When Leaders Don’t Need More Opinions. They Need a Trusted Sounding Board
By Mitchell Schuckman, PCC | Founder, The Schuckman Group
A partner I coach, I’ll call him Richard, runs a tax compliance practice at a mid-sized accounting firm. He oversees close to 100 professionals. His practice generates significant revenue, and his firm depends on it. He also knows that the business he is running today looks nothing like the business he will need to run in five years. Probably sooner.
He came because he had a strategic direction for his practice, but he also had too many competing stakeholder priorities to manage and too many people sharing their opinions. He needed somewhere to think.
Too Much Information
Richard’s CFO and shareholders wanted immediate margin improvement. His managing partner wanted a credible story for the board about AI investment. His team leaders were nervous about headcount and were asking questions in meetings that were really about their own job security. His technology vendors were pitching enhanced platforms. His clients were asking why their fees weren’t lower.
Every request and every piece of input was legitimate, but they all came with an agenda. It felt like everyone, at every level, had an opinion about how Richard should proceed and what he should prioritize.
That is the thing about being a senior leader. You are never short of receiving input. You are short of a helpful place to explore your own thinking.
A Plan Without Great Sequencing Isn’t a Great Plan
Richard had a plan. Reduce headcount in the lower-skill processing work. Train the people he kept to use AI tools more effectively. Make specific, targeted AI investments that supported his people's careers and positioned their clients for medium and long term success. Invest in coaching for his team leaders to help them deepen client relationships. Communicate a vision to his practice professionals that was honest without being alarming.
It was a reasonable plan. When he walked me through it, the first question I asked him was: what was he doing first, and why in that order?
He stopped. He had been so focused on what the plan contained that he hadn’t fully stress-tested the sequence. For example, cutting headcount before his remaining team saw the investment in their own development would tell a story he didn’t intend to tell. It would read as cost reduction dressed up as transformation. His best people would start looking around for new jobs before they saw what he was actually building and the opportunities for them.
His plan wasn’t flawed. It just had a blind spot that came from carrying the plan alone for too long.
The Conversation He Needed
I didn't tell Richard what to do. I asked him the questions nobody else in his orbit was asking. How would his strongest people read the first six months before they could see the full picture? How would his clients react when the changes became visible? Was he telling one coherent story, or three different ones depending on the audience? Was the investment in his people substantial enough to feel like a commitment, or just enough to feel like a transition?
Some of my questions created perfect reflection. A couple didn’t. One led somewhere neither of us expected.
That is how it works. I am not there to be right. I am there to make the conversation rigorous enough that the leader gets somewhere they couldn’t get alone.
What Most Senior Leaders Really Need
Richard is not unusual. Most of the senior leaders I work with are surrounded by capable people who care about the outcome. That is exactly the problem. Most people are giving them input shaped by what they need from the leader, not what the leader needs for himself. Even the most trusted colleague is filtering their perspective through their own lens.
So the leader synthesizes the input, runs the meetings, makes the decisions, and projects the confidence the role requires. He does all of that without ever fully testing his own thinking with someone who has nothing to gain from the outcome.
One Question Worth Asking Yourself
Think about the last significant decision you made as a leader. Who did you actually think it through with, from start to finish, before you had to commit?
Every leader I know has people around them providing their input and opinions. Only the lucky few have found someone to help them examine their reasoning without an ulterior motive.
Note on privacy: The names and identifying details in this, and all of my articles, have been changed. The experiences described are drawn from multiple client engagements over the course of my career and do not represent any single individual.