A 19,341-Foot View: Leadership Lessons from Kilimanjaro

A 19,341-Foot View: Leadership Lessons from Kilimanjaro

What if the biggest leadership breakthrough of your career didn't happen in the boardroom, but on the side of a mountain?  In this episode, Bonny is joined by Spencer West and Alex Meers to explore how climbing Kilimanjaro transformed the way they think about leadership, success, and what truly matters. Although Bonny climbed the mountain just months ago and Spencer and Alex made the journey over a decade earlier, they discovered remarkably similar lessons—about identity, vulnerability, purpose, and perspective. Together, they unpack why stepping away from the noise of everyday life can help leaders reconnect with themselves, lead with greater humility, and build momentum that lasts.    Key Takeaways  ➡️ Leadership Is Bigger Than Achievement. The best leaders don't define themselves by titles or accomplishments. When you strip away your role, what's left is your purpose, your values, and the impact you have on those around you.  ➡️ Vulnerability Is a Leadership Strength. Great leaders don't pretend to have all the answers. Asking for help, trusting others, and letting go of the myth of the self-made leader creates stronger teams and deeper trust.  ➡️ Slow Down to Speed Up. Perspective doesn't come from working harder. It comes from creating intentional space to quiet the noise, try something new, and reconnect with the inner voice that's often drowned out by the demands of everyday life.    Listener Challenge  Create your own Micro-Kilimanjaro moment.  Over the next 30 days, intentionally do one thing that takes you out of your normal routine. It doesn't have to be climbing a mountain. Take a solo hike, learn a new skill, spend a day without technology, or revisit something that brings you joy. Give yourself the space to gain perspective and ask: Who am I when my title, achievements, and to-do list are stripped away?  Then head to our LinkedIn page and tell us: What's your Micro-Kilimanjaro? We'll choose one response that inspires us and send the winner a copy of Spencer West's newest book, Breaking Free.      Our Guests  Spencer West [https://www.spencer2thewest.com/]  Author, speaker, content creator, and globally recognized disability advocate, Spencer West has inspired audiences around the world with his story of resilience, purpose, and possibility. In 2012, he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise awareness and funds for clean water projects in East Africa, proving that our greatest limitations are often the stories we tell ourselves. Today, through his writing, speaking, and advocacy, Spencer continues to challenge conventional thinking about leadership, vulnerability, and living a life of impact.    Alex Meers [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-meers-7728b868/]  Alex Meers is an organizational development strategist with more than 13 years of experience across leadership, HR, and organizational effectiveness in the non-profit, private, and public company sectors. After recently navigating burnout and a significant career transition, Alex has found himself returning to the lessons he first learned on Kilimanjaro—offering a thoughtful perspective on identity, recovery, and redefining success beyond work.Key Takeaways:     Our Co-Hosts  Bonny van Rest [https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnyvr/]  Strategic Thinker. Bold Challenger. Grounded Visionary.   Bonny is a strategist, facilitator, and co-founder of Sidekick Consulting who believes momentum is built in the middle of the mess. With a background as a CMO and over a decade of experience across startup and corporate environments, she’s known for her sharp thinking, no-nonsense mindset, and ability to turn big ideas into grounded action. Bonny brings a calm presence, clear direction, and just the right amount of edge to move things forward—with intention.  Production by PRCPTN Studio [https://prcptn.com/].  Directed by Giuliana DiBonaventura [https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuliana-dibonaventura-148a69132/]

