Transformational Leadership Styles

SMART goals are dumb. Definitely outdated. They were literally coined in 1981 by John T. Doran in the Management Review. That's 43 years old. Oh and psst - your team hates setting them. Why? Because the acronym is fundamentally flawed: Specific: Limits creativity and hampers your ability to adapt when new information emerges. 🤔 Measurable: Sure, you know when you've achieved it, but does it drive meaningful, impactful outcomes? 📉 Attainable: Keeps you comfortably within your comfort zone—hardly a place for growth. 🛋️ Realistic: Another word for attainable. It encourages small thinking and boxes you in. 🚫 Time-bound: While deadlines are important, meaningful goals need built-in milestones that keep motivation high and the dopamine flowing. 🎯 In short, SMART goals keep us stuck in mediocrity, lacking purpose and innovation. So, what’s the alternative? Enter the PIC Framework: Purpose-Driven: Every goal should connect to a deeper mission or value. This alignment not only motivates but also gives each goal a clear "why." 🎯 Impactful: Goals should aim for outcomes that matter—shifting the focus from what's easily measurable to what's truly transformative. 🌍 Challenging: If your goals don’t make you a little uncomfortable, you’re not aiming high enough. Embrace the discomfort as a sign of growth and ambition.💪 Want to innovate your goal setting? Here's how you can bring PIC to your organization: Start with Purpose ➡ Align goals with the organization's mission. 🌟 Define Impact ➡ Focus on meaningful outcomes that drive the business forward over easy measurements (especially, for the sake of a great dashboard). 📊 Set Challenging Objectives ➡ Encourage ambition and innovation - yep, even if it scares you. 🚀 Embed Milestones ➡ Keep motivation high with regular wins - not just a potential bonus at the end of the year. 🏆 Foster Reflection ➡ Regularly review and adapt goals as needed. 🔄 (In other words, setting a goal in January and refusing to change it because you set it, even though you have new information, is well...ridiculous.) By moving from SMART to PIC, you create a culture of purpose, impact, and challenge. And who knows - maybe people will finally start to buy-in to the goal setting process and actually like it! 🌟 #Leadership #Innovation #GoalSetting #BusinessGrowth #PurposeDriven

Insecure leaders build loyalists, whereas visionary leaders build challengers. The difference determines whether organisations thrive or merely survive. Loyalists tell you what you want to hear. Challengers tell you what you need to know. A CEO once surrounded himself with people who competed for his approval rather than competed for better outcomes. - When the market shifted, nobody warned him.  - When competitors innovated, nobody challenged his response.  - When customers complained, nobody questioned his strategy. His team was too busy being loyal to be useful. Meanwhile, the companies that dominated during that same period? Their leadership meetings looked like intellectual battlegrounds. Those leaders didn't want cheerleaders. They wanted intelligent opposition. The best leaders I know actively recruit their own critics, whereas insecure leadership creates three toxic patterns: ➡️ The echo chamber effect: Only hiring people who think like you, ensuring blind spots become company-wide vulnerabilities. ➡️ The approval addiction: Making decisions based on internal consensus rather than external reality. ➡️ The challenge penalty: Punishing dissent so effectively that people stop offering it, even when the company desperately needs it. Visionary leadership does the opposite: ✅ Cognitive diversity: Deliberately building teams with different perspectives, experiences, and thinking styles. ✅ Constructive conflict: Creating systems where disagreement is expected, respected, and rewarded. ✅ Intellectual humility: Leading with the assumption that the best idea might come from anyone, anywhere, at any time. The leaders who build challengers? Their people stick around through the tough times because they know their voice matters, their thinking is valued, and their contributions shape outcomes. They don't just work for the leader. They work with the leader. After four decades, I've learned this: The most successful leaders aren't the ones who eliminate opposition. They're the ones who elevate it. ✅ Your next hire should scare you a little.  ✅ Your next meeting should challenge you completely.  ✅ Your next decision should survive the toughest questions your team can ask. Because in business, like in life, the people who make you comfortable are rarely the ones who make you better. #consciousleadership #betheexample

