Years ago, I joined a company in turmoil: false starts on financial performance, leadership changes, culture clashes, trust issues, and an uncertain team. 

The leadership I’d seen modeled to this point was freshly in play before I joined.

Directive, certain, and guarded.

Authoritative, not collaborative. Share only what’s necessary.

No emotion.

I’ve seen this work before in other companies.

And when I joined, I brought some of that with me without fully realizing it. 

I’d led before. I’d navigated significant change, scale, and pressure. 

But this company? New terrain. Different culture. Different context.

And the more the old model was used by leadership, the more friction was created.

By the time I was asked to take over as CXO, things had escalated. The strain had taken a deep, visible, and even public toll on the company and the employees. 

🔥 “Tire fire” wouldn’t have been an exaggeration.

🙋🏻‍♀️ I accepted knowing full well the challenge ahead of us. A complete turnaround. Rebuilding trust, stabilizing the company, and setting it on a positive path for financial performance. No small ask.   

I had to get clear not only on what the company needed—what to keep, what to shed, and what to evolve—but how I needed to rise and adapt to meet it. 

⏰ That was my wake-up call.

The company needed to be heard. It needed clear-eyed acknowledgment of what we were facing and a sense that we’d navigate it together. Something more real and human.

I had to let go of the leadership blueprint I’d learned—the one I’d been told for decades was the “right way”, even though it never quite felt like the right fit for me. And lean into something more authentic and human—the leadership I was truly capable of.

That meant:

(a) figuring out which parts of my source code—my deep-set beliefs, instincts, and emotional patterns that had quietly shaped how I led—I needed to evolve and those I needed to lean into. 

(b) upgrading my operating system: how I showed up every day, communicated, made decisions, and what I shared and didn’t share.

These may sound simple, but it’s a lot of hard and uncomfortable work. But it’s worth it. I recommend finding a partner to help you through it and see what you can’t see.  

😬 I also had to ask for hard feedback. Talking with employees, especially those most affected by the chaos, was invaluable. The committed ones will honestly tell you what’s going on, what’s not working, what they need, and will help you move it forward.  

So, where did we end up? I worked closely with the founder to stabilize the company, focusing on the mission. It wasn’t easy, but over time, we re-established trust, stabilized the company, and regained momentum.

📈 That shift—upgrading my leadership identity and approach from default patterns and learned blueprints to intentional and authentic leadership—was what ultimately allowed the company to get back on track.