Most organizations are over-trained and under-led.

If that line makes you bristle a little, you are exactly the audience I’m trying to reach.

We take a contrarian consulting philosophy – my online services are intentionally designed to run against the grain of “best practice” leadership development, which consistently underdelivers in achieving its primary objective: to develop world class leadership talent.

This article explains how—and why that matters for you.

Why conventional leadership development underdelivers

If you’re like most organizations, you already invest heavily in leadership:

• Courses and workshops
• 360 surveys and assessments
• Offsites, retreats, and “team building” days
• Coaching programs that quietly target “problem leaders”

Yet, despite all that activity, you may still see:

• Slow or politically fraught decision-making
• Teams that are polite, but not truly cohesive
• Strategy that doesn’t translate into daily behavior
• Leaders who can describe organizational values, but can’t lead with them when it’s hard, such as during a crisis

The problem isn’t that you’ve done too little. It’s that you’ve been sold the same things everyone else buys.

My core contrarian approach was developed to build a consulting brand by disagreeing thoughtfully with prevailing practice and focusing relentlessly on value and results instead of activity and deliverables.

My in-person and online leadership services take that same stance.

Contrarian Principle #1: Stop buying hours. Start buying outcomes.

Traditional consulting is based on inputs: days, workshops, modules, and log-in counts. I have argued consistently that this is the wrong unit of value. Instead, fees and design should be anchored on the business impact and strategic outcomes the client wants to achieve

What this means for you

When we work together in-person or online, we do not start with:

• “A 10-module program over six months…”
• “…for 25 leaders with x hours of virtual classroom time.”

We start with questions like:

• What decisions need to be made faster and better by your leaders?
• What cultural shifts would be worth seven figures in long-term value?
• Where are you currently over-managed and under-led?
• Where are your leaders headed in the near, mid-term and longer-term. How aligned are they with your organizations Vision and Mission?
• How can your leaders deal effectively with a crisis, whilst adhering to your organizations core values?

Then we design a combination of online coaching, assessment based insight, and targeted interventions that are priced against that value—not against my calendar.

The benefit for you: a clear business case, capped investment, and transparency on what “success” looks like in reality.

Contrarian Principle #2: Don’t “develop leaders”; change how they behave in real situations.

A typical leadership curriculum is topic-driven:

• Month 1: Communication
• Month 2: Coaching skills
• Month 3: Conflict management

By design, that structure is comfortable and familiar. It is also exactly why so many programs feel generic and struggle to translate into real behavior change.

A contrarian approach starts with moments of truth, not topics.

In my work, we frame those moments around what I call The Leadership Triad™—three domains where leadership is most visible and most tested:

• Daily Leadership: Leading with VALUES
  This is how you show up every day: the standards you model, the behaviours you reward or tolerate, and the trust you build. It’s about aligning decisions, conversations, and routines with the values you say matter most.
• Strategic Leadership: Leading with VISION
  This is how you set direction: clarifying what success looks like, making hard choices about priorities, and helping people see how their work connects to the bigger picture. It’s about creating focus and forward momentum, not just managing the status quo.
• Crisis Leadership: Leading with VALOR
  This is how you respond under pressure: facing uncomfortable truths, acting decisively with incomplete information, and protecting both people and principles when the stakes are high. It’s about courage, composure, and doing the right thing when it’s hardest.

Together, The Leadership Triad™ helps leaders translate ideals into concrete behaviour—every day, over the long term, and in the moments that matter most.

Remember: More POWERFUL questions help set the table for more impactful Leadership Development

Instead of asking, “What content should we cover?”, we ask more powerful questions like:

• When a team member quietly stops contributing, day after day, what does Leading with VALUES look like in your world?
• When a critical strategic cross-functional priority is stuck, what does Leading with VISION look like in your world?
• When a key customer is at risk of leaving, what does Leading with VALOR look like in your world?

These are examples of typical questions that move us from talking about content in the abstract to exploring the real leadership moments that matter most.

From there, in-person and online sessions, tools, and coaching are built to rehearse and support those moments—grounded in your organization’s reality, not in generic textbook scenarios.

Contrarian Principle #3: Assessments are tools, not trophies.

ACT is explicit about being provocative and cutting through industry myths; one of those myths is that more tools automatically equal more value.

I use world-class tools, including:

• Everything DiSC® profiles for individuals and teams
• The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team® for intact leadership teams

But we use them contrarily:

1. No assessment for assessment’s sake.
   We never administer a profile without a clear line of sight to a business issue or leadership behaviour that needs to change.
2. Online integration, not one-off events.
   Reports are integrated into our online coaching and The Leadership Coach™ platform so insights are revisited, applied, and translated into real commitments—rather than admired once and filed away.
3. Linked directly to the 4M Learning and Growth™ Pathway:
   Each leader’s profile becomes the raw material for their 4M Online Learning Journal, turning insight into a focused, personal growth plan:

• Motivators – clarifying what genuinely energizes and sustains them in their work, both intrinsically and extrinsically.
• Models – identifying the role models that they want to emulate and leadership frameworks that most fit with their reality and current state.
• Mentors – identifying the individuals and groups who will both challenge and support their ongoing development.
• Mastery (Mastery Experiences) – defining specific, observable behaviours they will deliberately practice in simulations (e.g. safe practice workshop-based role-playing) followed by real-world situations where the risks are higher, accompanied with timely feedback.

