Josh Leatherman
You Can't Develop Others Until You Develop Yourself
Client
Josh Leatherman, Chief Marketing Officer, Cyderes
Challenge
A high-output leader running reactive in an "always on" world, where "work-life balance" was a phrase nobody had defined
Solution
Executive Coaching built around the Five Capitals and the Enneagram
Results
A shared language and a repeatable rhythm for prioritizing what matters, for Josh and the leaders he develops
"After applying [the Five Capitals] first to my life and seeing the impact it had on me, I wanted to share the framework with my leaders with the hope they would see the same effects." Josh Leatherman
Josh Leatherman, now Chief Marketing Officer at Cyderes, is the kind of leader who gets things done. He’s sharp and he delivers. Which is exactly why the problem he brought me is one I see in a lot of high performers: he was winning but running on fumes to do it.
Everybody talks about work-life balance. Almost nobody can tell you what it means. Josh felt that gap himself: “The phrase work-life balance has a lot of ‘buzz’ around it, but few understand what it actually means or how to balance work and life.”
"The biggest challenge for me was making the time. We live in an 'always on' world where the beeps and buzzes of our devices demand our attention, and my brain and my habits have become finely attuned to that noise. It creates a very reactive state."Josh Leatherman | CMO, Cyderes
Josh and I worked together for ten years, back when he was building the marketing organization at Service Express. Over that stretch, we covered a lot of ground, including the Enneagram, work-life balance, and one framework that ended up changing how he leads: the Five Capitals.
The Five Capitals comes from a book called Oikonomics, by Mike Breen and Ben Sternke. The idea is that we’re all investing five kinds of capital, not one: spiritual, relational, physical, intellectual, and financial. Money is on the list, but it comes last, because when you prioritize the other four, the fifth tends to take care of itself. The framework grows out of a faith perspective, one I share, and it works no matter where you are on your spiritual journey.
A Shared Language for What Matters
The first thing the Five Capitals gave Josh was a way to stop reacting and start taking inventory. After reading the book, he did something most busy leaders never make time for: “I scheduled a long weekend to go up north to take inventory and build a plan to reprioritize each capital for the next 90 days.”
From there, spread to his team. Because they read the book and walked through it together, they had something most teams don’t: “The Five Capitals gave us a shared framework and common language for them to talk through how they’re prioritizing their capitals personally and professionally.”
And it reframed how Josh saw his own job as a leader: “Leaders can only develop others if they’re developing themselves first.”
The Long Game
The thing Josh will tell you is that this isn’t a one-and-done: “Walking through the prioritization of my Five Capitals isn’t a one-time deal. Life moves fast, and I need to walk through the Five Capitals on a regular basis, at least annually.”
Ask him what he’d tell his younger self, and you get the whole point in two sentences: “At 20, I focused on the financial and intellectual capitals. At 40, I’m finding a deeper joy in life by focusing on the spiritual and relational… focus on experiences and memories more, and less on material.”
Become a More Intentional Leader
Most of the leaders I coach aren't broken. They're winning, and wondering what the hidden costs might be. Coaching can help capable people get off the reactive treadmill and get intentional about what matters.
"It isn't until I pause to do it that I realize how much it was needed... What's wrong is not taking time to pause and be uber intentional about the things that really matter."Josh Leatherman
Executive Coaching for Leaders Who Are Already Winning
If you find yourself winning in some areas, but flailing in others, perhaps a conversation may help you gain some clarity on where the priorities need to be. Feel free to contact me, and we’ll set up a time to chat.