10x Your Team with Cam & Otis
How can you unlock your team’s untapped potential? Learn how to maximize your team’s performance from leaders who have really done it. From veterans, researchers, and high-powered entrepreneurs to pro athletes and CEOs of multi-million-dollar companies. Cam and Otis go through each guest’s story to pull the leadership lessons that they learned along the way. This father-son business podcast takes the philosophy of lifelong learning and applies it to leadership to help you learn how to lead a high-performing team. Otis is a former Green Beret and currently coaches high-performing business owners and their leadership teams, helping them implement Green Beret leadership principles in their business to 10x their staff. Camden is an entrepreneur and coaches rugby at the developmental and collegiate levels, and he coaches college athletes through the transition to life after sports. With two different generational and professional perspectives, the father-son co-hosts mix old-school wisdom with new ideas, which creates a unique dialogue with the guests. This show is made for lifelong learners who want to solve problems and make an impact!
10x Your Team with Cam & Otis
"Meets Expectations" Should Be a Celebration, Not an Insult - Maren Perry | 10x Your Team Ep #487
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Maren Perry reveals why most leaders are "optimistically naive" about their team's friction-and how to move from avoiding difficult conversations to building a culture of continuous "work-ons."
If you've ever felt like your team offsite was a "one-and-done" event that changed nothing, this conversation is for you. Maren Perry, Founder and CEO of Arden Coaching, joins Cam and Otis to break down the "discovery process" that reveals what's actually happening in your organization. From the staggering gap in self-awareness to the "inflation" of performance reviews, Maren shares how to measure the soft skills that actually drive results.
In this episode, you'll discover:
• The "Optimistically Naive" Leader - Why leaders often ignore body language and team friction, hoping it will just "work itself out" (17:32)
• The Self-Awareness Gap - Why 85% of people believe they are self-aware while only 10-15% actually are- and what that means for your leadership (38:48)
• Measuring Soft Skills - How to turn vague values like "transparency" into concrete, measurable behaviors and KPIs (22:09)
• The Feedback Disconnect - Why employees are starving for honest feedback while leaders are too uncomfortable to give it (30:50)
• Offsites That Actually Work - Why the "Moses coming down from the mountain" approach fails and how to ensure retreat lessons stick (11:24)
• The "Work-On" Culture - Borrowing from the rugby world to make continuous improvement a disarming, weekly habit rather than a scary annual event (45:22)
About Maren Perry: Maren Perry is the Founder and CEO of Arden Coaching, a leadership development firm specializing in turning technically brilliant people into high-performing leaders. With a background in cognitive science and thousands of coaching hours, Maren helps mid-market companies deliver serious leadership development across their entire employee pipeline.
Are you leading the team you think you are, or the one that actually exists? Hit play to learn how to close the gap through better discovery and honest feedback.
Chapters with Timestamps and Descriptions
00:00 — Introduction: Problems, Dryers, and Action Bias
• Otis and Cam discuss the "knucklehead" urge to fix things immediately
• Maren joins the conversation to discuss the balance between action and planning
• The "Pace" planning model: Why having options is the key to empowered leadership
09:32 — The Truth About Executive Offsites
• Why offsites are underutilized and often poorly executed
• The "Moses" problem: Why plans shouldn't just sit on a shelf after the retreat
• The necessity of an outside facilitator to allow the leader to actually listen
13:16 — The Discovery Process: Finding the "Real Deal"
• Why the leader is often the last to know the real issues on the team
• Using interviews to identify "oil and water" dynamics before the meeting starts
• Challenging leaders: "Who are you being that people don't tell you the truth?"
20:36 — Measuring the "Unmeasurable" Soft Skills
• How to turn "meaningless" wall values into a functional scoreboard
• Breaking down "transparency" and "respect" into trackable behaviors
• Why the conversation around the number matters more than the number itself
30:50 — The Feedback Disconnect and Organizational Courage
• Why leaders avoid difficult conversations to protect their own comfort
• The data shows employees want constructive feedback more than no feedback at all
• How "optimistic naivety" prevents leaders from seeing performance gaps
37:44 — The Self-Awareness Gap and Performance Inflation
• The "Lake Wobegon" effect: Why everyone thinks they are above average
• Why "Meets Expectations" has become an insult instead of a success
• How to handle the reactivity that comes with honest performance ratings
45:22 — Creating a Culture of "Work-Ons"
• Moving from annual evaluations to weekly developmental conversations
• How the rugby concept of "work-ons" disarms the fear of feedback
• Final takeaways: Using data as an access to options, not a way to shirk responsibility
49:20 — Closing and Resources
• Where to find Maren Perry and Arden Coaching
• Final thoughts on rugby, dryers, and executive teams
• How to follow 10x Your Team for more leadership insights
Connect with Maren Perry:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marenperry/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/arden-coaching/
https://www.facebook.com/ardencoaching/
https://www.instagram.com/arden.coaching/
https://www.youtube.com/@Ardencoaching
https://ardencoaching.com/