Why is your team moving fast but staying stuck?
Modern Mentor
Macmillan Holdings, LLC
4.3 • 726 Ratings
🗓️ 27 January 2026
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
881. We’re all under pressure to move faster, ship earlier, and do more. But as Rachel Cooke explains this week, "speed" often looks a lot more like chaos when the foundation isn't there. If your team is missing deadlines or burning out, the issue probably isn't a lack of effort—it's a lack of the "unsexy" structure that makes agility possible.
Rachel looks at how to spot the difference between true agility and "panic with better marketing." She shares how to talk to leaders about conflicting priorities, how to stop casual executive brainstorming from turning into accidental team directives, and why establishing operating rhythms is the only way to kill the constant "fire drill" culture.
Modern Mentor is hosted by Rachel Cooke. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, it's Rachel Cook, your modern mentor. I'm the founder of Lead Above Noise, where we help teams work better by design. We deliver the tools and frameworks to help ensure work is productive, profitable, and energizing for the human spirit. I would love to come speak at your next event or offsite to deliver the clarity, confidence, |
| 0:37.8 | and tools your leaders need to bring this shift to life. |
| 0:41.5 | Reach out today at leadabovenoise.com slash connect. |
| 0:45.6 | So would you like a peek into the reality that seems to be triggering about 80% of the |
| 0:50.7 | conversations I'm having with clients right now? |
| 0:53.4 | It sounds something like this. |
| 0:55.7 | Our teams are not moving as fast as we need them to, and we don't understand why or how to |
| 1:00.7 | solve the problem. |
| 1:02.0 | Does this feel at all like your workplace? |
| 1:04.7 | Everyone's pushing for more speed. |
| 1:06.8 | Do more with less. |
| 1:07.9 | Move faster. |
| 1:08.6 | Ship it yesterday. |
| 1:10.4 | People are breaking down. Deadlines are being |
| 1:12.5 | missed. Balls are getting dropped. And teams are feeling stuck between a rock and a hard place. |
| 1:18.9 | They can't afford to slow down because the pressure is relentless. And they can't afford not to |
| 1:24.6 | because they're burning out. They're making mistakes, having to redo work, |
| 1:28.9 | and they're losing trust in leadership. The problem isn't the desire for speed. The problem is |
| 1:34.9 | we're chasing speed without the structure that makes it possible. Like, have you ever watched |
| 1:40.7 | a professional basketball game? It looks effortless. |
| 1:48.3 | Everyone's moving, no one's hesitating, pure speed and agility. |
| 1:55.2 | But what we don't see, it's all the countless hours spent on the most boring drills ever to build the fundamental skills. |
... |
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