Finding Balance with Mark Metze

The Agile Within

Have you ever felt like you're constantly over-correcting?
Maybe one day you're doing too much for your team, becoming the bottleneck rather than the enabler. The next, you swing too far toward directing rather than guiding. I visualize this struggle as an old-fashioned gold scale—add a little too much weight to either side, and the whole thing crashes to the ground.
Through years of inspecting and adapting, I've developed five practical steps that have transformed my approach to leadership and life. These aren't theoretical concepts but battle-tested practices: learning to listen between the lines, asking questions that create safety rather than defensiveness, gathering feedback from multiple angles, embracing the experimental mindset, and maintaining momentum through continuous improvement.
The most powerful transformation came when I began using the phrase "I'm asking, not telling" during team discussions. This simple clarification created a ripple effect, changing not just how my team received my questions but how they communicated with each other. Similarly, framing decisions as experiments removed the paralyzing pressure of perfectionism, allowing us all to embrace the mantra "sometimes you win, sometimes you LEARN."
Ready to find your own balance? Join me in this episode where vulnerability meets practical wisdom. You can find The Agile Within on your favorite podcast app. Links to listen to this episode will also be added to the comments.
Connect with Mark on LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/in/markmetze
Listen to Tesla's song "Gettin' Better":
https://youtu.be/uee-aYUA0u4

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Chapters

1. Introduction and Sponsor Message (00:00:00)

2. The Challenge of Finding Balance (00:01:40)

3. Five Steps to Finding Middle Ground (00:04:26)

4. The Experimental Mindset (00:09:30)

5. Conclusion and Final Thoughts (00:10:12)