ISSUE #015| THE LEADERSHIP CONTRARIAN
Over the last 35 years, I’ve had a front-row seat to something I can’t ignore.
I’ve seen leaders get the help they needed and navigate challenges they didn’t think they could overcome.
And I’ve seen leaders just as capable stay stuck in the same patterns for years.
Same level of effort. Same level of intelligence. Very different outcomes.
I’ve seen some build thriving companies, healthy teams, strong families.
And I’ve seen others lose those same things - not because they didn’t care or lacked ability - but because something underneath it all never changed.
That difference has stayed with me.
Because it raises a hard question: What actually allows a leader to grow?
We’ve never had more access to leadership information - books, podcasts, conferences, frameworks. And yet, a lot of leaders are still stuck.
Not because they aren’t working hard. Not because they don’t care.
But because growth doesn’t come from more information. It comes from what actually changes you.
If you’re reading this, you’re already doing more than most. You’re thinking about your leadership, trying to improve, investing time to grow. And still… there are probably areas where you feel like you should be further along. You know more than you used to, but you’re not always seeing the level of change you expected.
Most leaders don’t have a knowledge problem. They have a blind spot and application problem.
Blind spots aren’t just gaps in knowledge. They can be beliefs you don’t question, patterns you’ve normalized, or weaknesses you’ve learned to work around.
And the tricky thing is, our brain is incredibly good at convincing us we’re seeing the full picture.
It does it with our physical eyesight. Do you know that we all have a blind spot in our eyes, and we don’t even notice it? It’s true. It occurs where the optic nerve leaves the back of the eye.
And our brain does the same thing with how we see ourselves.
For most leaders, there are very few places where they can be fully honest about what’s really going on. Their team reports to them. Their investors may have expectations. Their peers are often competitors. Even at home, the dynamics are different.
So they filter. They manage. They carry it.
And over time, that limits what can actually be seen and addressed.
When I look back on my own life, some of the most meaningful growth I’ve experienced came from people who stepped into my life and helped me see what I couldn’t see on my own.
Mentors. Coaches. Teachers. A Scoutmaster when I was young.
You can’t see yourself clearly from the inside. You don’t always know what matters most right now. And even when you do, you don’t always execute on it consistently.
So you keep learning.
But your leadership only changes incrementally.
A coach stands outside the frame you’re in and helps you see it.
What makes coaching different is the relationship.
There’s a level of trust that develops where a leader can finally say what’s actually true - and you can hear what’s actually true - without it being filtered through politics, hierarchy, or consequence.
Information expands your thinking. Coaching changes your behavior. A book can show you what to do. A coach helps you actually do it.
Books can inform you. Coaching can transform you.
Why coaching accelerates growth
Clarity. Focus. Application.
Clarity - You begin to see what’s actually holding you back - your patterns, your assumptions, your blind spots.
Focus - Instead of trying to improve everything, you work on the one thing that will create the most impact right now.
Application - You don’t just learn, you practice, adjust, and build new habits over time.
That’s where real growth happens.
And when that kind of growth happens, it doesn’t stay contained.
Your team feels it. Your communication shifts. Your decisions get better. Your culture starts to change.
Because leadership always cascades.
There’s also a practical reality here.
The return on coaching isn’t theoretical.
Across thousands of organizations, leadership coaching consistently produces measurable results, often several times the investment.
The research consistently shows that learning alone rarely leads to sustained behavioral change, suggesting only a small percentage of people - often cited around 10 to 15 percent - are genuinely self-aware, even among high performers. Which means most of us are operating with a limited view of what’s actually driving our behavior.
Leaders gain insights, frameworks, even motivation, but without something more, very little of it actually sticks.
When coaching is added, the ability to apply what’s been learned increases significantly, often by several multiples. And more importantly, the change lasts. In some cases, measurable change is still present 12 to 18 months later.
That’s not surprising.
Because when a leader changes, everything changes.
I’ve seen this over and over again.
Leaders who are smart, driven, and committed, who have already built something meaningful, but are stuck on something they can’t quite solve.
It might be culture.
“How do I clean this up without blowing everything up?”
A key employee.
“How do I give them the best chance to succeed and know when it’s time to let them go?”
Or growth.
“How do we actually get to the next level without breaking what’s already working?”
Or just the pressure of it all.
Leaders who say:
“I knew this was hard, but I didn’t know it would be this hard.”
And what’s interesting is, most of the time, they’ve already thought about these problems. Read about them. Talked about them. Tried to work through them on their own.
But they’re still stuck.
Then something shifts. An AHA moment occurs.
They say something out loud they haven’t said before.
They see a pattern they hadn’t seen.
They recognize what’s actually driving the issue.
And once that happens, things start to move.
Decisions get clearer.
Conversations get more direct.
The team responds differently.
Not because they learned something new.
But because they finally saw what was already there.
The outcome? Leaders who are stuck get clarity. Leaders who are scattered get focused. Leaders who are carrying too much alone finally have someone to process with, think with, and grow with.
And over time, they don’t just learn more.
They become different.
Let me say this plainly:
You can read your way into better ideas.
But most people cannot coach themselves into meaningful transformation.
A small percentage can.
Most cannot.
Your leadership matters. The work you’re doing matters. It matters to your family, your team, and the people you serve.
And leadership, done well, doesn’t just produce results.
It produces clarity, traction, and a sense that your effort is actually building something meaningful.
For most leaders, the next level of growth doesn’t come from learning more.
It comes from working with someone who helps you see clearly and change intentionally.
Where are you still trying to grow on your own… when what you really need is someone to help you change?
If this was helpful to you, email me and let me know.
That’s it.
Until next time,
Keep learning.
Keep growing.
And God bless,
- Michael
