464. AMMA — Why “Potential” Is The Biggest Trap For Growing Firms

The Game Changing Attorney Podcast with Michael Mogill

Michael Mogill

Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Business, Management

5.0 • 539 Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2026

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

At what point does believing in someone's potential stop being leadership and start being a liability? In this episode of The Game Changing Attorney Podcast, Michael and Jessica Mogill answer three listener questions about one of the hardest tensions in leadership: the gap between what you see in your people and what they actually deliver. They walk through how to handle a high-talent, low-output team member, how to recognize when a long-tenured leader has plateaued, and whether the popular idea of "unlimited potential" actually holds up. Believing in your team is valuable, but does it replace standards and results? Here’s what you’ll learn: Why potential without performance becomes a liability, and how to set objective criteria before emotion drives the decision How to know when a team member has hit their ceiling and what to do about it without losing empathy Why "unlimited potential" is a myth, and what a leader can actually be responsible for You can want it for them all day long. If they don't want it for themselves, nothing you do will matter. (00:00:00) Introduction (00:04:12) Earning the Right to Live a Little (00:05:37) Q1: Talent vs. Output (00:08:32) Potential Is Secondary to Performance (00:09:47) The Outside-In Perspective Test (00:10:50) Q2: Has He Hit His Ceiling? (00:11:35) What Got You Here Won't Get You There (00:14:24) Ceilings Aren't Failures (00:15:23) Q3: Does Everyone Have Unlimited Potential? (00:17:03) A Leader Removes Barriers (00:20:48) Closing ---- Links & Resources: No Rules Rules by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer DreamHack Atlanta LeBron James Michael Jordan Kobe Bryant Gordon Ramsay ---- Learn what sustainable growth can look like for your firm at crispcoach.com. ---- Do you love this podcast and want to see more game changing content? Subscribe to our YouTube channel. ---- Past guests on The Game Changing Attorney Podcast include David Goggins, John Morgan, Alex Hormozi, Randi McGinn, Kim Scott, Chris Voss, Kevin O’Leary, Laura Wasser, John Maxwell, Mark Lanier, Robert Greene, and many more. ---- If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like: 359. The Ultimate Guide to Retaining Top Talent 313. A-Player Attractors - Winning With Who: Cultivating a Winning Team 207. Patty McCord - How to Build a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility

Transcript

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0:00.0	I certainly think people can always grow and improve their skills and improve their capabilities,
0:06.0	but they're going to hit a ceiling at some point.
0:09.0	And I believe that if you truly have offered this person, the resources, the support, the training, etc.
0:14.0	It is on them to be able to expand their capabilities.
0:16.0	It is not on you.
0:24.6	I'm Michael Logel, founder and CEO of Crisp, the nation's number one law from growth company.
0:29.2	I've built my business through practice, not theory.
0:32.1	Crisp started with just $500 to my name and has grown to over eight figures in revenue
0:35.9	over the last few years, earning a spot on the Inc 500 list of the fastest growing private companies in America.
0:41.6	Our approach has been to take everything we've learned about generating massive growth
0:45.1	within our own organization and help the country's most ambitious and committed law firm owners
0:49.2	do the same for theirs.
0:50.6	In each episode of this podcast, I sit down with innovative market leaders from the legal industry and beyond
0:55.4	to learn from those who thrive in the face of adversity, challenge the status quo, and define what it means to be a true game changer.
1:02.9	This is Jessica, head of coaching strategy at crisp, and today we're flipping the script for another special edition episode to get Michael's take on,
1:11.4	managing the gap between an employee's raw talent and actual execution, the struggle of moving on from
1:16.8	a team member who helped build the organization, and the philosophical debate of whether
1:21.1	people can actually be coached to a high level.
1:23.9	I believe that everybody can be a better version of themselves and everybody can get better. Do I believe that everybody can be a better version of themselves and everybody can get better.
1:28.9	Do I believe that everybody can be elite at the top 1% of their field?
1:33.3	No, absolutely not.
1:35.4	That's coming up on the Game Changing Attorney podcast.
	...

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