         4. The result: online assessment usage that is lean, purposeful, and visibly  tied to performance and culture – not another “initiative.”

Contrarian Principle #4: Coaching is a strategic lever, not a remedial perk.

In many organizations, coaching is framed as:

“We’ll get you a coach… because something is wrong.”

My work with senior executives shows the opposite pattern: the highest-potential and highest-impact leaders are the ones who benefit most from direct, provocative coaching that focuses on value creation, not remediation.

My in-person and online coaching services reflect that:

• Candid, business-first conversations.
  We talk about strategy, value, and decisions—not just “how you’re feeling about your leadership.”
• Contrarian questions.
  You can expect to be asked, “Why are you tolerating that?” and “Who benefits from things staying as they are?” as often as “What’s getting in your way?”
• Integrated with real work.
  Coaching is tied to real work, strategy sessions, and live change initiatives—where the stakes, politics, and opportunities are real.

Whether delivered 1:1 or in small cohorts, coaching is positioned as an investment in your most pivotal leaders and leadership teams, not as quiet damage control.

Contrarian Principle #5: Marketing should teach our buyers to think differently, not chase them.

I have long argued against traditional sales clichés such as obsessing over “elevator pitches” and chasing prospects; instead, I emphasize becoming an “person of interest” by publishing strong points of view and engaging my clients as a peer.

I market—and deliver—my in-person and online services the same way:

• Thought leadership over hard selling.
  Articles, webinars, and online sessions are designed to provoke new thinking in Boards, CEOs, and HR leaders about what leadership development should do.
• Peer-level dialogue, not vendor scripts.
  Initial conversations are working sessions focused on your daily issues, strategic challenges and opportunities, and potential crises, not qualification checklists.
• Clear value logic.
  I will quantify what better leadership is worth in your context—through improved retention, faster execution, better risk management, and more cohesive teams—and then structure our work against that value.

If you are looking for a “vendor” to deliver a standard catalog of online courses, I am not the right fit for you. If you want a partner who will challenge your assumptions and stand with you in front of your most senior leaders, we should talk.

How my online services work in practice

While each engagement is customized, a typical online partnership may include:

1. Leadership Reality Scan
   A focused, time-boxed diagnostic that surfaces your most critical leadership gaps across VALUES, VISION, and VALOR—without a six-month culture study.
2. Targeted use of Everything DiSC® and The Five Behaviors®
   Selective deployment of assessments where they will generate maximum traction for specific teams, roles, or strategic projects.
3. The Leadership Coach™ online platform
   A practical, AI-supported tool (built around The Leadership Triad™ and the 4M Learning and Growth™ Pathway) that leaders can access anywhere, anytime to reflect, plan, and rehearse for real situations.
4. 4M Learning Journal™ for key leaders
   Structured online reflection that turns insight into action—and creates a clear record of growth over time.
5. Executive and team coaching
   Online sessions with me focused on real decisions, real dynamics, and real stakes for your Board, executive team, and senior and mid-level leaders.
6. Measurable outcomes review
   Periodic reviews to test this simple question: “Is leadership in this organization demonstrably stronger, faster, and more aligned than it was six months ago?” If not, we adjust.

Is a contrarian approach right for you?

This is not a fit-and-forget training approach—and it is not for everyone.

You will get the greatest value if:

• You are willing to challenge sacred cows about how leaders “should” be developed.
• You want a thinking partner, not a training vendor—someone who will question assumptions, not simply deliver workshops.
• You are ready to measure success by strategic and behavioural outcomes, not just attendance, satisfaction scores, or learning hours.

If that sounds like you, I invite you to explore how a contrarian, value-focused approach—integrated with proven tools like Everything DiSC® and The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team®—can accelerate the growth of your leaders and strengthen the cohesion of your senior teams.

If you’d like to explore whether this is the right fit for your organization, let’s schedule a brief conversation focused on one question:

“Where would radically better leadership change the trajectory of your organization in the next 12–18 months?”

Call me at 780-995-8189 – That’s my personal mobile # – If I don’t answer, leave a short message and I will get back to you within 24 hours or email me at brianward@affinitymc.com now to discuss.

From there, we can determine whether a contrarian partnership makes sense.

Everything DiSC® and The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team® are registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. The Leadership Triad™, The 4M Learning and Growth™ Pathway, and The Leadership Coach™ are trademarks of Affinity Consulting and Training.

..