What happens when empowered leadership goes unchecked - and everyone "starts running with scissors?"

In this episode of Leadership Levers, Joshua Miller, Founder & Principal of Remarkable Foods, shares how his food service consulting work revealed a hidden leadership trap - giving too much freedom without clear frameworks.

Joshua’s journey started with scrambled eggs at age eight and evolved into executive leadership in the food service industry.

Today, he helps organizations turn chaos into clarity by building cultures where process and empowerment work together.

A great real-world example - a client’s well-meaning efforts to empower leaders & managers led to confusion, overlapping innovations, and operational slowdown.

Joshua stepped in to help realign, but there was a turning point - a discovery process that surfaced surprising insights through confidential, one-on-one interviews - showing that even in dysfunction, the team deeply respected their leaders, wanted to improve and drive growth.

Joshua walks through:

• Why process - not people - was a real problem in this leadership challenge
• The downside of innovation without alignment or structure
• How linear thinking can be a leadership asset or a liability
• Why psychological safety and clear feedback loops drive better outcomes
• His reminder that leading others well starts with treating them how you'd want to be led.

For leaders navigating complex teams or culture drift, this episode offers practical insight into how empowered leadership and intentional process can unlock performance.

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