Yesterday I took the entire revenue team (sales, cs, marketing) off the floor for out for a very specific training. Goal Setting. Yep. The entire org for over 60 min together learning how to set and achieve goals. I do this 2x a year with my teams. Why? Because most people never accomplish their goals because they never actually set them and never actually create a plan to achieve them. I've gotten pretty dang good at setting goals. I've gotten pretty dang good at achieving goals. It makes life so much more fun. So here are the key concepts I teach in goal settting. 1. Set a goal in each of the 5 buckets. Self. Health. Wealth. Proffessional. Experience. 2. Identify the Keystone Goal - Which goal if achieved will have the biggest impact on all the rest. 3. Who do you need to BE in order to achieve this goal - How would this person act, work, communicate, behave, etc 4. What do you need to BELIEVE to achieve this goal - this combined with number 3 is where we create our affirmations. 5. Why do you want this goal - aka what will change in your world when you achieve it - If nothing changes... nothing changes. 6. What are you done dealing with now/whats the negative of NOT achieving your goal - Having a negative is important when things get hard. 7. Why you Why Now - Why are you capable of achieving this goal, what traits, resources, etc do you have that allow you to believe you can do this. 8. What are your 3x3s - 3 things daily, weekly, and monthly that if done will give you your best shot at achieving - Example - Put workout clothes out the night before with the alarm across the room - that would be a good daily for health 9. Make it visual - Vision boards (we will be doing this in a couple weeks as a team) - but also visualize it each morning, each evening, not just the accomplishing of the goal, but the process to achieve it. 10. Accountability - Share it with people that not only want to see you win, but also with people that won't allow you to lose/will hold you to the fire. --- All written out by each individual and then my challenge to them is to read it every morning and every night for 60 days. Watch what happens when you do. A team that sets goals together, wins together. I can't wait to see so many of theirs goals, so many of their affirmations, and so many of their achievements. This is going to be good ya'll. Just wait and see. PS - this is one of the most popular modules in the Sales Leadership Accelerator in fact it's unlocked right out the gate for all members. PPS - I'll be doing this workshop at Pavilion GTM in a few weeks as well here in Austin. Lets set and smash some goals ya'll!

Ever wondered how you can transform seasoned mid-level leaders into visionary senior leaders right within your organization? Here’s a compelling case study that might inspire you to rethink your approach. Imagine leading an executive presence intervention for a top-tier manufacturing unit within a global engineering giant. With 12 leaders, each boasting over 20 years of stellar performance, the challenge was clear: ignite their passion for growth and elevate their executive presence for high-stakes meetings and CXO conversations. The goal? Beyond refining their skills, we aimed to instill the gravitas needed to drive the organization’s vision and foster authentic leadership from the inside out. Here’s what we did: 1. Crafted a Six-Month Leadership Odyssey: Dynamic group coaching sessions fostered stronger bonds and deep trusting conversations. Leaders felt safe to open up and share their vulnerabilities, creating a powerful foundation for growth. A 100-day support process bridged virtual gaps. 2. Customized Coaching: Each leader received personalized coaching, enriched by insights about Fortune 100 CXOs. We focused on Executive Presence and applied innovative communication techniques to enhance their gravitas and presence in critical meetings. The Result? These leaders didn’t just evolve—they underwent a profound transformation into change agents who propelled the organization towards sustainable change and new heights of employee and customer-centric excellence. They embraced authentic leadership, leading with confidence and authority in every high-stakes meeting. What Can You Take Away? 1. Foster Deep Trust: Create an environment where leaders can open up and share their vulnerabilities. Deep trusting conversations are essential for authentic leadership and sustainable change. 2. Enhance Executive Presence: Equip your leaders with the skills and confidence needed to handle CXO conversations and high-stakes meetings with gravitas. Tailor interventions to build their presence from the inside out. 3. Embrace Inside Out Leadership: Focus on nurturing leadership qualities from within. Authentic leadership starts with understanding oneself and extends to how leaders engage and inspire others. 4. Drive Sustainable Change: Ensure your leadership programs are designed to create lasting impact. Invest in ongoing support and personalized coaching to facilitate long-term growth and transformation. Here’s to unleashing the incredible potential within your organization! #LeadershipDevelopment #SuccessionPlanning #ExecutivePresence #AuthenticLeadership #InsideOutLeadership #CXOConversations #HighStakesMeetings #TransformationalLeadership #SustainableChange #Impact #Gravitas

In senior leadership roles, the performance appraisal isn’t just a review of the past year. It is a chance to set clear, motivating goals that guide both individual and organizational growth into the future. Well-set goals transform appraisals from mere evaluations into forward-focused conversations that inspire accountability and long-term impact. Here’s a five-step approach you can use in performance appraisal sessions to setting strategic, individualized goals that drive success. 1. Align goals with the organization’s vision This alignment helps your team to see how their individual contributions fit within the bigger picture, which can be especially motivating. Engage in conversations to discuss specific ways individual contributions help drive those priorities. 2. Set SMART Goals for clarity and focus Instead of a vague goal like “improve project management skills,” suggest specific targets and timelines to aim for. For example, the team member may need to get a project management certification by the end of Q2 and apply new techniques on two key projects. 3. Leverage strengths and address growth areas This will encourage your team members to play to their strengths and take on new challenges. This approach builds confidence and reinforces a growth mindset. 4. Provide development resources for growth. Some of the resources you can recommend to your team include training, mentorship, or project-based learning. This investment in the development of your people shows you are committed to their long-term growth. 5. Set up regular check-ins for accountability. Goal-setting is just the start—following up is equally essential. Regular check-ins allow you to monitor progress, address challenges, and adjust targets as needed. These check-ins also reinforce accountability and keep your team members motivated. As we conclude this series on navigating performance appraisals as a leader, you have a role in making this season transformative for your team. John Maxwell says it well: 'Everything rises and falls on leadership'. How you lead your team matters to you, to the individual members in your team, and the organization as a whole. #leadershipdevelopment #careerdevelopment #careers #leadership #personaldevelopment #leaders

