--- title: The Momentum Mindset With Joe Witte description: "Executive coach Joe Witte on the momentum mindset: why effective leadership doesn't have to be complicated and why slow is smooth and smooth is fast." image: https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/ep-4-joe-1.png --- [![Velocity Advisory Group](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Velocity-Logo-2023-Wide-1.png)](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/) ☰ Menu - About - [Meet Our Team](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/about/) - [Meet Our Coaches](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/coaches/) - [Careers](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/careers/) - [Speaking Engagements](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/velocity-speakers/) - Solutions - [Culture & Engagement](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/culture-engagement/) - [DISC Assessments & Training](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/disc-assessments-training/) - [Employee Experience](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/employee-experience/) - [Executive Coaching](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/executive-coaching/) - [Family Business](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/family-business/) - [Leadership Development](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/leadership-development/) - [Sales Training](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/5cs-of-selling/) - [Strategy & Implementation](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/strategy-implementation/) - Resources - [Activating Greatness Podcast](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/podcast/) - [Blog](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/blog/) - [Case Studies](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/case-studies/) - [News and Announcements](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/news-and-events/) - [OrderDisc](https://orderdisc.com/) - [Upcoming Events](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/upcoming-events/) - Industries - [Construction](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/construction/) - [Financial Services](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/financial-services/) - [Life Sciences](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/lifesciences/) - [Contact](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/contact/) Activating Greatness Podcast Episodes January 18, 2026 | Episode 4 # Slow Is Smooth, Smooth Is Fast: Building a Momentum Mindset — with Joe Witte ## Fix the Meeting First: Joe Witte on Why Momentum Is Won or Lost From the Inside **In this post:** *Velocity Executive Coach Joe Witte explains why most teams lose momentum from the inside, and how simple mechanisms like better meetings, stakeholder discovery, and clear expectations help leaders build it back.* Ask a room of managers about their biggest challenges, and Joe Witte can predict the answer. "They always say communication and they always say culture," he said on *Activating Greatness*, the leadership podcast from Velocity Advisory Group. So he asks a follow-up: How are your meetings? The usual answer is "terrible." That exchange holds the core of Witte's thinking about momentum. Teams rarely stall because of one dramatic event. They stall because ordinary work gets done badly, week after week. "Most companies implode from internal reasons," he said. The fix, in his view, starts with the unglamorous mechanics leaders tend to skip. ## An Eclectic Path to One Lesson Witte, an Executive Coach and Senior Advisor at Velocity, calls his background "eclectic." He learned inside sales at DoubleClick, an early digital advertising company, worked at Northern California dot-coms that mostly went bust, started businesses, served in the Army Reserve with one tour in Iraq, and ran the Philadelphia chapter of Bunker Labs, an accelerator for veteran entrepreneurs. The military taught him process and cadence. Entrepreneurship forced him into every corner of a business, including bookkeeping he did not enjoy. Blending the two, he said, shaped how he thinks about best practices. ## Remember What You Forgot Much of that thinking now feeds Momentum, Velocity's program for newer managers, though Witte said the concepts apply to senior executives too. People in new leadership roles, whether a vice president over 100 people or a manager of six, tend to swing one of two ways: overconfident and over-directive, or underconfident and slow to decide, which he links to imposter syndrome. Both tie to the four stages of competence. In the first, people do not know what they do not know. A manager asks a new hire whether there are any questions, hears none, and assumes all is well. "The reality is that I don't have any questions to ask because I don't know what questions to ask," Witte said. Awareness comes next, then skill that takes effort, and finally skill that runs on its own. That final stage creates a blind spot, so Witte gives leaders a simple instruction. "Remember what you forgot," he said. "Remember what it felt like to be a new employee on the first day and what you didn't know." He sees leadership as knowledge sharing: a leader cannot download years of wisdom in six weeks but can plant seeds and point people to resources. ## Momentum Runs on Mechanisms Leadership involves art, Witte said, but also a lot of science. His tool of choice is the mechanism: a framework, system, or process that, done consistently, produces better results. Meetings are his favorite example. "We assume that a new