The Two Things: @ReliabilityHigh?

What is expected of me? How am I doing?

Those two questions sit underneath more workplace frustration, conflict, and confusion than most leaders realize.

In The Two Things, David Isaacks draws on decades of experience in the U.S. Marine Corps and in complex healthcare organizations to explore a simple leadership truth: people perform better when they clearly understand what is expected of them and receive honest, timely feedback about how they are doing.

Through real-world stories, practical lessons, and lessons learned inside demanding organizations, Isaacks shows how unclear expectations, delayed feedback, inconsistent standards, and avoided conversations can slowly erode trust. He also shows what happens when leaders do the opposite: set the tone, create the right conditions, make expectations unmistakable, address problems early, and build a steady rhythm of feedback with no surprises.

The Two Things is not another complicated leadership model. It is a practical approach to leading people with greater clarity, fairness, consistency, and accountability.

For experienced executives, new supervisors, and anyone responsible for leading others, the message is straightforward:

Tell people what is expected of them. Tell them how they are doing. Then create the conditions that make those answers believable.