Two leaders. Same market. Same list of producers. Completely different results. One showed up to coaching frustrated. Weeks of calls, almost nothing to show for it. No conversions. Barely any real conversations, just voicemails, polite brush-offs, and "I'm happy where I'm at." The other launched a team inside 90 days. Here's what almost everyone gets wrong about why. The struggling leader took what looked like the shortcut. He pulled the list, knew who the producers were, and went at them: "Would you be open to a better opportunity?" That sentence feels efficient. It's the longest path in recruiting. The moment you lead with "a better opportunity," you're one more option on a menu — and now you wait. Wait for a comp change. Wait for a bad quarter. Wait for them to get dissatisfied enough to move. You control none of it. The other leader did something that looked slower. Before a single call, he researched the market — not the people, the market. He built a vision for what he wanted to construct there, drilled it until he could say it in two minutes, then pulled a short list: seven people who fit exactly what he was building. His opener wasn't a question. It was a statement: "You were one of a handful of people I wanted to talk to in this market. We're launching something here, and I wanted to share the vision with you." One leader started with a list of people. The other started with a picture of the market. Volume play: 200 names, 200 identical conversations, a pipeline of tire-kickers waiting for one to get unhappy enough to move. Precision play: one market, one vision worth building, seven chosen people who hear something no other recruiter is offering. The volume leader only converts the already-dissatisfied. The vision leader moves people who weren't even looking — because he isn't asking them to leave something. He's inviting them into something. Want to be the second leader? Start here: 1. Research the market before the people. Pick ONE market and study it before you dial. 2. Build your vision and make it sayable. Write the big, specific thing you want to build there — then drill it until you can deliver it in two minutes. 3. Trade 200 names for 7. Pinpoint the few who fit your avatar, and open with a statement, not a question. Anybody can find the producers. They're on the same lists you have. The leader who wins shows up with a vision for the market that no one else can offer. Stop shopping for people. Start building a market worth joining.

Great teams don’t just chase numbers—they chase purpose. In my recent conversation with Andreas Schierenbeck, CEO of Hitachi Energy, for the upcoming book Best Teams, we explored the real power behind goal setting—and why financial metrics alone will never unlock full performance. Andreas shared this insight: “You don’t drive a business to the next level with only hardcore financial targets. You need more than that. You need a vision. You need buy-in much more than just the right numbers.” At Hitachi Energy, Andreas is leading a $6 billion expansion. But what's more striking is his belief that even with targets that massive, it’s the emotional connection—to purpose, to vision, to societal impact—that truly drives people to go the extra mile. Three big takeaways from our conversation: 1.     Numbers don’t motivate—purpose does. People won’t stretch themselves for the sake of profit margins. They will for something they believe in. 2.     Let teams set their own targets. Empowerment breeds ownership. Asking “What does success look like?” gets far better results than handing down a number. 3.     Anchor goals in a higher cause. Whether it’s decarbonisation, innovation, or transformation, connecting your goals to something bigger inspires better performance. Whether you're a team lead or a CEO, ask yourself: Are your goals just measurable… or are they meaningful? #Leadership #GoalSetting #PurposeDriven #HitachiEnergy #BestTeams #OKRs #TeamPerformance #Decarbonisation #VisionDrivenLeadership

Leadership is more about behaviour, conduct, and connection than about position, power, and personality   Having been involved in the coaching business, I have always found that no leader wants to be bad —every leader strives to bring something good to their role. My years of experience have shown me that most leaders have an understandable functional blindness to their own flaws, especially those who have been fast-tracked into leadership due to their performance. Leadership is more than just skill —it’s about connection and understanding. I recently worked with a CEO who was a tech wizard, rising quickly through the ranks due to his technical brilliance. However, once he became the CEO, things took a downturn. The company saw high attrition, disengaged employees, and frustrated stakeholders. People simply didn’t want to work with him. The problem? While he was exceptional at technology, he lacked the communication skills and empathy required to lead people. He struggled to understand his team’s concerns, often dismissing them as excuses rather than real challenges. The business suffered as a result. That’s when the owners of the company approached me for transformational coaching—a structured program designed to develop leadership skills through self-awareness, goal-setting, and mindset shifts. Over 12 structured coaching sessions, we worked on: Goal Setting – The CEO set weekly leadership goals, not me. This ensured personal commitment and accountability. Review & Reflection – Every session, we reviewed progress, identified roadblocks, and refined strategies. Perspective Shifts – He learned to see the bigger picture, understand his team’s struggles, and view challenges objectively and with a semblance of understanding Empathy & Communication – He improved his ability to listen, respond, and collaborate effectively with his leadership team. After six weeks, when I met with the company owners, they had already noticed a transformation in his leadership approach. A senior manager —who had once vowed never to work with him—now described him as "completely transformed" and much easier to collaborate with. This shift didn’t just make him a better CEO—it changed the entire company culture. The team became more engaged, communication improved, and collaboration increased. When leaders grow, their organizations thrive. Leadership isn’t just about technical expertise—it’s about understanding people, setting the right structure, and driving change. That’s what transformational coaching is all about. I’ve worked with many CEOs and C-level executives, and the most rewarding part of this work is the ripple effect—helping one leader impacts an entire organization.  Coaching can work wonders by providing unbiased support, helping leaders identify small yet significant changes that make a big difference. In this case, we were able to avoid a potential leadership miscarriage because of a premature birth. 

In my last post, I talked about giving a company a soul by helping it become self-aware. That process starts with a diagnostic called Force Field Analysis, which helps uncover what's truly driving progress, and what’s holding it back. It’s a moment of truth for the business, a mirror that reflects reality beyond the slogans and surface-level aspirations. But what happens after that moment of clarity? How do you take what you’ve uncovered and turn it into aligned, collective action? This is where most companies struggle. Even when there’s agreement on what needs to change, what to amplify and what to overcome, execution falters. Momentum fades. It’s not a strategy issue. It’s a belief issue. It’s the baby elephant problem. When an elephant is young, it’s chained to a stake. It tries to break free and fails, over and over, until it gives up. Later, as a full-grown elephant, it could break free easily, but it doesn’t. It no longer believes it can. I see this all the time in leadership teams. They’ve grown. They’ve evolved. But they’re still operating from limiting beliefs formed during earlier phases of their journey. That’s why the next phase of the EmpathIQ Framework focuses on two things: Purpose-Driven OKRs: Not just goal setting, but designing shared objectives that align with what truly matters to the organization and its people. When done right, OKRs become the translation layer between self-awareness and sustained execution. Neuroscience-Based Coaching: Because transformation isn’t just structural. It’s personal. Coaching helps leaders rewire the beliefs that keep them stuck. So their mindset finally matches the mission. It’s not enough to know what needs to change. You have to become someone capable of changing it. This is the work I love most, helping leadership teams move from insight to action, from awareness to alignment, from resistance to belief. If that’s the shift your team needs, let’s talk. #Leadership #OrganizationalDesign #EmpathIQFramework

"KEY PRINCIPLES TO LEAD THOSE WHO ARE AHEAD OF YOU" 1. Craft a Compelling Vision. Vision is the compass of leadership. It's not a wish list, a vague dream, or just another goal. Vision is the future you see before others do—a picture of what could be, anchored in deep conviction. People with talent and potential don't just follow credentials; they follow clarity, purpose, and passion. "Where there is no vision, the people perish." — Proverbs 29:18 A powerful vision answers the question: "Why are we doing this?" It's not about sight—what your eyes can see—it's about insight, what your heart believes is possible. It must be so real to you that you're willing to live and even die for it. When Jesus called Peter, He said, “Follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men.” Peter was already a skilled fisherman, but that vision gave his skill a greater purpose. It expanded his capacity. Talented people will follow you when they see that their gifts can be used for something larger than themselves. Your vision determines your audience. Every vision attracts a unique kind of person. If you’re unclear, your team will be confused. If you're hesitant, they'll hesitate too. But if your vision is bold, clear, and purpose-driven, it will draw the right people—even those more experienced or skilled than you. 2. Be Excellent in Your Role. You don’t need to know everything—but you must excel at something. Especially in leadership. Leadership is not a title; it’s a skill. It must be studied, practiced, and refined. Degrees and titles don’t make people follow you—your competence and character do. That means learning to: •Communicate clearly and with confidence. •Handle feedback with maturity. •Navigate tension without escalating conflict. •Inspire trust through consistency and courage. Consider Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba. He had no background in computers when he started one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms. What he did have was vision, belief, and strong leadership skills—and that was enough to rally people who knew more than he did. Many fail to lead because they’re unwilling to grow. They’re defensive to correction, reactive to challenges, and insecure around talent. But true leadership is selfless—it’s about making others better, not proving you're the best. To lead people who are ahead of you in skill or experience: •Cast a clear and compelling vision that gives purpose to their gifts. •Be excellent in leadership. •Learn the skills that make people want to follow you—humility, communication, consistency, and courage. Don’t wait to be the smartest in the room—lead with vision and excellence, and the right people will follow.