manager knows how to run a good meeting," he said. Too many end with no decision and no owner. A good one closes like this: "Great, Alec, we've decided on this. You're going to take this. I'd like to see it done by next Friday. Does that work for you?" "We've gotten so soft in not being deliberate about our communication," he said. Without clear mechanisms, managers guess whether someone needs a conversation, a promotion, or an exit. "People's heads spin because we don't integrate clarity and competence." Why do teams tolerate what everyone agrees is broken? Witte offered three reasons: fear of offending colleagues, worry that whoever raises an idea inherits the work, and comfort with how things have always been done. His colleague Ryan Payne made a related case that [silence is not agreement](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-5-the-conversation-advantage-ryan-payne). Witte's challenge to managers is direct. "If you don't have good meetings, it's your fault," he said. "You actually have control." Back-to-back hour-long meetings can shrink to 45 minutes, move to every other week, or become a chat thread. FREE ONE-PAGE CHECKLIST ### The Better Meetings Checklist Use it to end every meeting with a decision, an owner, and a deadline, and to cut the meetings that drain your team's momentum. [Get the free checklist](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/leadership-library/better-meetings-checklist) ## Slow Is Smooth, Smooth Is Fast Witte admits he once leaned toward overconfidence. When Velocity's CEO asked him to help with the sales process, a younger Witte would have drafted a plan alone. Instead, he clarified the request, then held 10-minute conversations with key stakeholders: What is good, what is not, and what would you change? A partner of 12 years thought the process was great. A new employee did not know there was one. He compiled the answers, shared them back, and made a recommendation. "It's not an idea coming from Joe," he said. "It's an idea that's coming from all of us." The approach reflects a phrase he borrowed from the Navy SEALs: slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. A solo decision feels faster, he said, but without buy-in it meets resistance. ## Build the Roots Before the Storm When a team loses a big client, the question is whether it is a bad month or a stall. Witte's answer is to control what you can. Culture and values come first, because they "will keep your roots grounded when you're going through a storm," he said. Then comes infrastructure: mission and vision, role clarity, goals, meetings with action items, and KPIs. With those in place, leaders can rule out internal causes quickly and look outward. He learned this running one of the first online logo design companies, where clients paid $100 for three designs. Its Google ranking dropped, the economy dropped, and 99designs arrived with crowdsourced contests. "We were hoping it would come back, but hope's not a strategy," he said. The partners rebuilt the model around freelance designers, a painful shift that took about a year and included letting people go. The company came back stronger, with better margins and happier clients. ## Clear Is Kind For the most underrated leadership skill, Witte named a calm and assertive approach, and he worries the assertive half is fading. Leaders stay overly polite with an underperformer, then fire that person six months later. "That's actually not kind at all," he said. Host Alec McChesney put it in three words: clear is kind. Witte has a phrase for the cost of the alternative: "Confusion is the enemy of progress." > "Confusion is the enemy of progress." > > *Joe Witte, Executive Coach and Senior Advisor, Velocity Advisory Group* He also wants leaders to stop treating culture and systems as separate projects. "Good systems and process does lead to better culture when we know what we're supposed to do," he said. Joe Crandall, the CEO Witte recommended for his deliberate approach to systems and culture, talked about [making hard decisions with accountability](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-25-accountability-in-leadership-joe-crandall). ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is the momentum mindset in leadership? Joe Witte, Executive Coach and Senior Advisor at Velocity Advisory Group, describes momentum as something leaders build, lose, and regain mostly through internal habits. He argues that most companies implode from internal reasons rather than external ones. Leaders protect momentum by grounding teams in culture and values, then adding clear mechanisms such as role clarity, goals, meetings with action items, and KPIs, so they can spot and fix problems faster. ### What does "slow is smooth, smooth is fast" mean for leaders? Joe Witte borrowed the phrase from the Navy SEALs. For leaders, it means taking time up front to hear stakeholders, build buy-in, and plan for contingencies so execution goes smoothly. A quick solo decision feels faster, Witte said, but it meets resistance, sometimes quiet and sometimes loud. He calls it the best leadership advice he has received and applies it to strategic plans and single conversations alike. ### How can new managers run more effective meetings? Joe Witte says organizations wrongly assume new managers know how to run a good meeting. Effective meetings end with a clear decision, an owner, and a deadline that the owner agrees to. Witte also tells managers that bad meetings are their responsibility to fix. They can shorten meetings to 45 minutes, meet every other week, or move some updates to a chat thread instead. ### What are the four