From Big Vision to Bold Results IRL with Nithya Ramachandran

Most leaders know where they want to go. The real challenge is getting everyone else moving in the same direction.   We often think leadership is about setting a vision. But as Nithya Ramachandran argues, that's only the beginning. In this episode of Momentum, we explore the balancing act between vision and execution, ambition and adaptability, strategy and action. Drawing on her experience leading the next chapter of growth at T1, Nithya shares how bold goals become tangible progress through adaptive planning, clear communication, and disciplined execution. We also unpack why leadership doesn't have to be lonely at the top, the power of the visionary-integrator partnership, and why transparency is less about sharing everything and more about sharing what matters.    Key Takeaways:   ➡️ Leadership Is a Balancing Act. Great leaders hold two seemingly opposing ideas at the same time: a bold vision for the future and a practical plan for today. Ambition creates direction, but momentum comes from breaking it down into tangible, manageable steps.  ➡️ Leadership Doesn't Have to Be Lonely. The strongest leaders don't carry the vision alone. Whether it's a Visionary-Integrator partnership, a trusted leadership team, or even a fire fighter and Smoky the bear, momentum is built through complementary strengths, not heroic individual effort.  ➡️ Transparency Is About Relevance, Not Volume. Not everyone needs to know everything. Effective leaders tailor communication to what people need to understand, decide, and act on. Clarity comes from providing the right information to the right people at the right time.  ➡️ Adaptive Planning Beats Perfect Planning. Strategy is a hypothesis, not a prediction. The most effective leaders set a clear direction, test assumptions, evaluate progress regularly, and adjust based on what they learn. Quarterly reflection and iteration aren't signs of changing course—they're how organizations stay committed to the destination while evolving the route.  Listener Challenge:  This week, think about where you might be oversharing information in the name of transparency.    As leaders, we often assume that more information creates more alignment. But transparency isn't about telling everyone everything. It's about providing people with the information they need to make decisions, take action, and do their best work.   * Take a look at your recent communications, meetings, or updates. Are you sharing information because it's helpful, or simply because it's available?  * How could you tailor your message to better meet the needs of your audience?  Sometimes clarity comes not from saying more, but from saying less.    Resources / Tools  ➡️ Start your next planning cycle with the principles of adaptive planning.   [https://nobl.io/changemaker/an-adaptive-approach-to-the-strategic-planning-process/]   Our Guest Nithya Ramachandran [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nithyaramachandran/]  Nithya is a visionary leader at T1 and one of the co-founders of Sidekick. Nithya is known for her energetic, creative thinking, but also for helping organizations turn big ideas into concrete organizational movement.  Nithya lives this tension every day: balancing blue-sky ambition with the practical reality of leading people through change. Her work at T1 offers a tangible case study of what it actually takes to make vision stick.  Our Host Bonny van Rest [https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnyvr/]  Strategic Thinker. Bold Challenger. Grounded Visionary.   Bonny is a strategist, facilitator, and co-founder of Sidekick Consulting who believes momentum is built in the middle of the mess. With a background as a CMO and over a decade of experience across startup and corporate environments, she’s known for her sharp thinking, no-nonsense mindset, and ability to turn big ideas into grounded action. Bonny brings a calm presence, clear direction, and just the right amount of edge to move things forward—with intention.  Production by PRCPTN Studio [https://prcptn.com/].  Directed by Giuliana DiBonaventura [https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuliana-dibonaventura-148a69132/]

Leading With Intention IRL With Dani Rombough

Talent doesn’t grow on its own. It’s shaped by systems, sponsorship, stretch, and leadership behavior. In this episode, Bonny sits down with Dani, a senior leader in planning and inventory management at major Canadian retailers, to explore what talent and leadership development really looks like inside high-performing companies. Building on the ideas from our Talent Trap conversation, we go deeper into what shapes leaders over time, how development happens in practice, and what it takes to build capability at scale. Through candid reflections and practical examples, Dani shares the moments, mentors, and mindset shifts that shaped her and how she now intentionally develops others. Key Takeaways: ➡️ You Are the System. Leadership behavior shapes culture more than strategy. The habits you reinforce, especially under pressure, determine how talent grows. ➡️ Coaching Is a Leadership Discipline. Coaching builds judgment, ownership, and long-term leverage, especially in complex organizations. ➡️ Intentional Energy Builds Sustainable Performance. Protecting high performers, re-engaging plateaued talent, and creating stretch for emerging leaders requires deliberate attention. Listener Challenge: Dani left us with a powerful reminder:every day, the people on your team go home and someone they love may ask them, “How was your day”?  As a leader, youhave more influence than you may realize in shaping how they answer that question. Even on the hard days, how are you creating an environment where people feel challenged, supported, and seen? Now reflect on your own leadership journey: Who invested in you and how are you paying that forward? What habits or behaviors are shaping the experience your team has every day? Because leadership isn’t just measured by results. It’s also reflected in how people carry the day home with them. Tools & Resouces: ➡️ Decide who to Delegate to with the Skill/ Will Matrix [https://www.bitesizelearning.co.uk/resources/skill-will-matrix-leadership-style] ➡️ How to delegate like a CEO [https://www.linkedin.com/posts/annemarie-durbin-162b7a20_delegations-leadership-ceo-activity-7388547049602035712-IVL0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAI5E1UBOItSwQ5u8jaWs2TZLPeNPi3mhsw] by Eric Partaker ➡️ Learn about the Leader Member Exchange (LMX) [https://www.masterclass.com/articles/lmx] theory. ➡️ Make your feedback more effective with the SBI- Method [https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/closing-the-gap-between-intent-vs-impact-sbii/] ➡️ Avoid defaulting to a Performance Improvement Plan [https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/performance-improvement-plan/] to quickly Our Guests Dani Rombough  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellerombough/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3BJgJlAA%2FYQmewzRyDKv0aFA%3D%3D]is a retail professional with over 15 years ofexperience in planning and inventory management at major Canadian retailers. With a strong track record of driving results through data-informed decisions and team development, Dani brings both analytical expertise and people-focused leadership. In addition to a successful corporate career, Dani co-founded a math tutoring business operating across multiple cities. Dani is known for an authentic leadership style and a passion for building high-performing teams and fostering growth. Our Co-Hosts Bonny van Rest [https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnyvr/] Strategic Thinker. Bold Challenger.Grounded Visionary. Bonny is a strategist, facilitator, andco-founder of Sidekick Consulting who believes momentum is built in the middle of the mess. With a background as a CMO and over a decade of experience across startup and corporate environments, she’s known for her sharp thinking, no-nonsense mindset, and ability to turn big ideas into grounded action. Bonny brings a calm presence, clear direction, and just the right amount of edge to move things forward—with intention. Production by PRCPRN Studio [https://prcptn.com/]. Directed by Giuliana DiBonaventura [https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuliana-dibonaventura-148a69132/]

