Robert D Murphy is a best selling author and expert in leadership and career development with a passion for helping others in their careers.

Joined October 2014
608 Photos and videos
๐Ÿ’ก Hard work alone won't get you promoted. Learn how to stand out, build influence, and earn more with Breaking Boundaries. ๐Ÿš€ ๐Ÿ“– Grab your copy on Amazon: amazon.com/Breaking-Boundariโ€ฆ
5
6
61
112,938
Stop pushing SMART goals on people who donโ€™t know what drives them yet. Clarity comes before structure. Great leaders start with curiosityโ€”what energizes you, what do you dread, where have you felt proud? Map sparks before milestones. #Leadership #Growth
1
30
๐—ฆ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜†โ€™๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ต. ๐—œโ€™๐—บ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ. On paper, this was the deal we wanted. Big brand. Big budget. Long-term contract potential. In reality, itโ€™s a slow bleed. From day one, theyโ€™ve pulled our team into endless discussions. Every decision is negotiated three different ways. Work is micromanaged down to the smallest detail. We saw the signs early in the qualification process โ€” the nitpicking, the constant โ€œwhat-ifโ€ scenarios, the inability to commit without overanalyzing. We told ourselves it was just โ€œdue diligence.โ€ It wasnโ€™t. Now weโ€™re locked in. And every hour spent overexplaining, renegotiating, and reworking for this one client comes at the expense of the rest of the business. In Breaking Boundaries, I talk about how saying yes to the wrong customer is more dangerous than saying no to the right one. Not every win is worth the cost. And the qualification process is there to protect you โ€” if you actually listen to it. Breaking Boundaries is available on Amazon โ€” read or listen to your copy today: amazon.com/Breaking-Boundariโ€ฆ Have you ever ignored the red flags because the deal looked too good? โ™ป๏ธ Share this with a leader who needs this reminder โž• Follow Robert Murphy for daily leadership insights
12
Emotional intelligence isnโ€™t just instinctโ€”itโ€™s insight. I use AI to spot silent trends, check my biases, and reclaim time for real conversations. Leaders who ignore this synergy risk missing what matters most. #Leadership #AI #EmotionalIntelligence
11
If your goal doesnโ€™t make you nervous *and* excited, itโ€™s not growthโ€”itโ€™s maintenance. Vague, safe goals gather dust. Real ones change your day-to-day and carry the risk of visible failure. Donโ€™t let your ambitions become another bullet point in PowerPoint.
12
๐—” ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜-๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ณ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—บ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐Ÿฏ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ต๐˜€. The ink was barely dry on the deal. Leadership wanted fast integration. I was told to โ€œalign our structureโ€ and โ€œeliminate redundancies.โ€ On paper, it made sense. The spreadsheets showed efficiency gains, cost savings, and a clean org chart. But I underestimated the human cost. Key people felt their roles were at risk. Some didnโ€™t trust the new direction. Others saw the writing on the wall and left before we could have a conversation. Within three months, half the team was gone. The talent we lost wasnโ€™t just skilled โ€” they carried years of customer knowledge, product history, and trust you canโ€™t buy back. In Breaking Boundaries, I share how leaders often measure the financial impact of a decision down to the penny but treat cultural impact like a guess. Thatโ€™s a mistake. After an acquisition, youโ€™re not just managing processes โ€” youโ€™re managing fear, identity, and belonging. Ignore that, and youโ€™ll watch your best people leave. Breaking Boundaries is available on Amazon โ€” read or listen to your copy today: amazon.com/Breaking-Boundariโ€ฆ Have you ever seen an acquisition decision backfire in ways the deal team never saw coming? โ™ป๏ธ Share this with a leader who needs this reminder โž• Follow Robert Murphy for daily leadership insights
23
Playing it safe wonโ€™t make you influentialโ€”it keeps you invisible. In change-resistant cultures, bold ideas get parked if you wait for โ€œthe right time.โ€ Influence doesnโ€™t come from fitting inโ€”but from standing out with purpose, courage, and empathy. #Leadership
8
๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ท๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐˜‚๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—น ๐—ฎ $๐Ÿฎ๐—  ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ด๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ. Two senior leaders. One critical initiative. And a quiet turf war brewing under the surface. Both wanted control of the outcome. Both had influence over key teams. Neither would back down. It started with subtle delays and conflicting priorities. Then came the side meetings, the โ€œmisunderstoodโ€ emails, and the quiet withholding of resources. By the time it reached my desk, weโ€™d already lost months of progress โ€” and a $2M opportunity with it. The hardest part? There was no villain. Just two smart, capable leaders whose personal agendas pulled the same project in opposite directions. In Breaking Boundaries, I talk about the importance of surfacing these conflicts early โ€” not to โ€œpick a winner,โ€ but to align incentives before the work begins. If you wait until the damage is visible, youโ€™re already paying for it. Breaking Boundaries is available on Amazon โ€” read or listen to your copy today: amazon.com/Breaking-Boundariโ€ฆ Have you ever had to step in and end a leadership turf war before it destroyed the outcome? โ™ป๏ธ Share this with a leader who needs this reminder โž• Follow Robert Murphy for daily leadership insights
7
Inclusive leadership isnโ€™t a trait youโ€™re born withโ€”itโ€™s a skill you build. Listening, learning, and acting on feedback matter more than good intentions. Stop treating it like a personality. Start treating it like a practice. Thatโ€™s how real change happens.
