How do you make difficult decisions as a leader when your career, company, health, family, or future is at stake?
In this episode of Create the Future with Rick Williams Podcast, Mary Grothe shares the difficult leadership and life decisions that took her from burnout, relentless business success and a painful company exit to a new life built around faith, family, service, purpose and freedom.
Mary Grothe is the Founder & CEO of Sunday Salmon, a nonprofit in Castle Rock, Colorado, and the author of "Destination; Remarkable: Surviving the Dark Side of Success". She has built and scaled multiple companies, served as a chief revenue officer, and experienced firsthand the pressure that comes with high achievement and executive leadership.
Her story raises an important question for every leader: How do you know when it is time to make a difficult decision—and how do you make that decision wisely?
In this conversation, Mary explains the decision-making framework she now uses to evaluate difficult choices. She writes down the possible decisions, considers the potential short-term challenges and long-term outcomes, visualizes what life will look like after each decision, considers who else will be affected, and ultimately asks herself one critical question:
Does it give me peace?
Mary and Rick also explore the connection between leadership, burnout, personal identity, organizational responsibility and purpose. Mary shares why she believes leaders should not confuse who they are as individuals with their role as CEO or founder—and how building a strong leadership team helped her move away from carrying everything herself.
In this episode, you'll learn:
• How to make difficult decisions when the stakes are high
• A practical decision-making framework for leaders and CEOs
• How to evaluate the short-term challenges and long-term consequences of a decision
• Why leaders should visualize the possible outcomes before making a major decision
• How to recognize when success is coming at the expense of your well-being
• How burnout can force leaders to reconsider what success really means
• Why leaders should separate their personal identity from their company or job
• How trusted advisors, spouses and leadership teams can improve decision-making
• Why successful leaders don't try to make every decision alone
• How delegation and a strong leadership team can reduce executive burnout
• The role of faith, service and purpose in Mary's new leadership philosophy
• How difficult seasons can ultimately lead to personal growth and a more meaningful life
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About Mary Grothe:
Mary Grothe is a faith-based leader, Founder & CEO of Sunday Salmon, bestselling author, keynote speaker and host of the Fearless Faith Radio Show. Her work focuses on leadership, faith, purpose, personal growth and using marketplace talents in service to others.
Her book Destination; Remarkable: Surviving the Dark Side of Success explores the darker side of achievement and the journey toward a more meaningful definition of success.
Learn more about Mary Grothe:
https://www.marygrothe.com/
Connect with Mary on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marygrothe
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About Create the Future with Rick Williams Podcast:
Create the Future Podcast with Rick Williams is a leadership podcast about the decisions, experiences and lessons that shape leaders and organizations.
Rick Williams speaks with business leaders, entrepreneurs and other accomplished professionals about the difficult decisions they have faced—and what those decisions taught them about leadership, business, resilience and creating the future.
If you're a CEO, business owner, senior executive, entrepreneur or aspiring leader, subscribe to Create the Future Podcast with Rick Williams for conversations about making better decisions and becoming a more effective leader.
