Month: July 2025

Organizations often celebrate a “team of leaders” — a collection of high-performing executives each driving success in their respective domains. But a true leadership team is more than the sum of its parts. It’s not just about collaboration; it’s about collective accountability. And that shift—from a team of leaders to a leadership team—requires a mindset grounded in two deceptively simple questions: What is my Main Team? What is my First Team?

In Influence and Impact, I introduced these concepts to clarify the two key groups every leader serves. Your Main Team is the group you lead day-to-day—the people whose performance, development, and success you directly manage. Your First Team, by contrast, is the team your manager leads—the peers with whom you align priorities, share resources, and ultimately contribute to your manager’s success.

Why does this distinction matter?

Most executives view their Main Team as their primary allegiance. But when each leader in the C-suite prioritizes their own team over the collective goals of the organization, collaboration erodes. Resource battles flare up. Strategic misalignment takes root.

The transition to a leadership team begins when leaders recognize their First Team obligations as equal in weight to their Main Team responsibilities. In Ruth Wageman’s model of Senior Leadership Teams and in the work of Scott Tannenbaum and Eduardo Salas (Teams That Work), the leadership team is defined not just by hierarchical roles but by the shared enterprise of leading the business together.

This dual accountability—owning your team’s success while advancing your manager’s strategy—can be complex, especially in matrixed or global structures. HR leaders, for example, are often part of both a functional HR First Team and a business unit First Team. Navigating that ambiguity requires clarity about who makes decisions affecting your goals and your future.

As illustrated in Influence and Impact, Darlene, an e-commerce leader, advanced by understanding what her First Team—her manager and skip-level CEO—needed. She didn’t just manage her Main Team’s operations; she translated her insights into metrics that aligned with the CEO’s growth strategy. She wasn’t just a strong individual leader; she was a key contributor to the leadership team.

HR and I/O professionals have a vital role in supporting this shift. By helping leaders recognize and navigate their First Team obligations, you can foster more integrated, aligned, and effective leadership teams—teams that think beyond their silos and act in concert toward shared success.

In executive coaching, trust isn’t something you earn after the engagement begins—it’s something you build from the very first conversation.

On the Human Wise podcast, Dr. Bill Berman reflected on how this mindset has shaped his approach over the years:

“I’m not a salesperson. I listen to what people need—and if I can help, I will.”

That perspective isn’t a tactic. It’s a practice. At Berman Leadership, we view early conversations with potential clients as an extension of the coaching itself: grounded in curiosity, free from pressure, and focused on what matters most to the other person.

This way of engaging may feel unusual in a professional services context. But for the leaders we work with, it’s what builds credibility. They’re not looking to be convinced. They’re looking to be understood.

That’s why we ask coaching questions from the very beginning:

• What decisions are you facing right now?
• Where are you seeing friction—in the business or in yourself?
• What outcomes are most urgent or most meaningful?

These questions don’t just surface needs—they help clarify whether coaching is the right fit, and whether we’re the right partner to provide it.

There are moments in our work where we recommend another path or another provider. And that willingness to walk away is part of what builds long-term trust. Because good coaching starts with alignment—not persuasion.

We’ve found that the best relationships begin not with a pitch, but with presence. A willingness to listen. And an ability to sit with complexity, even before the engagement is formalized.

That’s how coaching begins before the contract ever does.

Learn more about how we build partnerships through trust and understanding: https://bermanleadership.com/about/

What does it mean to coach a leader in context? At Berman Leadership, this question sits at the heart of our work.

In his Human Wise podcast appearance, Dr. Bill Berman offered a phrase that captures the approach:

“Think psychologically, act commercially.”

Coaching doesn’t require a trade-off between individual growth and business results. The most effective work happens when both are addressed in tandem—when a leader’s internal experience is explored with the same care as their external performance.

This is what we refer to as Context Driven Coaching.

It begins by understanding the leader’s mindset—their goals, fears, values, and assumptions. But it doesn’t stop there. It places those insights within the broader system they lead: their team, their stakeholders, and the strategic priorities of the organization.

We regularly explore questions like:

• How are personal dynamics shaping leadership decisions?
• In what ways do internal beliefs affect external outcomes?
• How can a leader’s growth contribute to both their development and the business’s success?

Rather than separate the personal from the professional, we help leaders integrate them. Confidence in decision-making. Clarity in stakeholder conversations. A more intentional leadership presence. These outcomes don’t just serve the individual—they support the enterprise.

Bill’s background in both psychology and business reflects this integrated view. He notes that coaching is often seen as either personal or commercial. But in practice, the most effective coaching respects both:

• It’s psychologically informed
• It’s contextually grounded
• And it’s focused on impact at multiple levels

Context Driven Coaching isn’t one-size-fits-all. It’s built on a deep understanding of the leader and the business. It’s practical, reflective, and aligned with the complexity of modern leadership.

Because when leaders grow in context, the results are both personal and organizational.

Learn more about our coaching approach: https://bermanleadership.com/about/

At Berman Leadership, we don’t believe in generic coaching. The challenges leaders face today are too complex—and too deeply rooted in the systems they operate within.

In the Human Wise podcast, Dr. Bill Berman shares how his background in family systems therapy shaped his approach to executive coaching. “You can’t coach a leader in isolation,” he says. “You have to understand the system they’re part of—team, enterprise, culture—because that’s where the real leverage is.”

This systems-based perspective is a defining feature of Berman Leadership’s approach. Whether we’re coaching a CEO, a rising leader, or an entire leadership team, we consider the broader dynamics at play:

• Team interactions
• Organizational pressures
• Cultural norms
• Strategic priorities

Bill draws a powerful parallel: just as family therapy considers how each person impacts the whole, effective executive coaching must examine how individual leadership behaviors ripple through an organization.

He also challenges the default towards individualism in Western business culture. “In many parts of the world, leadership is deeply collectivist,” he notes. “That lens—thinking about the organization first—can actually drive stronger, more sustainable outcomes.”

Our work helps leaders operate with greater awareness of the systems around them. The result? Decisions that land, conversations that matter, and leadership that scales.

In complex environments, the right coaching isn’t about offering advice. It’s about navigating interdependencies with clarity, empathy, and enterprise-wide impact.

Learn how we coach leaders across systems: https://bermanleadership.com/about/

At Berman Leadership, we believe that effective leadership is as much about ethics and systems thinking as it is about performance and results. In his conversation on the Human Wise podcast, our CEO Dr. Bill Berman shared a truth many leaders face but few openly discuss: doing what’s right often means thinking beyond the individual.

“When you’re the head of a business—whether 10 people or 10,000—you can’t just focus on one individual,” Bill says. “You’re responsible for the system. And sometimes, that means the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.”

This is where leadership becomes a true balancing act. You may care deeply about an employee’s situation, but if their performance impacts the team, the project, or the business, tough conversations must follow. Not because you’re uncaring—but because you’re accountable.

Bill’s systems-based approach to coaching is grounded in both psychology and experience. He encourages executives to look beyond individual behavior and consider team dynamics, organizational health, and long-term business outcomes.

Leadership requires the courage to be direct—and the wisdom to understand the broader consequences of your decisions. It also demands clarity around your values and a willingness to act in alignment with them, even when it’s uncomfortable.

At Berman Leadership, we help executives navigate these complex tradeoffs. Our coaching emphasizes ethical clarity, systems thinking, and leadership impact at every level of the organization.

Because leadership isn’t just about what’s right for one person—it’s about what’s right for the whole organization.

Explore our systems-based coaching approach: https://bermanleadership.com/about/