For most of my career, I tried to lead the way I thought I was supposed to. I borrowed language from leaders I admired. I adopted styles that worked for people smarter, louder, or more polished than me. I followed playbooks that promised results if I could just execute them well enough.
LEADERSHIP
For most of my career, I tried to lead the way I thought I was supposed to. I borrowed language from leaders I admired. I adopted styles that worked for people smarter, louder, or more polished than me. I followed playbooks that promised results if I could just execute them well enough.
And for a while, it worked, at least on the surface. But eventually, something broke. Not my performance. Not my results. Me. What I learned the hard way— and what I now see in leaders everywhere— is that the greatest threat to leadership today isn’ t a lack of skill, strategy, or ambition. It’ s imitation. Too many leaders are exhausted not because leadership is hard, but because they’ re trying to lead like someone they’ re not.
That realization changed everything about how I lead— and how I help others do the same.
Why This Work Matters
I’ ve spent the last two decades in rooms where pressure is high and expectations are even higher— executive teams, founders, Fortune 500 leaders, fast-scaling organizations, and individuals carrying more responsibility than they ever imagined.
But I didn’ t get here by climbing a traditional ladder.
I’ ve never been overly impressed by titles, résumés, or how put-together someone looks on paper. I care about who people are when the performance drops. Who they are when decisions get heavy. Who they are when the old formulas stop working.
What I do today is simple to say but hard to live: I help leaders trade performance for presence and lead from who they actually are— not who they think they’ re supposed to be.
This work isn’ t theory for me. It’ s personal.
I know what it costs to lead out of alignment. I know what it feels like to succeed externally while quietly unraveling internally. And I’ ve seen— again and again— that clarity, conviction, and sustainable leadership don’ t come from copying the right people. They come from knowing yourself deeply enough to lead honestly.
The Problem with Leading Like " Them "
Most leaders don’ t wake up intending to be inauthentic. They wake up trying to survive. So they borrow. They mimic. They model themselves after former bosses, internet gurus, bestselling authors, industry norms, or leadership styles that once worked in a different season. And slowly, without realizing it, leaders start building their leadership around someone else’ s personality, values, and wiring.
Here’ s the cost. When you lead like them, you lose clarity. Decisions take longer because you’ re filtering everything through someone else’ s lens. Trust erodes— not because you’ re dishonest, but because people sense inconsistency. Burnout creeps in because the energy required to maintain a version of yourself that isn’ t real is unsustainable. Eventually, leadership becomes heavier than it needs to be.
Not because the work is wrong— but because the way you’ re doing it is.
What Changes When You Lead Like " You "
Leading like yourself doesn’ t mean lowering the bar or abandoning discipline. It doesn’ t mean“ do whatever feels good.” It means alignment.
When leaders lead from who they are, decisions become clearer, communication becomes more grounded and trust deepens because people know what to expect. In doing so, growth becomes sustainable instead of exhausting.
The leaders I work with don’ t suddenly become perfect. But they become consistent. And consistency is where credibility lives.
Identity Mapping
In Lead Like You, Not Like Them, we don’ t start with tactics. We start with identity. The core work we do is a condensed version of a larger methodology I use called Identity Mapping— a process designed to help leaders clearly understand how they’ re wired, what they value, and the impact they’ re actually making on a daily basis. Because here’ s what most leaders never stop to examine: their leadership decisions are being driven by beliefs they’ ve never named. In this session, leaders assess three critical things:
1. How Their Brain Works: Not how they wish it worked— but how they actually process information, make decisions, respond to pressure, and solve problems.
2. What They Value: Not the values written on a wall or a website, but the ones that quietly drive their choices, priorities, and reactions.
3. The impact they believe they’ re making: The gap between intention and impact is where most leadership breakdowns www. aamdhq. org TRENDS FEBRUARY 2026 | 21