4 ways great leaders transform organizations

I'm putting the finishing touches on my upcoming book, Break the Mold. It's filled with real-life stories and examples of the principles I write about in these weekly emails.

If you enjoy these articles, you'll love the book because it's not just about accounting or running a firm; it's about thinking differently to create remarkable business outcomes. The pre-order link will be available very soon...

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4 ways you can transform your organization today (regardless of title)

I received a thoughtful reply to one of my newsletters:

"Not everyone can be the CEO and be in the know...I hope you will be able to address how to effectuate the change you want to see within an organization where you are not part of the strategic decision-making. I do hope this newsletter is for mid-level leaders as well.”

Here's how I see it:

The things that make a great CEO are the same things that make a great LEADER—no matter the title.

I never planned to be a CEO. I didn't have a career path mapped out. I trusted that if I did great work, did right by people, and focused on becoming the best leader I could be, good things would happen.

And then one day... I found myself as the next CEO of Baker Tilly.

As I reflect on my career journey and the hundreds of conversations I've had as an advisor to CEOs and leadership teams, there are four things I believe all effective leaders excel at—no matter the title or where you fall on the organizational chart.

Consistently do these four things, and you are likely to play a pivotal role in the transformation and growth of your team, department, organization, and company as a whole.

1. Align people to the vision/strategy

Great leaders need to organize and inspire people to strive toward a destination different from the current reality.

Now, if you're the CEO, you are responsible for setting the vision of the entire organization (with help—you don't have to do it alone).

If you aren't the CEO, you have the opportunity to rally your team (however big or small) around the company's vision and goals.

In fact, you even have the opportunity to tailor the company's vision to make it more tangible and relevant to your department/team etc.

Look, people need to know where we're going and believe you are the person to lead them there. So you've got to be able to communicate the destination and make it feel real for people.

Take time to understand the organization's vision and strategy and think about how YOUR team plays a role in helping the greater org achieve it.

Then, help your team members understand how THEY can make an impact within your department and therefore make a greater impact on the organization.

If your team makes a meaningful contribution to your company's vision and goals, good things should happen for all of you.

Action Item: The next time you meet with your team, add an agenda item to the start of the meeting. Take the first 5-10 minutes to refresh your team on where the organization/team is headed, why it’s important, and the role you all play in getting there.

2. Push people to achieve more than they think is possible

I believe the role of a CEO (and therefore any leader) is to enable people to achieve more than they think they're capable of.

The greatest leaders are multipliers for their teams. They enable the team to achieve 3x, 5x, 10x what they thought was possible.

Look, we all have limiting beliefs. We all suffer from imposter syndrome (me included), and it often gets in the way of elevating ourselves to achieve more or pursue greater opportunities.

I wouldn't have made it to the CEO chair if other leaders hadn't called me to greater opportunities BEFORE I thought I was ready.

In fact, I remember when I was pushed into a role to build Baker Tilly’s international services platform. My predecessor as CEO encouraged me to take the leap, and when asked, “What is it?’, he responded, “I don’t know and you’ll figure it out.”

There’s a lot of lessons there, but I will tell you that saying “yes” to that opportunity ended up being a primary factor in how I eventually became CEO.

(I tell more about that story and the implications of it in my book.)

Then there's the time I first stated that I wanted Baker Tilly to be a $1.5 billion firm by 2025. I'll never forget the look on the faces of a couple of leadership team members... they were shocked. It didn't seem logical.

But I believed in US. I believed we could do it, even if people couldn't see it for themselves.

Spoiler alert: We did. And we accomplished it 2 years ahead of schedule.

If you want to be a transformative leader, you need to be the type of person who sees the potential in others and challenges them to achieve more.

So, be intentional about:

• Investing meaningful time with team members to understand where they want to take their careers.

• Elevating people into new roles or responsibilities that they might not see for themselves.

• Being willing to set a BOLD destination or vision, even if people might think it's impossible.

To me, this is one of the most fun and rewarding parts of being a leader.

You have the opportunity to elevate people to greater impact and enable a team of people to accomplish more than they ever believed was possible.

Action Item: Think about a high performer on your team. Forget their current role and title… if you could design the ideal role for this person, based on their skillset, what would it be?

3. Prioritize intentional development

I remember a particular 1:1 call with a leader who oversaw a geography in our organization.

He said to me, "Wow, this is different. I'm used to having to defend the numbers."

See, he always sent an agenda and came prepared for our meetings—which, don't get me wrong, I greatly appreciated.

At the beginning of each meeting, he would start going through the P&L and talking about production, hours, etc.

In one of our first meetings, I stopped him.

"I appreciate the time you've put into this AND I don't want to talk about this."

That caught his attention.

I went on, "If I have certain questions about the numbers, I'll ask. I want to talk about you. I want to talk about your team. I want to talk about any difficult things you are dealing with. I want to talk about enabling our strategy. I want to talk about how I can help you achieve more."

From my experience, many 1:1's between leaders and their reportees are focused on directing them and talking about things that have already happened.

That's not development….or leadership.

That's focusing on what's urgent (and often in the past), not what's important.

Development means taking intentional time to work ON the business AND work ON the person.

How is the person doing?
What do they aspire to do within the organization?
What areas are they looking to gain more experience?
What situations can you talk through together?
How can you help them achieve more?

That's development.

If your time with your team members is full of status reports and reviewing documents or decks, you're missing the opportunity to help them grow exponentially.

Great leaders prioritize the development of the people they are leading.

Action item: The next 1:1 on your calendar, don’t talk about anything that’s happened in the past. Focus on the future. Pick two of the questions I’ve outlined above and ask them during your meeting.

4. Have the necessary difficult conversations

They are called difficult conversations for a reason. They're hard.

I get it. I've had hundreds of them, and it still doesn't mean they are easy.

Just because they are hard doesn't mean they aren't necessary.

I once wasted 5 years of someone's professional life because I was afraid to have a difficult conversation. I regret it to this day.

I wasted years of their professional life because I didn't allow them the opportunity to grow, which, in this case, would have likely been by them finding a new organization that would have been a better fit.

I put it off because I didn't want to hurt the person.

I knew I could fix it by conjuring up new positions, titles, and responsibilities.

Looking back, I hoped I could fix it and ‘knew’ I couldn’t.

I continue to see the leaders I advise struggle with this because they're afraid of causing short-term pain.

Think about it, though…if you’re really here to empower people to be the best version of themselves, don’t you think having a hard conversation can help someone get there?

I do. Because I’ve seen it happen countless times.

It’s often the hard conversations that illuminate people’s blind spots and shortcomings.

And although it may hurt in the short term, it allows people to grow.

If we hold back from having these conversations, then we aren't allowing people to receive feedback and make incremental changes. Those small changes can lead to massive growth over time.

I bet you can think of a difficult conversation (or a few) that you need to have.

Action item: Identify and schedule time to have one difficult conversation this week. If you don’t have time on the calendar with someone, schedule something. Important things can’t wait. You owe it to the person, yourself, and the organization.

Great leadership isn't based on a title

To go back to the initial question that started this email... you don’t have to be the CEO or be part of the strategic decision-making team to make an impact on your organization.

Your ability to lead people and create differentiated results doesn't hinge on a title.

It starts with making the intentional choice to act as a leader.

1. Align people to the vision/strategy.

2. Push people to achieve more than they think is possible.

3. Prioritize intentional development.

4. Have the necessary difficult conversations.

These four things are accessible to everyone to start implementing this week.

Go be a great leader, no matter your title.

With intention,
Alan D Whitman