stages of competence? Joe Witte uses the four stages of competence to train new managers. People start out unaware of what they do not know, become aware of gaps, build skill that takes deliberate effort, and finally perform without thinking. Experienced leaders often forget the early stages, so Witte tells them to "remember what you forgot" and recall what it felt like to be new and unsure which questions to ask. HOW VELOCITY HELPS ### Velocity Leadership Development Witte argues that new managers are too often promoted and left to guess at the basics, from running a meeting to having a direct conversation. Velocity's Leadership Development and Emerging Leaders program is a year-long experience built on the 70/20/10 model, with cohort coaching, reinforcement calls, and a Velocity Coach paired with every participant. Leaders learn the mechanisms that create clarity for their teams and practice them long enough for the habits to stick. [Explore Leadership Development](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/leadership-development/) ## The Takeaway: Slow Down to Speed Up Witte calls pain his greatest teacher. Paying attention to pain points, he said, usually reveals a lesson, and leaders who see themselves on a journey with no arrival keep improving. His best advice ties that growth mindset to discipline: slow down, have deliberate conversations, build a plan with contingencies, execute it well, and then reflect. If it did not work, learn and move on. That is the momentum mindset in practice. Leaders do not need a brilliant new strategy every quarter. They need to remember what they forgot, run meetings that end in decisions, and give their teams enough clarity to stop guessing. ## Listen to the Full Episode Hear Joe Witte's full conversation with host Alec McChesney on *Activating Greatness*. [Watch on YouTube](https://youtu.be/JmkuOcDDsnw), or listen on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/4LcgAut0KyYiGyDhFvMjPD) and [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1868386871). Follow Joe on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/joewitte/). FREE GUIDE ### The Confusion Audit Witte calls confusion the enemy of progress and argues that most companies implode from the inside. This short framework helps you and your team find where unclear priorities, ownership, and expectations are quietly costing you momentum. [Get the free guide](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/leadership-library/confusion-audit) Share: [facebook-f icon](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-4-the-momentum-mindset-joe-witte) [linkedin-in icon](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-4-the-momentum-mindset-joe-witte) [Twitter icon](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-4-the-momentum-mindset-joe-witte) [pinterest-p icon](http://pinterest.com/pin/create/link/?url=https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-4-the-momentum-mindset-joe-witte) [envelope icon](mailto:?body=https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-4-the-momentum-mindset-joe-witte) [Leadership Mindset](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/tag/leadership-mindset) ## Ready to activate greatness on your team? Velocity Advisory Group helps leadership teams build the culture, strategy, and systems that let good people do their best work. [Book a discovery call](https://www.velocityadvisorygroup.com/contact/) ## Related posts [![EP 6 With Harry Barnick](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/ep-6-harry-1.png?height=200&name=ep-6-harry-1.png)](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-6-the-leadership-leap-harry-barnick) [Communication & Coaching](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/tag/communication-coaching) ## [Episode 6: Making the Leap to Management: Why Difficult Conversations Are a Kindness — with Harry Barnick](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-6-the-leadership-leap-harry-barnick) [Alec McChesney](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/author/alec-mcchesney) Feb 1, 2026, 3:00:00 PM Liked Versus Respected: Harry Barnick on Making the Leap to Management In this post: Harry Barnick... 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[Read more](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-44-culture-beats-strategy-mike-ansay) --- [![](https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Velocity%20Logo%202023%20Wide-2.png?width=1025&height=267&name=Velocity%20Logo%202023%20Wide-2.png)](http://velocityadvisorygroup.com) Copyright © 2026, Velocity Advisory Group ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Alec McChesney", "url" : "https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/author/alec-mcchesney" }, "dateModified" : "2026-10-20T14:56:39.569Z", "datePublished" : "2026-01-18T23:31:09.000Z", "headline" : "The Momentum Mindset With Joe Witte", "image" : [ "https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/ep-4-joe-1.png" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/activating-greatness-podcast-episodes/ep-4-the-momentum-mindset-joe-witte", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://coaching.velocityadvisorygroup.com/hubfs/Velocity%20Logo%202023%20Wide-2.png" }, "name" : "Velocity Advisory Group" } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "FAQPage", "mainEntity" : [ { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Joe Witte, Executive Coach and Senior Advisor at Velocity Advisory Group, describes momentum as something leaders build, lose, and regain mostly through internal habits. 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