Strategy Is Not the Plan

What if “strategic planning” is actually the reason your strategy isn’t working?   In this episode, Bonny and Nora unpack one of the most widely accepted, and rarely questioned, concepts in business: strategic planning. In this episode, they challenge the assumption that strategy and planning are one and the same and explore how confusing the two can lead to false progress, endless motion, and teams that are busy but not actually winning. Through a candid, real-time conversation, they explore the tension between strategy-first and emergent strategy, and land on a modern approach: treating strategy as a set of intentional, testable hypotheses that evolve through disciplined execution and reflection.    Key Takeaways:   ➡️ Strategy is not the plan: Strategy defines how you believe you’ll win; it’s an intentional set of choices and trade-offs. Planning is a set of activities that gain momentum and test those choices.  ➡️ False progress feels productive: Without clear strategic choices, even the best plans can create motion without direction and success becomes accidental.   ➡️ Emergence requires intention: Strategy can be set upfront or emerge through action, but only becomes real when leaders stop, reflect and choose.   ➡️ Agility is disciplined learning: Adapting isn’t about constant change; it’s about building a cadence to reflect and evolve with intention.     Strategy + Planning + Cadence = Momentum    Listener Challenge:  Before your next planning session, pause and ask:  1️⃣ How do we believe we win?  If it sounds like a list of initiatives, you’re planning not strategizing  2️⃣ What needs to be true for this strategy to work? If you don’t know, you can’t learn  3️⃣ What would make you intentionally change direction? You might pivot too soon, or too late.     This week, don’t start with the plan. Start with the choice.  Resources / Tools: ➡️ Define your winning strategy with Roger Martin’s Choice Cascade [https://rogerlmartin.com/thought-pillars/strategy]   ➡️ Roger Martin on Strategy is not Planning [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuYlGRnC7J8]   ➡️ Browse EOS Worldwide [https://www.eosworldwide.com/accountability-chart-download] for tools like Vision/Traction Organizer (V/TO) [https://www.eosworldwide.com/vto-download], and the 90 day world [https://www.eosworldwide.com/blog/leading-in-a-90-day-world]  ➡️ Download your OKR or OGSM Template [https://www.whatmatters.com/resources/ogsm-vs-okr-whats-the-difference] to help you plan.   ➡️ Assess your Why, How, What with Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle [https://simonsinek.com/golden-circle]    Our Co-Hosts: Bonny van Rest [https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnyvr/]  Strategic Thinker. Bold Challenger. Grounded Visionary.   Bonny is a strategist, facilitator, and co-founder of Sidekick Consulting who believes momentum is built in the middle of the mess. With a background as a CMO and over a decade of experience across startup and corporate environments, she’s known for her sharp thinking, no-nonsense mindset, and ability to turn big ideas into grounded action. Bonny brings a calm presence, clear direction, and just the right amount of edge to move things forward—with intention.  Nora Griffiths [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nora-griffiths-16676577/]  People-Centered Leader. