LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

First, “leadership” is a better verb than noun. A noun identifies a person, place or thing. But a verb is used to describe action or state of being.

I believe in a practical meaning for leadership. It’s about developing or building (both action words) a special kind of follower-ship—”willing follower-ship.” The key word is “willing”. What kind of person would you willingly follow?

Today’s rapidly changing business environment requires leadership that develops more quickly than ever and yet be grounded in timeless principles of what really works. My work is transformational in that it helps “leaders” experience, create and sustain appropriate change—in themselves and others—for the long haul.

The ability to develop willing follower-ship requires self-awareness, self-mastery, and thinking differently. We engage timeless principles about Character (who you are), Competence (what you know), Communication (how you interact with people), Context, Credibility, and Contribution.

As always, I aim to kindle new perspectives and fresh thinking that lead to prospering businesses and fulfilling lives in these leaders.

aUDIENCES

My audience often resembles one of these groups:

High Potential Leaders

Those Directors and Vice-Presidents who have been identified as future leaders of the organization. The goal is to improve their preparedness for their next-level roles.

Emerging Leaders

Those who are just beginning to show an aptitude or propensity for leading. They are early in their discovery of who they are as leaders and what it means to lead. The goal is to get them “off on the right foot” and provide tools, principles and practices to support their leadership journey. Ideally, this work is tied directly to real work issues within the organization.

Teams

Executive teams, new teams, or teams confronting new or different challenges. The goal is to help them avoid common dysfunction traps and engage real issues more effectively.

UNLOCKING
POTENTIAL

Guiding individuals and organizations towards success through transformational leadership development

Cultivating Leadership Excellence

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, effective leadership development is essential for organizational success. With his development initiatives, John empowers leaders to thrive in dynamic environments and drive meaningful change. By leveraging a personalized approach tailored to each leader’s unique strengths and challenges, John equips them with the skills, mindset, and strategies needed to navigate complex leadership scenarios with confidence. Through targeted coaching, training workshops, and strategic guidance, John fosters a culture of continuous learning and growth, enabling leaders to inspire their teams, maximize performance, and achieve sustainable results. With John’s leadership development approach, organizations can cultivate a pipeline of agile, visionary leaders capable of steering their teams toward success in today’s competitive landscape.

FORTUNE 500 Leadership Development

“John is able to work with leaders and help take them from a place of very fundamental ideas of how to lead a team to a place of much more transformational ways to not only lead a team, but a function to help the overall business be successful. He helps people to really make an influential impact.

Leaders tend to minimize their ability to influence more broadly. John is able to help them make that legacy difference in terms of what you do, and what your team does. He helps people to have breakthrough thinking that drives action.

He can certainly kind of dip in and out of an organization if that’s what you need, but if you’re looking for someone who has a long-term commitment to the people in an organization, John is a great person for that.” – SVP and Global Head of Talent Management and Development”

John served as “my professional executive caddy.” He was there to help me pick out what club to hit with, and then really trust myself. Everything he did for me was to prepare me to lead effectively on my own. 

Stephen Adams, Executive Director, Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority

John served as “my professional executive caddy.” He was there to help me pick out what club to hit with, and then really trust myself. Everything he did for me was to prepare me to lead effectively on my own. 

Stephen Adams, Executive Director, Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority

John taught me that questions are my friend. He helped me to really think through a situation and properly diagnose what was going on with my team. He helped me to identify what I could impact within the context. I can’t tell you how that changed my life. 

Shannon Gordon, CEO, River Edge Behavioral Health

John has become a trusted advisor to upper management of our company. He possesses the ability to cut through large amounts of information and focus on particular issues that are critical to the success of our business. In drawing from his own experience and his vast array of resources, he can provide clarity where there is confusion. Without our regular meetings with John, we would not have the structure to tackle difficult strategic issues impacting our future. In short, he has imposed a discipline on us that we would not have imposed on ourselves.

Jennifer Britt , Vice President, Trimont Real Estate Advisors
John is terrific to work with and has helped our staff to better work together. John advises us in our office and also works with our leadership classes. He is a trustworthy individual whose integrity is unimpeachable. Working with him has been a pure pleasure. He is absolutely dependable and totally discreet. We trust him and enjoy working with him! We have worked together for many years and look forward to many more!
Sara Fountain , Executive Director, Leadership DeKalb

I have had the pleasure of benefitting from John’s professional wisdom and sharp and caring insights for a number of years as he provided executive advisory and coaching services to my former employer. His guidance honed the critical questions our leadership team asked and elevated the standards we set for ourselves as leaders. With a wealth of insight on business and human nature drawn from his own professional experience as well as classic and emerging thought leaders, John provides his clients with tools to reframe challenges into opportunities for growth and action.

Margaret Caput, Vice President of Human Resources, Trimont Real Estate Advisors

John has a unique ability to draw and ignite the right balance of the heart and head of leadership from our Executive Leaders. He understands that in today’s complex global environment, Executive Leaders that create and demonstrate a personal connection with the leadership of their teams create cultures of high engagement and strong business results, particularly in times of constant change.

Loretta Pardo, Vice President Global Organizational Development, Assurant