Noble Metal Blog | Iridium Leadership | Helping leaders and their teams achieve positive, sustainable change in themselves and their professional relationships.

Mar 15

Natural Leaders: Spoiler Alert – They Constantly Work At It

They’re out there, natural leaders, that is. These are people who make leadership seem as easy and ordinary as riding a bike. They have a measured way about them and just seem, intuitively, to know what to do and how to do it. A Lunch Meeting I happened to have... read more →

Apr 29

Conflict Isn’t the Problem — It’s a Signal the System Is Alive

Conflict tends to get a pretty terrible reputation. Most of us hear the word and immediately think problem, failure, or at least a very uncomfortable conversation. In leadership settings especially, conflict is often treated as something to fix quickly or eliminate entirely. Bowen Family Systems Theory offers a different lens.... read more →

Mar 30

Togetherness: When Connection Helps—and When It Gets in the Way of Leadership

“When my leader’s not happy… no one’s happy.” Most people smile or cringe when they hear that sentence, but it captures something very real about how leadership systems function. It points directly to what Murray Bowen called the togetherness force—a powerful and often underestimated dynamic in families, teams, and organizations.... read more →

Mar 09

Noble Metal Leadership: Why Grounded Leaders Stabilize Their Environments

Noble Metal Leadership: Why Grounded Leaders Stabilize Their Environments Leadership is often described in terms of skills, personality, or strategy. But underneath all of that is something more fundamental: how a leader shows up inside the system they are part of. No leader operates in isolation. Families are systems. Leadership... read more →

Feb 10

Welcome to Noble Metal: Leadership Through Bowen Family Systems Theory

Are you ready to rethink what it means to lead? What if your greatest impact as a leader isn’t just about your skills or personality, but about how you show up in the larger system around you? Discover how understanding the hidden dynamics of groups can transform your leadership, your... read more →

Feb 05

When Anxiety Runs the Show: Five Predictable Patterns in Teams and Families

One of the core assumptions of Bowen Family Systems Theory is simple but not always easy to live out: people do not function as isolated individuals. As John Donne said, “No man is an island.” We operate inside emotional systems—families, leadership teams, churches, and other groups. These systems carry tension... read more →

Dec 12

Mindset: Captive or Free?

Holiday Magic I love the holidays. And I got to do one of my favorite things last week – walk down Michigan Ave. in my new hometown of Chicago during a snowstorm. I’ve done it before, and it puts me in great spirits. I love the feeling when the glass... read more →

Nov 16

Own Your Performance Reviews

It’s that season again. And I’m not referring to the holidays! Performance reviews are here for many organizations. So, why is it so hard sometimes? It might be that: They take time, and I don’t have a lot of that. Top performers want feedback, and all I can think of... read more →

Oct 15

Why a Culture of Communication Starts at the Top

“We need to improve communication.” It’s a refrain we hear constantly, from large to even small organizations. But what does that really mean? Too often, the problem isn’t the message itself - it’s the lack of a clear framework for how communication should actually happen. Consider this example: a small... read more →

Sep 23

Why I Keep Studying Human Behavior (And Why It Matters in Our Work)

I’ve always considered myself a lifelong learner. If I could pay to go back to college just to sit in on lectures - any lectures - I would. There’s something deeply satisfying about learning for the sake of learning. It’s not just professional development; it’s personal curiosity. In our work... read more →

Aug 14

Leadership Ethics: Are There Natural Laws for How We Lead?

As leadership coaches, we often find ourselves sitting with questions that don’t have easy answers. One that continues to surface in our conversations is this: Are there natural laws - or even moral imperatives - that guide how we treat those we lead? It’s a question that feels especially relevant... read more →

Blog