The Ultimate Growth For Leaders

When I left the NFL, I knew something had to change. What got me to where I was wouldn’t take me to where I wanted to be. The grit, hard work, and determination had served me well, and they’ll always have their place. But the growth I was being called into wasn’t about pushing harder or doing more.

It was about 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣.

The truth is, as leaders, we’ve all mastered resilience. We’ve pushed through, carried the load, and kept moving forward, no matter the cost. And we do it, day after day—at work and at home.

But as we look around, it doesn't take long to realize that this approach is costing us. Unprecedented burnout rates. Mental and emotional challenges are around every corner we turn. Our daily energy isn't used to get better as much as it is used to try to keep it all together.

As a result, we're leading and living on the margins of our capacity, disconnected from our center.

And, it's undermining the sustainability of our performance. It's robbing us of the passion that we once had when we first started the job we do. It's crippling our relationships as we're constantly on edge.

More than anything, it's leaving us not just with tired eyes, but a tired soul—affecting our ability to truly flourish in every area of our lives.

This is why the heartbeat behind the messages I share isn't about trying harder. It isn't about pulling yourself up by sheer willpower and trying again.

It's about inviting you into a paradigm shift to see and embrace growth in a new way. It’s about accepting that this next evolution of growth involves examining the areas of our lives that we have often ignored in the name of getting the job done.

Looking at our relationship with self. Facing the fears at the root of our ambition. Choosing self-compassion over self-critcism. The list goes on.

And the great paradox is that when we embrace this other side of growth, we unlock capacity. We create the mental and emotional bandwidth needed to sustain the pace we’re running and not burn out. We create the inner bandwidth needed to grow through the inevitable setbacks we’re going to face.

More than anything, we create the capacity needed to show up at home after a long, hard day at work and still have what we need to be wildly present with the people we love the most.

And when we do this, we don't just become better leaders—we become better people.