Leadership evolution is a journey of continuous learning and adaptation. This article explores how leaders have transformed their approaches based on critical insights. Drawing from expert perspectives, it reveals key strategies for effective leadership in today’s dynamic business environment.
- Shift from Problem-Solver to Space-Holder
- Embrace Reality Over Ego
- Empower Team Through Delegation
- Balance Ambition with Empathy
- Transform Feedback into Strategic Innovation
- Develop Foresight in Leadership
- Structure Enables Collaboration
- Practice Silence and Curiosity
- Build Capability, Not Dependency
- Prioritize Business Needs Over Tech
- Process Feedback with Agency
- Trust Team’s Strengths
- Create Space for Others to Lead
- Set the Stage for Success
- Lead with Space, Not Dominance
- Communicate with Purpose and Clarity
- Design Systems for Sustainable Excellence
- Prioritize Accessibility and Responsiveness
Shift from Problem-Solver to Space-Holder
One moment that stuck with me was when a team member told me—very candidly—that I was “too solution-focused” in meetings. At first, I took it as a compliment. I thought being decisive and fast was what good leadership looked like. But what they meant was, I was skipping over the listening part—shutting down exploration too early because I was eager to “fix” things.
That hit me hard. I realized I was unintentionally steamrolling ideas and signaling that speed mattered more than collaboration. So I made a shift: I started leading with questions, not answers. I’d say, “Walk me through your thinking” or “What’s the angle I might be missing?” It slowed the process down just enough to let better ideas surface—and gave the team space to feel heard and trusted. The feedback transformed how I showed up: from problem-solver to space-holder. And honestly, our outcomes got way better because of it.
Daniel Haiem
CEO, App Makers LA
Embrace Reality Over Ego
I received transformative feedback early in my agency career when a client bluntly told me I was prioritizing my ideas over truly listening to their needs. This hit hard because I prided myself on understanding customers, but I was actually projecting my own vision onto their problems.
This feedback led me to develop our “empathy-first” approach. I now start every client relationship with deep listening sessions and implement the 30-minute rule—adding buffer time to meetings specifically for understanding client perspectives before jumping to solutions.
The impact was measurable. One eCommerce client was struggling with conversion rates despite beautiful creative. After truly listening to their customer feedback (including negative reviews), we completely restructured their funnel to address actual customer concerns rather than what we thought looked good. Conversions increased by 52% within three weeks.
Self-awareness became my leadership superpower. As Jeb Blount says, “The warm comfort of delusion is much more appealing than the cold truth of reality. But you cannot be delusional and successful at the same time.” Embracing critical feedback helped me build a culture where we value reality over ego—even when it stings.
Samir ElKamouny
Founder & CEO, Fetch & Funnel
Empower Team Through Delegation
I once received feedback that significantly shifted how I approach leadership, particularly in how I communicate with my team and clients. Early on, I prided myself on being a hands-on leader who directly managed all aspects of the business. I believed that by being deeply involved, I could ensure everything ran smoothly. However, a trusted team member once told me that my constant involvement made it difficult for others to take ownership of their responsibilities. This feedback initially caught me off guard, but it made me reflect on how I could foster a more empowering environment for my team.
After processing this, I realized that my approach, while well-intentioned, was limiting the growth of both my team and the business. I made a conscious effort to step back, delegate more, and give my team the space to make decisions. I also worked on my communication, providing clearer guidance but giving room for them to take initiative. This shift not only improved team morale but also increased our efficiency, as team members felt more invested in the business’s success.
Incorporating this feedback into my leadership style allowed me to focus more on strategic growth and client relationships. By trusting my team more and creating an environment of mutual respect and responsibility, we were able to handle more complex client needs, especially in tax preparation and monthly bookkeeping services. Clients have noticed the improvement in how quickly and effectively we respond to their needs, and our streamlined processes have made their experience smoother.
This experience fundamentally changed how I lead and how I run my bookkeeping business. It reinforced the importance of trusting your team, empowering them, and stepping back to focus on high-level strategy.
Taryn Pumphrey
President, Ledger Lift
Balance Ambition with Empathy
One of the most transformative moments in my leadership journey came when I received critical feedback from a senior client early in my entrepreneurial career. The client pointed out that while I was extremely driven and results-oriented, I often became too focused on execution and missed out on the human element of leadership—building deeper personal connections with both clients and my team.
Initially, this feedback hit me hard because I always believed that delivering results was the ultimate mark of leadership. However, after reflecting deeply, I realized that leadership is not just about outcomes; it’s equally about empathy, listening, and connection.
This feedback transformed my leadership style significantly. I consciously started creating a people-first culture. I implemented structured practices like Fun Fridays, Team Dinners, and Monday Meditation to build a vibrant and emotionally connected workplace. We also introduced flexible seating, an open-door communication policy, and a non-toxic work culture where every voice matters. These changes made our team feel valued beyond just work deliverables.
On the client side, I began to focus more on understanding their personal journeys, pain points, and aspirations rather than treating interactions as purely transactional. I started investing more time in monthly feedback sessions, ensuring complete transparency, and even celebrating their personal milestones like birthdays or professional wins on social media.
This shift created stronger loyalty—both from clients and employees—and improved our overall retention and brand reputation. Most importantly, it made me a more grounded and human-centric leader.
Looking back, that feedback shaped me into a leader who balances ambition with empathy—and that has been the true catalyst behind our sustained growth and positive culture.
Sahil Sachdeva
CEO & Founder, Level Up PR
Transform Feedback into Strategic Innovation
One of the most transformative pieces of feedback I received came from a senior engineer who said, “It feels like ideas only move forward if they come from the top.” That hit hard—because I pride myself on fostering innovation.
I realized that while I was open to ideas, I hadn’t created structured channels for bottom-up feedback to influence decision-making. So we changed that. We implemented a cross-functional innovation board where team members could pitch ideas, flag inefficiencies, and even challenge product direction.
That shift turned feedback into a strategic tool—not just for improvement, but for staying adaptable in a highly competitive market. It also reshaped our culture—engineers, designers, and even operators now see their input shaping real outcomes.
Today, many of our most successful product enhancements have come directly from those conversations. That experience reminded me that leadership isn’t just about guiding—it’s about listening strategically to fuel continuous growth.
Cameron Lee
CEO, ACCURL
Develop Foresight in Leadership
I had a formative moment in my own leadership career when a mentor told me in a performance review that while I was good at execution, I had a blind spot: I often waited for team members to raise issues instead of identifying them proactively. The feedback hit hard initially, but it became a turning point.
I learned that real leadership means predicting trouble before it has a chance to become serious and that people tend not to speak up unless they’re asked. After that, I began to consciously look out for early warning signs—missed deadlines, shifts in tone in meetings, or even body language—and ask considerate open-ended questions in one-on-ones.
The biggest thing that helped was the systems built around proactive leadership. I set up a basic dashboard of key metrics—client satisfaction, project timelines, and team sentiment (via quick surveys)—and discussed it weekly. This has definitely empowered me to lead from a place of foresight, not reactivity.
Marc Hardgrove
CEO, The Hoth
Structure Enables Collaboration
In the early days of building my business, I had one strong belief: “We don’t need hierarchy. We’re a team—flat, collaborative, and all in it together.”
I genuinely thought titles created barriers, silos, and unnecessary ego. So, in order to operate as a more empowered, agile unit, titles had to be removed. And honestly, everything was working fine in a smaller setup where everyone knew what was happening on the next desk.
But then we grew. Teams expanded. Work became more complex.
And that is when the realization came, much later, but it did—when someone mentioned how the absence of structure was actually slowing us all down.
That feedback made me question the flatness I had been deeply romanticizing for a long time.
I realized that structure isn’t the enemy of collaboration; it is what enables it. A framework is essential—not just for control, but for clarity, accountability, and growth.
So, I made a shift. I defined clearer roles, set ownership boundaries, and used our platform itself to bring visibility into who’s leading what—without compromising my belief in openness and trust.
Sandeep Kashyap
CEO & Founder, ProofHub
Practice Silence and Curiosity
I’ve seen many leadership styles in my work, but the ones that grow the most are those that receive uncomfortable feedback and actually do something with it.
One client stands out. She was a get-it-done, no-nonsense manager who ran a tight ship. Her results were solid, but her feedback was not so positive.
The theme was clear: “She doesn’t listen. She takes over conversations. We don’t feel heard.”
It was a gut punch. She wasn’t trying to steamroll anyone—she just thought being decisive and quick was the job. But what it was actually doing was shutting her team down.
So we got to work. She started practicing silence (which was torture at first). She asked open-ended questions and actually waited for the answers. She became curious instead of just being corrective.
The shift was slow but real. Her team started trusting her more. The ideas improved. The tension decreased. And guess what? Her outcomes improved—not despite the change, but because of it.
I bring that story into many rooms now—because the truth is, your leadership style isn’t fixed. And sometimes, the feedback that stings the most is the very thing that unlocks your next level.
Stacey Dennis
Strategic HR Partner, Possibilities Unlocked
Build Capability, Not Dependency
Receiving feedback that I was a “solution-first leader” who rarely gave team members space to develop their own approaches completely changed my management style.
A trusted operations director pointed out that while my experience in the moving industry gave me quick answers to most challenges, I was unintentionally creating dependency rather than building capability in my leadership team.
This insight hit hard because my intentions were positive—I thought providing solutions showed support for my team. Implementing the change required deliberate practice: I created a new meeting structure where I committed to asking three questions before offering any solutions.
I also established “challenge sessions” where team members presented problems with their proposed approaches, and my role was strictly limited to asking clarifying questions rather than directing decisions.
The transformation was remarkable. Within six months, our regional managers were developing more innovative approaches than I would have prescribed, and most importantly, they took genuine ownership of both successes and failures.
The criticism helped me recognize that true leadership isn’t measured by having all the answers, but by building an organization that can solve problems effectively without your direct involvement.
Vidyadhar Garapati
Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Movers(dot)com
Prioritize Business Needs Over Tech
One of the most transformative pieces of feedback I received came during our rapid growth phase. A client candidly pointed out that while our technical solutions were excellent, I was becoming too focused on implementing cutting-edge technology rather than solving their specific business problems. They felt I was pushing “cool tech” instead of addressing their actual needs.
This feedback hit hard because it made me realize I was falling into the classic IT expert trap. I immediately instituted what we now call our “business-first” approach, where we begin every client engagement by understanding operational challenges before discussing technology solutions. We implemented a requirement that every proposal must explicitly connect how each technical recommendation solves a specific business problem or creates measurable ROI.
The results were dramatic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, one client was spending thousands on security solutions that weren’t addressing their actual vulnerability points with remote workers. By truly listening to their operational workflow, we redesigned their security approach to focus on employee training and zero-trust architecture. This not only reduced their security incidents by 78% but actually cut their technology spending by 22%.
This experience fundamentally shifted my leadership style from being a “tech expert with answers” to a “business partner asking questions.” I’ve found that the best technical solutions often come from deeply understanding the human and business elements first. As a veteran, I was trained to accomplish the mission, but sometimes I needed reminding that in business, defining the right mission matters more than executing the wrong one perfectly.
Mitch Johnson
CEO, Prolink IT Services
Process Feedback with Agency
A few years ago, I received critical feedback from a leader who told me I needed to “be more aggressive” in meetings—and lie about the data if it meant telling a better story. As a successful leader in my own right at the time, I remember being stunned into silence. That moment marked a turning point for me.
Rather than immediately rejecting the feedback (which I ultimately did) or trying to adopt parts of it, I chose to sit with it. I began exploring the broader set of skills embedded in the feedback experience itself. This led me to develop the concept of employee feedback literacy—the ability to effectively seek, give, receive, process, and use feedback.
This deeper understanding transformed my leadership style. Today, I help others recognize their automatic reactions to feedback, shift into a more proactive stance, and view feedback as a rich source of insight—something to process, reflect on, and learn from. That journey led me to create the 6Ps for processing feedback, a framework I introduced in Harvard Business Review to help others navigate difficult feedback moments with greater agency and clarity.
Cameron Conaway
Professor & Workplace Feedback Trainer, University of San Francisco
Trust Team’s Strengths
One of the most pivotal pieces of feedback I received came from my business coach, who helped me see that my tendency to micromanage was unintentionally creating a work environment that felt restrictive and rooted in distrust. I wasn’t giving my team the space to grow or show me what they were capable of—and that realization hit hard. Since then, I’ve worked on stepping back and trusting the people I hired to do what they do best. I still stay involved, but now with more intention and confidence in their strengths. It’s been a game-changer for morale and collaboration.
Melody Stevens
Owner, Design On A Dime Interiors
Create Space for Others to Lead
One piece of feedback that changed how I lead came in a blunt, five-word Slack message: “You always answer too fast.”
At first, I thought I was being helpful—efficient, even. But looking back through message threads, I realized I was jumping in before my team had fully laid out the issue. By always being the one with the quick solution, I was unintentionally short-circuiting their ability to think things through and grow.
That message made me change my approach. I began intentionally delaying responses to non-urgent questions—giving things 30 minutes before replying. I also made it a habit to ask one coaching question before offering any solution. The result? More thoughtful discussions, fewer follow-ups, and stronger decision-making across the board.
That simple moment reminded me: leadership isn’t about speed—it’s about creating space for others to step up. Sometimes, the most impactful thing you can do is pause.
Murray Seaton
Founder and CEO of Hypervibe / Health & Fitness Entrepreneur, Hypervibe (Vibration Plates)
Set the Stage for Success
I was a first-time General Manager for a casual restaurant chain. About six months into the role during a property visit, my VP of Operations asked me to go for a walk.
Outside, he showed me overgrown grass in the sidewalk, a couple of lightbulbs out on the patio lights, and paint peeling on a sign.
It really was a simple, penny-dropping moment, because it connected my thinking with a previous leader in my past, who always said, “You eat with your eyes.”
If you want people to assume their experience/meal is going to be amazing, you have to set the stage first. Getting them to think it’s going to be great is half the battle—you can’t always win on product alone.
Later, when promoted into regional—then VP roles, I always started my site visits with a tour of the entire building, with the GM and sometimes maintenance or sales. It triggered conversations that we may not have had otherwise, and it always ensured we had our best foot forward when it came to sales.
The GM always had to have a notebook with them because we talked about a lot of stuff, but then on subsequent visits, we could measure progress together—I could help my leaders overcome obstacles they were encountering, in order to get things done.
My VP of Ops at the restaurant wasn’t a good leader—but he was still able to impart a hugely valuable lesson that completely changed how I viewed my role.
Jay P
Founder & Director, Retirement Home Insider
Lead with Space, Not Dominance
I was told, point-blank: “You speak as if you’re the smartest person in the room, and it shuts people down.”
It felt like a punch, but it was the most important feedback I’ve ever received. I had spent years building a voice, a business, and a reputation by being sharp and quick-witted. I thought leadership meant control. In reality, I was bottlenecking progress and stifling initiative. My team wasn’t bringing their best ideas—they were waiting for mine.
That moment forced a complete reset. I became serious about listening. I started asking better questions in meetings and allowing silence to linger long enough for others to speak. I delegated real ownership instead of just assigning tasks. I stopped showing up with the answer and started building systems where the team could arrive at better ones on their own.
The practical shift? I created structured feedback loops. I established check-ins where my only job was to listen. I set up frameworks that rewarded contribution, not compliance. We started moving faster, with less friction. People stepped up because they felt seen, not steamrolled.
That change didn’t just improve culture. It improved outcomes. Our work became sharper. Clients trusted us more. My time freed up. My network expanded—because people wanted to work with a team, not a one-man show. Revenue increased. Referrals went up. My stress decreased.
Today, I still bring the edge, but I lead with space. That mindset has made me more connected, more respected, and more productive. Honestly, it’s made me wealthier too. Because when you stop needing to be the smartest in the room, you can finally build one.
Steve Rock
Partner, Good Kids
Communicate with Purpose and Clarity
Early in my leadership career, I was told that my communication, while well-meaning, lacked clarity and left teams confused about their goals. This feedback was a turning point for me. I learned that clear communication isn’t about sharing more information but about making messages focused and meaningful. I started ensuring that teams understood not just what needed to be done, but why it mattered. This change built trust and alignment, encouraging everyone to act with confidence. Great leadership happens when we invite feedback, accept it with humility, and use it to communicate and lead with greater purpose.
Rommel Regino
Evp and Chief Operating Officer | Driving Growth, Enhancing Customer and Employee Experience, INSPIRO
Design Systems for Sustainable Excellence
I’ve worked closely with founders, innovators, and impact-driven companies to sharpen their messaging and scale their influence globally. Coming from the aviation world—where every decision could mean the difference between safety and failure—reshaped how I approach leadership at its core.
The critical feedback that transformed me wasn’t about empowerment or delegation. It was this: “You’re trained to be precise, but real leadership means designing systems where precision survives without you.” That changed everything. Instead of being the smartest person in the room, I focused on building systems that made excellence repeatable, whether or not I was present. Today, I bring that same engineering mindset to communications and brand leadership: building frameworks that allow ideas, teams, and organizations to thrive sustainably without becoming dependent on one person.
Mary Sahagun
Founder | PR & Communications Strategist, TargetLink Media
Prioritize Accessibility and Responsiveness
Early on, not long after taking over my business, a customer left some candid feedback that stuck with me. They appreciated the improvements we’d made to the facility, but mentioned that getting hold of someone for questions or help outside of normal business hours had been frustrating. They weren’t angry, just honest—and that honesty prompted me to take a hard look at how accessible I was as an owner and how responsive we were as a team.
At first, I thought having posted hours and a call-in system was enough. But I realized that in this industry, people often need help at unexpected times—whether they’re moving on a weekend, accessing their unit after work, or dealing with a last-minute issue. So I made a conscious decision to be more available and present, both for customers and for my staff. I improved our after-hours support system, streamlined our call-back process, and made it easier for people to get fast answers online and by phone.
That feedback reshaped my leadership approach. It reminded me that being a good owner isn’t just about maintaining buildings—it’s about being there when people need you. Since then, I’ve made open communication and responsiveness core values in how I run the business. It’s made a real difference in customer satisfaction and team morale.
Christine King
Owner, Pontoon Plaza Storage
