Insights & Perspectives

Explore articles on leadership, personal growth, and transformational change.

The Executive Mindset: What Changes When You Start Leading Instead of Doing

Executive Coaching

The Executive Mindset: What Changes When You Start Leading Instead of Doing

Moving from execution to executive leadership requires more than new skills—it demands an identity shift. This article explores why competence must evolve into capacity, how overfunctioning undermines authority, and why leading through others feels disorienting. Learn to recognize when doing is holding you back from truly leading and what growth looks like at the executive level.

By Dr. Terri Finney
Leadership Development vs Executive Coaching: How to Know What You Truly Need

Executive Coaching

Leadership Development vs Executive Coaching: How to Know What You Truly Need

Leadership development and executive coaching are not the same. Development focuses on skills, frameworks, and capabilities—ideal for learning new tools or preparing for bigger roles. Coaching works internally, addressing confidence, emotional patterns, and self-awareness. This article clarifies when each approach is most effective and how to choose the right support for your growth.

By Dr. Terri Finney
The Inner Architecture of Great Leadership: Why Self Mastery Precedes Strategy

Leadership

The Inner Architecture of Great Leadership: Why Self Mastery Precedes Strategy

Great leadership begins with inner work, not just strategy. This article explores why self-mastery—composed of self-awareness, emotional regulation, and inner alignment—is the foundation of effective leadership. Learn how understanding your internal landscape sharpens strategic thinking, strengthens relationships, builds resilience, and allows you to lead with clarity and authenticity.

By Dr. Terri Finney
Healing Family Business Conflicts: Turning Dysfunction into Collaboration

Family Business

Healing Family Business Conflicts: Turning Dysfunction into Collaboration

A compassionate yet unflinching examination of the emotional undercurrents that sabotage family enterprises, written for family business leaders ready to address dysfunction at its roots rather than its symptoms. The piece reveals how passive-aggressive communication, power struggles, and unresolved histories masquerade as business problems while offering a path forward through integrated coaching and therapeutic insight. It positions family conflict not as a weakness to hide but as an opportunity for deeper collaboration—arguing that families who can navigate hard conversations with honesty and structure transform their shared history from liability into strategic advantage. For leaders willing to ask "How do we grow as a family?" alongside "How do we grow the company?" this serves as both diagnostic framework and invitation to courageous, sustainable transformation.

By Dr. Terri Finney
Moving Beyond Fear to Make Authentic Decisions with Courageous Leadership

Mindset

Moving Beyond Fear to Make Authentic Decisions with Courageous Leadership

A transformative approach to leadership that reframes fear from obstacle to messenger, designed for executives and entrepreneurs facing high-stakes decisions in uncertain times. This article reveals how fear contracts perspective and disguises itself as rational caution, then introduces a four-step practice for decision-making that honors both intellect and intuition. Drawing on research from Harvard Business Review and the Center for Creative Leadership, it demonstrates how self-awareness, presence, and vulnerability create cultures of psychological safety and trust. The core insight: courage isn't an innate trait but a learnable skill built through alignment between personal values and authentic action—accessible to any leader willing to move forward with purpose even when fear shows up in the room.

By Dr. Terri Finney
Bridging Generational Divides and Leading Multigenerational Teams

Leadership

Bridging Generational Divides and Leading Multigenerational Teams

A practical guide for leaders navigating the complexities of five-generation workplaces, written for executives and managers seeking to transform generational differences into organizational strengths. The piece moves beyond stereotypes to explore the values, communication styles, and motivations that shape each generation's approach to work, offering concrete tools like active listening, reverse mentoring, and flexible policies. Grounded in psychological safety and self-awareness, it presents multigenerational leadership not as a diversity challenge to manage but as an opportunity to build deeper trust, creativity, and collaboration across age groups—for leaders willing to lead with curiosity, empathy, and humility rather than assumption.

By Dr. Terri Finney
Authenticity vs. Hype in Leadership Development

Leadership

Authenticity vs. Hype in Leadership Development

A clear-eyed distinction between genuine leadership development and superficial quick fixes, written for potential clients seeking substantive personal growth. The piece outlines what authentic coaching looks like—grounded self-awareness, consistent values alignment, and sustainable inner work—while contrasting it with the empty promises of instant transformation. It serves as both a philosophy statement and an invitation for those ready to invest in the deeper, slower work of becoming effective leaders.

By Dr. Terri Finney
WHO is More Important than WHY

Self Improvement

WHO is More Important than WHY

Psychometric assessment affords us the opportunity to learn more in-depth and useful information about why we do what we do; how we get in our own way; and some potential pathways for change. Assessment results assist in investment decisions, hiring decisions, development decisions, and management. They facilitate our recognition of our strengths and our opportunities for development. They also facilitate our understanding of our values, abilities, and skills. Armed with that information we can better support and strategize personal and professional development.

By Dr. Terri Finney