4
๐—ข๐˜‚๐—ฟ $๐Ÿฏ๐—  ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ท๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฑ โ€” ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ต. Two weeks before launch, our lead architect quit. No warning. No handoff. No backup plan. On paper, the project was on track. Code was clean. Infrastructure solid. But underneath, weโ€™d been building a different kind of debt for months โ€” human debt. Overreliance on one person. Avoiding hard conversations. Ignoring signs of burnout because delivery looked good in the status reports. When they left, that debt came due. We didnโ€™t just lose a person. We lost the context, trust, and decision-making history that held the whole thing together. In Leadership With A Purpose, I talk about how leaders tend to manage technical debt obsessively โ€” but miss the quiet buildup of human debt that can sink a project even faster. The solution isnโ€™t just redundancy in code. Itโ€™s redundancy in people, context, and relationships. Leadership With A Purpose is available on Amazon โ€” read or listen to your copy today: amazon.com/Leadership-Purposโ€ฆ Whatโ€™s one leadership debt youโ€™ve paid the price for? โ™ป๏ธ Share this with a leader who needs this reminder โž• Follow Robert Murphy for daily leadership insights
7
Speed isnโ€™t always a strengthโ€”sometimes itโ€™s a shortcut to mediocrity. I learned the hard way that fast โ‰  excellent. Now I coach leaders to prioritize clarity over haste. Want better results? Ask: โ€œHow well?โ€ before โ€œHow fast?โ€ #leadership #qualityoverquantity
9
๐—ข๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐˜‚๐˜€ $๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฑ,๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ ๐—ฏ๐˜† ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜๐˜€๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ป ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐˜†. It started as a simple attendance policy โ€” designed to keep schedules predictable and workloads fair. But one employee found a loophole that let them work the bare minimum on paper while still meeting the technical definition of compliance. By the time we caught it, the ripple effects were massive: Shifting deadlines. Burnout for other team members. Lower morale. And yes โ€” $125,000 in missed delivery penalties. The mistake wasnโ€™t that they found the loophole. Itโ€™s that I built a policy that could be gamed in the first place โ€” and trusted compliance over accountability. In Leadership With A Purpose, I share how leaders can design systems that canโ€™t be exploited โ€” and how to spot when one already is. Rules only work if they align incentives with the behavior you want to see. Anything else invites clever workarounds. Leadership With A Purpose is available on Amazon โ€” read or listen to your copy today: amazon.com/Leadership-Purposโ€ฆ Have you ever seen a well-meaning policy turn into your teamโ€™s biggest vulnerability? โ™ป๏ธ Share this with a leader who needs this reminder โž• Follow Robert Murphy for daily leadership insights
1
12
Too many goals = confusion, not clarity. When teams chase everything, they hit nothing. Set ONE clear, visible goal. Align. Focus. Win. Clarity comes from cutting the noise, not adding to it. Whatโ€™s the one goal your team should rally around right now?
11
When Delegation Backfires I thought I was empowering my new manager. I gave them the responsibility for a major project โ€” big scope, big visibility, big impact. But I made one critical mistake: I didnโ€™t give them the authority to actually make the decisions that mattered. The result? Every choice still bottlenecked through me. Deadlines slipped, the team got frustrated, and the โ€œempowermentโ€ I promised felt like lip service. We lost three weeks, thousands in opportunity cost, and a chunk of credibility. In Leadership With A Purpose, I call this the Delegation Gap โ€” when leaders assign tasks but keep the real power to decide. Closing that gap means handing over the authority and the accountability. Without both, youโ€™re setting them up to fail. Leadership With A Purpose is available on Amazon โ€” read or listen to your copy today: amazon.com/Leadership-Purposโ€ฆ When was the last time you realized you were still holding the keys after you โ€œdelegatedโ€ the car? โ™ป๏ธ Share this with a leader who needs this reminder โž• Follow Robert Murphy for daily leadership insights
7
Influence isnโ€™t about being louderโ€”itโ€™s about being smarter. Donโ€™t confuse visibility with credibility. In tough cultures, trust > volume. Start small, listen first, and amplify quiet wins. Thatโ€™s how real change sticks. #Leadership #Influence #PsychSafety
4
The Leadership Formula That Almost Sank Me For years, Iโ€™d been winning with the same playbook. It had built high-performing teams, landed marquee clients, and grown revenue. So when a new challenge came along, I doubled down on it. I ran the same drills, made the same calls, and expected the same results. Except this timeโ€ฆ it didnโ€™t work. The market had shifted, my team had changed, and what had once been a strength was now holding us back. We burned months chasing a plan that no longer fit โ€” and paid the price in lost momentum and missed opportunities. In Breaking Boundaries, I talk about the danger of โ€œsuccess lock.โ€ When a leaderโ€™s past wins become the blueprint for every future decision, they stop adapting. The real skill is knowing when to honor your playbook โ€” and when to rewrite it entirely. Breaking Boundaries is available on Amazon โ€” read or listen to your copy today: amazon.com/Breaking-Boundariโ€ฆ When was the last time you realized your go-to approach was holding you back? โ™ป๏ธ Share this with a leader who needs this reminder โž• Follow Robert Murphy for daily leadership insights
5
Most think leading means having all the answersโ€”but that mindset holds you back. True leaders: โ€ข Empower, not control โ€ข Focus on impact, not activity โ€ข Win as a team, not solo Ready to lead, not just manage? It starts with mindset.
