So You Think You Can Lead, Ten Self Reflection Questions for Leaders in ABA

Are You Leading People or Just Scaling a Machine?

The field is growing fast. New clinics open. Caseloads climb. Referrals keep coming. Sean Yocum opened this talk with a blunt question. It was for anyone who holds a title in ABA (a science of behavior change). Are you leading people, or are you just scaling a machine? He said the honest answer shows up in your staff, not in your growth chart.

He pointed to Novak and Dixon in 2019. That work named two top predictors of RBT burnout and turnover. They were poor supervisor support and a focus on scaling over culture. RBTs (the techs who run daily sessions) rarely quit because they stopped loving the work. They quit because the system wears them down. They feel overwhelmed, under supported, and treated like a warm body filling a slot.

Yocum called that exploitation, not leadership. He said it lands on clients too. Tired staff have less to give, and families feel it first. Say your main focus is the next referral or the next billable hour (time you can charge for). Yocum argued that means you are chasing a fast reward while your best people burn out.

He also pressed on family involvement. Progress that never shows up at home is not real progress. Skipped parent training is not a scheduling problem. It is a leadership problem. If leaders do not demand family integration, he asked, what are we actually doing?

When you have staff that are running on fumes, your clients are just gonna get scraps.

From the talk — Sean Yocum

Vision Is Communicated. Culture Is Experienced.

You can print your vision on a coffee mug. You can put it on the website. Your team still learns what you value from how their week actually goes. Culture is what a BCBA (board certified behavior analyst) feels when they ask for help on an urgent case. It is what the admin team hears when leaders talk about clients as hours instead of people.

Culture forms with or without your input. Leave it alone and it gets built by gossip, by the loudest voices, and by frustrations nobody ever names. Yocum described that as a slow decay. Skip one hard conversation and you have taught the whole team a rule. The behavior you ignored just got reinforced.

His picture for this was a thermostat, not a thermometer. A leader does not simply read the temperature. A leader sets it. Your responses are the antecedents (what comes right before behavior). They are also the contingencies (what gets rewarded here) that shape the place. Praise only utilization targets and you build a culture of compliance to numbers. Talk about balance while you email at nine at night and you have taught constant availability instead.

You're not just measuring the temperature of the culture. You set it.

From the talk — Sean Yocum

Question One: Why Do People Actually Follow You?

The first question is short and sharp. What is the real reason anyone should listen to me? Yocum walked through levels. The lowest is position. You hold the title, so people clock in, follow policy, and do what you say. That gets bodies in chairs. It does not get commitment.

The next level is permission. People follow because they believe in you and want to be part of what you are building. Above that sits production. Your model works, your systems cut frustration, and your results are real. People can see the track record and feel the impact.

Deeper still is reproduction. You pour into people and help them reach the next level in their careers. Yocum cited LeBlanc Sellers 2020 on this point. A supervisor's primary role is to mentor and shape professional values, not just to manage tasks. Good leaders build more leaders instead of only taking labor.

The last level is respect. People follow because of your ethics, your honesty, and your commitment to the science. Yocum warned that fast growth pushes too many leaders back down to position. A team that stays only because it has to will leave the moment a slightly better option appears.

And that smells like compliance without commitment.

From the talk — Sean Yocum

Question Two: Do Your Staff Know You Give a Damn?

Burnout and turnover are symptoms, Yocum said. The root cause is staff feeling like a number rather than a person. Their worth gets tied to a line on a timesheet. You can hear it in the break room and in the sigh before another session. One team outing per quarter does not touch that. He called it a band aid on a gaping wound.

He tied the question to Wolf 1978 and social validity (does this matter to the people involved). How you treat staff and clients counts as much as the clinical data you produce. He also pointed to John Maxwell on the idea that you add value by adding value to others.

The fix is small, steady, and unglamorous. Ask about someone's weekend and actually listen. Sit with a tough case instead of saying figure it out. Celebrate small wins instead of only naming gaps. Learn what your people want in their careers and help them get there. People invest in leaders who invest in them first.

Are you just getting their compliance or are you earning their actual dedication?

From the talk — Sean Yocum

Questions Three and Four: Blind Spots and Real Apologies

Question three asks what people whisper about you that you have not faced yet. Every leader has a gap between self view and team view. You may believe you have an open door while your team finds you intimidating. You may call yourself direct while people experience you as dismissive. You may think you build independence while your behavior quietly micromanages.

