Jackie Insinger - Spark Brilliance Spark Memos
Your weekly boost of practical leadership wisdom - rooted in neuroscience, backed by data, and crafted for real-world results. Each memo offers a spark of insight to help you lead with clarity, empathy, and purpose - especially when things get messy.
The hidden cost of a comfortable team
Engaged but not challenged isn’t success. It’s a ceiling you built without realizing it. Hey Spark Family, I worked with a leadership team a while back that had, by every visible measure, built something genuinely good. Low turnover. Solid engagement scores. A team that got along well, worked hard, and consistently delivered what was asked of them. The leader was proud of what they had built, and she had every reason to be. It had taken years of intention, trust, and real care. Then we dug a...
Are you moving fast, or moving forward?
Most leaders are moving faster than ever. That does not always mean they are making progress. Hey Spark Family, I was talking with a leader recently who said something I have heard in a dozen different ways this year. “We are moving so fast. I just don’t know if we are actually moving forward.” That sentence stayed with me because I think it names something many leaders are feeling, even if they have not said it out loud yet. Her team was not lazy. They were moving constantly. Meetings were...
The scripts that made you successful are often the exact ones keeping you stuck
The assumption that’s limiting your leadership Hey Spark Family, I’ve been thinking about a conversation I had with a leader who had built an exceptional career. He was decisive, direct, fast, and clear. He had a strong point of view on almost everything, and people found that confidence genuinely compelling. He got things done. He moved quickly through ambiguity. He was, by most measures, exactly the kind of leader organizations reward. And he was starting to hit a ceiling he could not quite...
What leaders get wrong about growing their people
What leaders get wrong about growing their people. Hey Spark Family, I once asked a leader how he invested in his team’s development. He had a good answer. He sent people to conferences. He approved training requests. He made sure everyone had a learning budget and encouraged them to use it. He was proud of that, and honestly, he should have been. A lot of leaders don’t even get that far. Then I talked to his team. They described a leader they respected. Someone fair, supportive, and...
The decisions that are slowing your team down
The decisions that are slowing your team down. Hey Spark Family, I was working with a senior leader recently who was genuinely frustrated by the pace of her organization. Not the people. She had strong people. Not the strategy. That was clear and compelling. Not the resources. The budget was there. It was something harder to name. Everything seemed to move through too many rooms before anything actually got decided. Good ideas were losing momentum somewhere between the people who had them and...
I almost rushed through one of the best months of my life
I almost rushed through one of the best months of my life Hey Spark Family, I’m writing this on the last day of April from yet another hotel room. My suitcase is open on the floor and somehow looks both half-packed and fully exploded. There is a room service tray outside my door that I meant to put out earlier, but forgot, and I have reached that very specific point in a travel stretch where I am no longer completely sure which bag has my charger, my dry shampoo, or the one pair of pants I...
The manager breakdown no one is addressing
More of your team is struggling than thriving. Hey Spark Family, I want to talk about the people in the middle. Not the executives setting direction. Not the individual contributors doing the day-to-day work. The managers. Team leads. Frontline leaders. The layer of leadership most responsible for turning executive priorities into daily reality. The people who translate strategy into real conversations and turn priorities into action. The ones catching issues early and holding standards...
More of your team is struggling than thriving
More of your team is struggling than thriving. Hey Spark Family, I want to share something with you that I don’t think is getting nearly enough attention. Not because it’s new, but because it just crossed a line we’ve never crossed before. Gallup has been tracking whether people are thriving or struggling for years. Through economic shifts, the pandemic, and everything in between, one thing held steady. More people were thriving than struggling. Until now. For the first time in Gallup’s...
You don’t need more time. You need this shift.
You don’t need more time. You need this shift. Hey Spark Family, I’ve sat across from a lot of senior leaders who are genuinely exceptional at their jobs. They’re strategic. Decisive. Fast. They deliver results, and in most cases, they care deeply about the people they lead. They think about their teams. They want to do right by them. But somewhere in the climb, a quiet shift often happens. The pressure to perform starts crowding out the space to connect. Conversations get shorter. Check-ins...
You think you’re holding high standards. Your team feels something else.
You think you’re holding high standards. Your team feels something else. Hey Spark Family, I sat with a leadership team recently that was genuinely proud of their culture, and they had every reason to be. They spoke about it with clarity and conviction. High standards. Clear expectations. No tolerance for mediocrity. People were held accountable, and results were consistently delivered. It was thoughtful, intentional, and, on the surface, exactly what you would want to see. Then I spent time...
Your weekly boost of practical leadership wisdom - rooted in neuroscience, backed by data, and crafted for real-world results. Each memo offers a spark of insight to help you lead with clarity, empathy, and purpose - especially when things get messy.