37
๐— ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ. Some weโ€™ve read. Some weโ€™ve lived. But the right book, at the right time, can completely shift your trajectory. Last night, I opened my Audible app and realized something dangerousโ€” Iโ€™ve got 5 credits just sitting there. And if youโ€™re like me, you know unused credits are like opportunity costs you can measureโ€ฆ in lost insight. Iโ€™m looking for non-fiction gems in finance, business management, career development, or leadership that are worth listening to on Audible right now. ๐—ฆ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ป ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด: ๐Ÿ“– ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜—๐˜ด๐˜บ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜บ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜”๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ for understanding human behavior around risk and reward, ๐Ÿ“– ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜Ž๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ for honing intuition and decision-making under pressure, ๐Ÿ“– ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜š๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜›๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜Š๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜๐˜ต๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ง for Bill Walshโ€™s uncompromising leadership philosophy, ๐Ÿ“– ๐˜“๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฑ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜“๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ for navigating the heat of real change, and ๐˜‹๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ for unlocking what truly motivates people. I want books that challenge thinking, not just repeat the same old frameworks. Stories that stick. Ideas that make you stop mid-walk and replay the last 30 seconds because you have to hear it again. Hereโ€™s my simple โ€œWorth My Creditโ€ test: 1๏ธโƒฃ Relevance โ€“ Will it help me lead better or think sharper? 2๏ธโƒฃ Depth โ€“ Does it offer fresh perspective, not just motivational fluff? 3๏ธโƒฃ Stickiness โ€“ Will I remember and apply it a year from now? Iโ€™ve shared my own best leadership lessons in ๐˜‰๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜‰๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด and ๐˜“๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฑ ๐˜ž๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ข ๐˜—๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ฆโ€”but now Iโ€™m on the hunt to sharpen my own toolkit. Your recommendations might be exactly what I need next. ๐Ÿ’ฌ ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜โ€™๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚โ€™๐—ฑ ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ป ๐—ฎ ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐˜†? ๐Ÿท๏ธ Tag someone who always knows the best reads โž• Follow @robertdmurphy for daily leadership insights
1
12
I'm especially interested in books you may have authored. I love supporting other smaller authors.
1
The Customer Meltdown That Cost More Than Money Our biggest customer was losing millions by the hour โ€” and they were furious. An outage had taken their operations offline. My instinct was to focus on the tech fix, patch the system, and issue an apology. We did that. But when the dust settled, the outage wasnโ€™t the real problem. It was the blind spot it exposed: No one truly owned end-to-end accountability. Everyone assumed someone else was โ€œhandling it.โ€ That meltdown cost us far more than the SLA penalties โ€” it cost trust. And trust takes longer to rebuild than any system. In Breaking Boundaries, I share how the most valuable leadership lessons often come wrapped in crisis. A customer crisis strips away the excuses and shows exactly where your leadership gaps are โ€” in process, in ownership, in culture. The real test isnโ€™t just fixing the failure. Itโ€™s fixing the system that allowed it. Breaking Boundaries is available on Amazon โ€” read or listen to your copy today: amazon.com/Breaking-Boundariโ€ฆ Whatโ€™s the biggest leadership insight youโ€™ve taken from a customer crisis? โ™ป๏ธ Share this with a leader who needs this reminder โž• Follow Robert Murphy for daily leadership insights
6
Constant change isnโ€™t agilityโ€”itโ€™s often bad planning. Iโ€™ve seen nonstop pivots burn out teams and kill momentum. Smart leaders reduce noise, build clarity, and pace wins to fuel progressโ€”not fatigue. Are you leading changeโ€ฆ or just causing churn?
1
13