You're Not Behind, You're Just Running Too Fast: Why Pace Determines Leadership Impact (Copy)

Feb 19

Reading time: 6-8 minutes

Quick Summary

Communication is leadership—you can't lead effectively without communicating well
The Think, Feel, Do framework: ask what you want your audience to think, feel, and do before you communicate
Most leaders think about what they want to say, not what their audience needs to hear
Bad meetings happen because of bad preparation—no clear plan for think, feel, do
The deepest human need is to be appreciated—great leaders make people feel seen
Energy is vital: if you want your team at 95%, you better show up at 100%

At H2 Leadership, we believe that healthy, high-impact leaders are built through intentionality—in how they lead themselves, how they relate to their teams, and how they communicate their vision.

We've seen this pattern hundreds of times: leaders who are gifted strategically, who care deeply about their mission, who work incredibly hard—but who struggle because they haven't mastered communication. They're working harder, not smarter. And their teams feel it.

That's why we were eager to sit down with Andy Freed, founder and CEO of Virtual, who works with some of the world's largest companies—Google, Meta, Microsoft, Visa, MasterCard. But Andy's also done something else 95 times: he's seen Bruce Springsteen live in concert. And somewhere along the way, he realized something profound about leadership.

There's a Reason They Call Him "The Boss"

It's not just because Bruce Springsteen can put on a three-hour show at age 75. It's because he understands how to prepare, how to energize a team, how to make every person feel valued, and how to communicate in a way that creates loyalty and longevity.

Andy's new book, Lead Like the Boss, unpacks what leaders can learn from watching the Boss work. In our conversation, he broke down the frameworks and mindset shifts that separate great communicators from mediocre ones.

Communication Is Leadership

Andy's foundational belief is one we share deeply:

You cannot be an effective leader without the ability to communicate well.

Too many leaders try to lead by authority or title. But that's not leadership. That's positional power. And it doesn't make people want to follow you.

"To get people to want to follow, you've got to be able to communicate with them well."

Communication is a skill you can learn and hone. But it requires intentionality.

When Bruce gets on stage, he doesn't hope for the best and start playing. There's a plan. What he's playing, how he's playing it, how he's performing—it's all carefully thought out.

The #1 Communication Mistake

The biggest mistake Andy sees? Leaders think about themselves, not their audience.

They think about what they want to say, not what the audience needs to hear. They show up with PowerPoint slides but are completely disconnected from what the audience needs.

This is where Andy's Think, Feel, Do framework comes in to play.

The Think, Feel, Do Framework

Before you walk into a meeting or send an email, ask yourself three questions:

1. What do I want my audience to THINK?

This is the message. The core idea. What do you want them to understand by the end?

Here's a test: if someone misses this meeting and asks someone who was there, "What happened?"—what do you want that person to say?

If the answer is "just the usual," that's not a good meeting.

2. What do I want my audience to FEEL?

This is where many leaders check out. They think feelings aren't their business.

But if you don't consider your audience's feelings, they might not be in a position to hear you. They might have emotional blockers that keep them from receiving what you're communicating.

Think about Bruce's set list. He wants to start big—give the audience their money's worth in the first five minutes. Then he creates moments where they sing along, moments where they're quiet and reflective.

He's thinking about how he wants them to feel. And through it all, there's a story he's weaving.

3. What do I want my audience to DO?

This is the explicit action step. Now that they've heard this, what do you want them to do?

Make it explicit. Don't leave it ambiguous.

Why Most Meetings Are Terrible

Bad meetings start with bad preparation—people haven't thought about what they want their audience to think, feel, and do.

Andy put it perfectly: Most leaders approach meetings like the Grateful Dead. They just go out there and see what happens.

The Grateful Dead could do that. Most managers can't.

We're having meetings with no plan. There's a PowerPoint, which Andy calls "the karaoke track of business,” where someone does a dramatic reading of slides you might have already seen.

That is not a good use of time.

So often, meetings are about the slides, not about the topic.

The Deepest Human Need

One of our favorite moments in the conversation was when Andy brought up William James:

The deepest human need is the need to be appreciated.

Deeper than hunger. Deeper than intimacy. Deeper than money.

Now relate that to Bruce Springsteen.

At the very end of every show, Bruce retreats to the back of the stage and shakes the hand of everyone in the band. He thanks them for putting on a great show.

These aren't just the guys he's been playing with since 1973. It's also people who just joined the tour.

Every one of them gets a thank you, a handshake, a hug.

When they talk about it, they say: "For 10 seconds every night, Bruce Springsteen makes me feel like the most important musician on the face of the earth."

"Isn't that what we're supposed to be doing as leaders?"

If you make people feel appreciated and seen, that's where loyalty and longevity come from.

Every Moment Is a Performance

One of the most convicting things Andy said:

"As a leader, every moment is a performance."

Bruce understands this. How he comes up the stairs matters. How he walks to the microphone matters. People are watching.

By the same token, if you're in a meeting and you start looking at your phone—you haven't said anything, and yet you've said everything.

"People are always watching. Every little thing communicates something big."

Leaders forget this. People know when you're five minutes late. They know when this meeting was an afterthought.

The Difference Between Good and Great Leaders

Andy's answer was clear:

Exceptional leaders think first about the audience and the people around them.

And here's the other piece: the greatest thing you can do as a leader is create more leaders.

The worst leaders try to protect their fiefdom. They shield information. They don't accept ideas.

That becomes a very insular company that can't succeed. A company of one.

Energy Is Vital

One of Andy's key insights: Bruce is the pinnacle of energy in the arena.

Even at 75 years old, nobody in that building has more energy than Bruce Springsteen.

Nobody cares about the information you're presenting more than you do.

If you expect your audience to respond at 95% but you come in at 70% energy—you can't expect them to exceed you.

If you want them at 95%, you better be at 100%.

Consider this: Bruce has played "Born to Run" 1,878 times live.

And every time, he gives it his all.

Why? Because there are two kinds of people in the audience: people who've never seen him before, and people like Andy who've seen him 95 times and are comparing this to the last performance.

That idea of repeating a message with energy is critical for leaders.

You need to hear things seven times to remember them. But most leaders lose interest after two or three.

Your audience's energy won't exceed yours.

Why This Matters for H2 Leaders

Andy's work reinforces what we've believed for years: you cannot separate who you are as a leader from how you communicate.

Think about Andy's Think, Feel, Do framework. That's not just a communication tool. That's a leadership discipline. It forces you to get out of your own head and think about the people you're leading.

That's what we mean by sustainable leadership. You can't be healthy and high-impact if you're running at 70% energy, phoning in messages, and wondering why your team isn't engaged.

The leaders we coach who are thriving have mastered this. They understand that communication is leadership. They've embraced the intentionality Andy describes.

Here's what we want you to ask yourself: