The Approach
Once you see it, you cannot unsee it.
Most leadership problems are not skill problems. They are perspective problems. The work we do together is less about learning something new and more about seeing what is already there with new clarity.
You have probably taken a personality assessment before. This is not that.
Most assessments give you a label and leave you to figure out what to do with it. You recognize yourself in parts of the report, set it aside, and nothing changes.
A GM told me once: "I don't need another personality test. I already know my people." And I said: "I'm not here to tell you something you don't know. I'm here to help you see what you already know, more clearly."
Think about it this way. You have two managers. One comes in direct and to the point. The other is more measured, more thoughtful. You already know that. What you may not realize is what each of them needs from you to be at their best. Most of the friction on your team is not about competence. It is about people unintentionally missing each other.
"This is less like learning something new and more like putting glasses on for the first time. Nothing changes, but suddenly everything is clearer."
The Tools
Built on two of the most rigorous frameworks in behavioral science.
The Birkman Method and Mindset are both used in this work. Together they give a complete picture of how you are wired, how you interpret the world around you, and where your energy naturally flows.
Advanced Certified Birkman Consultant
Mindset (Perspectives) Certified
Mindset (Perspectives) Certified
Interests
What gives you energy at work.
There are parts of your job that naturally pull you in, and parts that drain you. Not because you are bad at them, but because they are not where you are wired to spend your time.
When your role aligns with your interests, work feels natural and sustainable. When it does not, everything feels harder than it should.
Where your energy flows
Usual Behavior
How you show up when things are going well.
Your default style. How others experience you day to day under normal conditions. This is the version of you that most people think they know.
It is often very different from how you see yourself, and understanding that gap is where the work begins.
How others experience you
Underlying Needs
What you require to perform at your best.
Often invisible even to yourself, and almost always invisible to those around you. This is the layer most assessments never reach.
When these needs go unmet, you do not just underperform. You shift into a version of yourself that surprises even you.
What you need to thrive
Stress Behavior
How you show up when your needs go unmet.
This is where the friction, miscommunication, and disengagement that limits teams and leaders actually originates. It is not a character flaw. It is a pattern.
And once you can see it clearly, you can choose a different response instead of just reacting.
Where friction originates
The Birkman Method has been used by organizations worldwide for over 70 years. It is not a personality quiz. It is a behavioral science instrument grounded in positive psychology.
Mindset
The lens you are looking through changes everything you see.
Mindset is not your personality. It is how you are interpreting what is happening around you in a given moment. And here is the challenge: most leaders make decisions based on that interpretation as if it is fact.
You and I can sit in the exact same meeting, hear the exact same comment from a board member, and walk out with completely different takeaways. Not because one of us is right and one is wrong. Because we are seeing it through a different lens.
That is where leaders get into trouble. Not because they lack skill. Because they are reacting to an interpretation instead of reality.
One of a small number of consultants certified in Mindset
"Mindset is the story you are telling yourself about what is happening. The goal is not to change it. It is to recognize it in real time so you can choose how to respond instead of just reacting."
"What Birkman does really well is help you see the pattern in how you tend to interpret situations. Some people naturally see things through a more critical lens, some more optimistic, some more individualistic. None of those are wrong. But they lead you to very different decisions if you are not aware of them."
"The best leaders do not just manage people. They manage the story they are telling themselves about those people."
The Process
Assess. Understand. Apply.
Every engagement follows the same three-phase arc. Rigorous enough to surface real insight, practical enough to create real change.
1
Assess
You complete the Birkman assessment and Mindset profile. No right or wrong answers. No performance involved. Just an honest picture of how you are wired and the lens you tend to look through.
2
Understand
We work through the results together. Not a report hand-off. A real conversation that connects the data to your actual situations, relationships, and leadership challenges. This is where insight lands.
3
Apply
Insight without application is just self-awareness. Ongoing coaching translates what you learned into practical changes in how you communicate, lead, and respond under pressure. This is where behavior actually shifts.
Why This Works Differently Here
The tools in the hands of someone who has run your operation.
Any certified Birkman consultant can administer the assessment and walk you through a report. What they cannot do is connect your behavioral profile to the specific dynamics of a private club board, a 200-person hospitality operation, or a GM under pressure from an active membership.
With 30 years as a GM and COO across premier private clubs, the interpretation you receive is grounded in the exact world you operate in. Not management theory. Not a textbook. The real thing.
What That Means In Practice
- Your stress behavior profile is interpreted through the lens of board relationships, not generic management theory
- Your Interests are mapped against the real demands of club and hospitality leadership, not abstract career categories
- Your Mindset patterns are connected to the specific situations that trigger them in your world: board meetings, member complaints, staff conflict, capital campaigns
- Your leadership gaps are identified with the candor of a peer, not the caution of an outside consultant protecting a relationship
- Your development is connected to real career decisions: transitions, searches, succession, and what comes next
See what this looks like for you specifically.
Every engagement starts with a conversation. No pitch, no obligation. Just an honest discussion about what you are navigating and whether this is the right fit.
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