ever know about the decisions that foster success. The truth is, most of the super-difficult choices we make are deep on the inside. Sometimes they...
Psychological Strategy: Resolving Roadblocks to Success
I remember sitting in a mastermind entrepreneur group, listening to a business made with a great idea. There was a market, a painpoint, low start-up costs, and the ability to evolve with fairly low risk. Several of his colleagues even direct contacts, experience, and...
Honoring Grief, Permission and Death – Choices and Hope for the Holidays and Beyond
Each November and December, I find myself in the center of two conversations: setting boundaries and dealing with death. The themes haven’t changed since I was 25 years old. Now, I help people navigate the timelines of year-end close on financials instead of turning...
Recent Posts
Leveraging the Existential Angst of AI
My client got there first. I'd been linked into AI since 2022, but he'd started using it more deeply in the development of his second business. He’s optimistic and tolerant of risk, built a business at a young age, sold it, and tends to eschew easy answers or...
How to Assess Experts
I was unconscious when he introduced me. January 2025: “This is Dr. Tricia Groff. She is a business psychologist. Her goals are to hike, run, go shopping, and attend festivals with her friends.” September 2025: 7-month surgery follow-up Tricia: "Dr. A, it’s okay if...
Leadership Communication: Interacting with AI is Revealing My Growth Edges
I’m working on an app using AI. My commitment to using artificial intelligence comes from a deep-seated belief that the only way I can truly understand the challenges and the opportunities it poses, is by using it. Little did I know that the process would highlight...
Using Artificial Intelligence to Optimize Decision-Making
It’s Monday. If you're like me, sometimes you're excited, and sometimes you want to pull the covers back over your head and stay in bed. Sometimes, it's because you didn't catch a break on the weekend, and you feel hurled into the week whether you're ready or not. At...
How to Cope with Disappointing People
"I just don't want to disappoint people," she said. I have heard this statement numerous times from leaders at all levels. What I know now is that for some of us, disappointing people feels like a hard stop, a death of sorts. Sometimes, it feels like the end of a...