As a holistic leadership coach, I have the privilege of working with many inspiring leaders and organizations. One of my clients is a CEO who has poured his heart and soul into building his company from the ground up. With the business now on solid footing, he’s facing a critical inflection point — the transition from scrappy startup to a more mature, established company.

Micro-Emperor to...Mega-Empowerer!

In the early days, he had his fingers in every aspect of the business, as many founders do. That level of control and attention to detail served the company well - initially. But as the organization has grown, continuing to be as deeply steeped in the details becomes a bottleneck. The key at this juncture is to put the right culture, context, strategy, management systems, and teams in place to scale sustainably.

Letting Go is Letting GROW

Now, letting go of control is hard for any leader — especially one as passionate and committed as this CEO. But, through our work together, he’s learned to step back from the day-to-day, trust his people and processes, and focus his energy on strategic growth. We're establishing clear processes, expectations, and lines of communication so his team can step up, take ownership, and make decisions with confidence — on their own, without him — and that’s a good thing.

The New Leadership Mindset That Emerges

This kind of transition requires a fundamental mindset shift which is difficult for most leaders - until they reach their limits of overload and get the right kind of support. You need to learn how to trust yourself, the systems you have created, and empower others.

As part of the support for this journey, I’ve taken my CEO client and his leadership team through my Define Your True Self course, which provides tools for personal leadership, better communication, conflict resolution, giving feedback - while uplifting others on your team. We've already seen exciting progress as he embraces this new chapter.

For a deeper dive into this CEO’s journey and the power of holistic leadership, check out the conversation I had with my creative director, Moly, on this very topic where he brings up this topic: