Alexandra Groezinger
From President Overnight to Confident Leader
Client
Alexandra Groezinger, President of Alexian Pâté & Specialty Meats
Challenge
Becoming president overnight at a 44-year-old family company while still figuring out who she was as a leader
Solution
Results
A more confident president, the right people in the right seats, and the company’s first formal leadership team in 44 years
“Jay just asks really good questions, and sometimes they’re thinking questions, where I’m like, let me noodle that for a while. He’s great at keeping me accountable, and he’s just been a true pleasure to work with. I’m really so glad that I found him.” Alexandra Groezinger | President, Alexian Pâté & Specialty Meats
Alexian has made pâté in New Jersey since 1982, and Alexandra joined the family business around 2014. She and her mom, who ran the company, were working through a succession plan. Then COVID hit.
“They said everybody who can work from home really should,” Alexandra said. “So I took on the in-person role at the plant, which we needed, and I sent [Mom] home.” Her mom moved into semi-retirement, then into full retirement. “I basically became the president of the company overnight.”
Taking over a well-established company is harder than it sounds. Alexian had several long-standing employees and decades-long habits. Alexandra had to figure out what worked, what didn’t, and “how to take things from what they always were to what needs to be.” She was also trying to balance “what people told me a leader should be versus who I am as a person.”
“I was lacking a level of confidence that I wanted to have as a leader."Alexandra Groezinger
Alexandra had spent about ten years in business mastermind groups. She valued them and still does, but in a group everyone has to share the time. “I was seeking one-on-one attention,” she said, “and had heard from others that one-on-one coaching was so impactful to their lives.”
She picked a coach the same way she hires people: “I really was looking for a cultural fit first,” followed by skills. Alexandra and I hit it off right away. Four years later, we’re still meeting over video.
The Power of Working Genius
Her breakthrough came from Pat Lencioni’s Working Genius assessment. I was walking Alexandra through her results when she stopped me.
“We had this crazy light bulb moment,” she said. “I’m like, oh my God, I hate invention. The paperwork says that I hate invention, and that is totally what’s happening here, and why I’m a bottleneck in certain things.”
Her strength is discernment. Invention is where her energy is drained. Until that moment, she had assumed the person at the top had to be good at everything. That belief was wearing her out and slowing the company down.
It’s like how Shohei Ohtani can pitch and hit, but the rest of us have to pick. Alexandra realized, “I might not be the best person to do certain projects or to manage certain departments, and that it can be a disservice to the company if I think otherwise.”
The Right People in the Right Seats
Once Alexandra knew her strengths, she could see who she needed around her. She hired, reorganized, and developed teams. Then she did something Alexian had never done in 44 years of business: she created a formal leadership team that meets on a set cadence.
“That’s made a huge impact on our company in general and the way that we communicate and the way that the work gets done,” she said.
When asked about her biggest measurable result, she had a quick answer: “Having the right people in the right seats.” She doesn’t pretend the job is finished, either. “It’s not perfect just yet, but will it ever be?”
"You're Still Human"
Alexandra keeps all her coaching notes in one Word document. Recently, she ran it through ChatGPT and asked it to pull out themes and the areas where she’d grown. Nothing in the results surprised her, but seeing it all on paper was validating.
What did surprise her was how personal coaching turned out to be. “It’s not just strategic decision-making and planning. It’s a lot about who you are as a person, and why you make the decisions or don’t make the decisions that you need to make.”
For years, the business world told leaders to keep their cards close. Alexandra doesn’t buy it. “Coaching reminds you, you’re still a human, you don’t need to be a robot, and employees actually like when you’re a human.”
Greater Confidence
When asked what she’d tell herself four years ago, she answered, “Be inherently you and be confident in that.”
[Jay is] incredibly kind, offers so much grace, and he’s also not afraid to call me out. That’s the relationship I asked for, and he fully delivered.”Alexandra Groezinger
Become a More Confident You
Alexandra didn’t need to turn into a different leader, only to trust the one she already was. If you’ve also stepped into a role bigger than the one you planned for, let’s talk.