Wendy McManus – Connect 2 Potential

“Stop agreeing with me.” How to use AI as a real thinking partner

You’re probably getting the message from every direction: use AI. Use it for strategy. Use it for communication. Use it to think through your toughest decisions. The pressure is real. And honestly? So is the potential. But here’s the thing nobody is talking about: the way most of us default to using AI doesn’t make…

“I Should Have Seen This Coming.” There’s a Tool for That.

Does this story ring any bells for you? Tony* came to me after a reorganization that had gone sideways in almost every direction. The intention behind it was sound. His sales and marketing teams were operating in silos — not coordinating, not communicating, and sometimes working at cross-purposes without even realizing it. Something had to…

Why We Give Friends Better Advice

Your best friend is sitting across from you, sipping a coffee. They’re stuck. They have a difficult decision to make, and don’t know what to do. So they ask you for advice. What do you do? Most likely, you’ve been waiting for them to ask. You’ve got all kinds of opinions to share. You’ve probably…

Take Off the Bias Blindfold To Make Better Decisions

We’ve all done it: Made a decision that seemed like the best choice at the time, only to watch things go wayyyy off the rails. You start to get that sinking feeling in your stomach, that tightness in your shoulders, that inner critic yelling in your ear. You wonder, “What could I have done differently?”…

All Decisions are NOT Equal

How many hours did you spend making decisions this week!? And don’t just count the hours at work! Be sure to count the time you spent making dinner while distracted, or prepping for a meeting while thinking of a separate problem, or spending time with your family while comparing scenarios in the back of your…

Learning from Your Wins

Most of us intuitively know there is much to learn from the past. As Winston Churchill famously said, “The longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward.” But in practice? We tend to oversimplify. We equate “learning from the past” to “learning from our mistakes.” Those two are NOT the same! Believe…

73% of Managers are Disengaged

Ever wonder why performance fluctuates widely from one workgroup to another? Even if team members have similar skillsets? It has WAY more to do with managers than you probably realized. Take five different people with the same skillset, stick them under five different managers, and you will see drastically different outcomes. Gallup has the data,…

You’re a Time-traveling Wizard

This time of year, it seems like every newsletter, article, and social post is about reviewing 2025 and setting goals for 2026… …mine included. (I mean, just last week I wrapped up a 3-part series to guide you through a year-end/year-beginning retreat.) And don’t get me wrong; these reflections can be very, very helpful. But…

Plan, Not Panic – New Year, New Vision

Happy New Year! Are we thinking, “What am I doing…I’m already behind…I need to get my act together!!!” Or are we thinking, “I’m so excited, let’s get started.” I’m shooting for the second one. Are you with me? A few weeks ago, I invited you to join me in following the year-end process that I…

5 Minutes, 20 Ideas – Let’s Have Some Fun Today

For the past couple weeks, I’ve invited you into the review process that my coach friend and I use for our year-end retreat. We do all the steps in a day, but I’ve been breaking it down into bite-sized installments so you can follow along: This week I was going to do Step 3: Plan…but…