Yocum's advice is to go collect the data. Do not ask your closest friend, and do not rely on direct reports who fear saying the wrong thing. Ask a mentor, an RBT you have real rapport with, or an honest teammate in admin. Ask what one behavior you should work on. Then get ready, because useful answers sting. He said every piece of feedback like that is a win, since it hands you something you can act on.

Question four moves from seeing to owning. Anyone can apologize upward to protect a career. Can you apologize downward? That means saying sorry to the staff hurt by your policy change, or the new BCBA blamed for your oversight. Yocum cited Sellers et al. 2016 on reflective supervision (reviewing your own behavior on purpose). Leaders are expected to self monitor and admit mistakes. That is how psychological safety (feeling safe to speak up honestly) gets built.

When you apologize, don't apologize for their feelings. Apologize for your actions, your own behavior.

From the talk — Sean Yocum

Questions Five and Eight: Taking Criticism and Filtering Noise

Question five asks whether you can handle blame you do not deserve. Yocum read a line from his slide, credited to Aristotle: to avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing. Once you lead, the arrows come. Some arrive from frustrated parents. Some come from burned out staff. Some come from people online who feel better when they tear someone down.

His filter is simple. Consider the source, then the content. If the feedback comes from someone with real knowledge, shared ethics, and genuine concern, listen hard. That is a gift. If it is a baseless attack from someone with no skin in the game, treat it as noise. Then move on. He warned that the more responsibility you take, the less you get to avoid scrutiny.

Question eight sharpens the same skill. Who has earned a seat at your table, and who is just loud? Yocum said some people hold a position in your life without holding a voice in it. A platform or a title does not make an opinion useful. Keep your inner circle small and made of people who know the science, practice ethically, and challenge you with kindness.

Do not let praise go straight to your head, and don't let criticism go to your heart.

From the talk — Sean Yocum

Questions Six and Seven: Pass the Mic, Then Lead Up

Question six asks if you can pass the mic without taking credit. If the people around you are quiet and agreeable, that may say more about you than about them. Hoarding projects, information, and recognition puts a lid on their growth. The team stalls, the culture starves, and you become the bottleneck that stops the organization from growing.

The practice is to give opportunities away on purpose. Bring a team member into an important client meeting, even to listen at first. Let an RBT lead a new initiative with your supervision. Give a newer BCBA a project that feels slightly too big. Let them stumble, then praise them loudly and keep the credit off yourself. Yocum said sharing the spotlight multiplies your impact instead of shrinking it.

Question seven turns the lens upward. Are you helping your boss sleep at night, or keeping them awake? When you take on a project, a client, or a budget, think about your leader's trust. Will it get done on time? Will it get done without cutting corners on ethics or quality? Reliability is leadership too. A person who brings calm instead of chaos frees the people above them to do bigger work.

So, a secure leader knows that their strength isn't measured by how much they can control. It's measured by how much you can empower with your team.

From the talk — Sean Yocum

Questions Nine and Ten: Own Your Growth, Then Check Your Legacy

Question nine asks who is driving your development. Yocum described leaders who wait for someone else. They wait for the company to fund a conference. They wait for HR to build a training. They wait for the CEU (continuing education unit) budget to open. Meanwhile they spend freely on everything else. He cited Castro et al. in 2022 and Moran 2010 on leading with intention. That takes psychological flexibility (staying open when things feel hard) and steady personal work.

So pick up the keys yourself. Read current research, including work outside your usual niche. Ask a leader you admire for a conversation. Practice the hard talk you have been avoiding. Apply behavior analysis to your own behavior: set goals, track progress, and adjust. He noted that mentors often show up after they see you doing the work, not before.

Question ten is the legacy check. What will people say when you are no longer there to answer back? That could be when you leave a company, stop supervising someone, or retire. You can build a large, profitable organization and still leave every person in it feeling like a resource. Or you can build culture, develop people, and protect clinical integrity even when it costs you.

Yocum closed by pointing back to the BACB (Behavior Analyst Certification Board) ethics code. It demands commitment to the science and the people it serves. His challenge was to connect daily actions to long term impact. Do not just try to do something. Become someone worth following.

Who you are becoming is worth more than what you will ever do.

From the talk — Sean Yocum