For as long as I can remember I’ve been fascinated by the intersection of people and systems, specifically the interplay of leadership and systems design. That fascination has driven a deep desire to leave the world a better place than I found it, and I’ve been drawn to the seemingly intractable problems of systemic oppression. In undergrad, I studied international development, natural resources, and sustainability which led me initially to work for non-profits at the intersection of extreme poverty, conflict, and natural resource extraction. It didn’t take long for me to see that we were working on the symptoms, not the underlying root causes and complex dynamics of deeper global systemic issues. I quickly hit a point of burnout because of the lack of resources, scale, and power that passionate people working in the non-profit sector experience.
In the ensuing years, I pivoted into building software that enabled that sector to map systems and networks dynamically. Funnily enough, the systems maps we and our clients and customers were making kept pointing to the same root causes that I’d seen on the ground in the development space: complex political and economic systems and the role of corporations in perpetuating systemic challenges. Believing that the leadership of those companies was the greatest point of leverage to effect change, I started a consulting firm focused on leadership and team development. Not long after, we rolled our firm into another firm focused on the systems of organizational transformation and new ways of working.
For the next seven years, I helped leaders of large, complex enterprises and rapidly scaling organizations transform their organizations from legacy models of working and leading to future-proof, resilient systems capable of constant change. I focused on ways of working and operating model design and taught transformation leadership teams how to work differently to meet the pace of change, and then scale those practices alongside digital transformation initiatives.
Along the way, I saw over and over again that transformation initiatives failed when executives wanted digital transformation and new ways of working as a silver bullet to lower cost, increase speed, or create efficiencies. Over and over again, the consistent differentiator of successful cultural or digital transformation was the quality of leadership driving that change. The highest point of leverage in improving systems is a leadership team that operates from a clear purpose, with humility and creates connection. I began to focus on strategic clarity, leadership team alignment, and executive coaching in these transformation engagements.
This emerging focus led me to Trium, where I have the great privilege of doing that work with the world’s best practitioners in human performance, leadership, and transformation. Our clients are committed to their own inner transformation just as much as they are to organizational transformation, and that is exactly why I find our work to be so fulfilling and so impactful.
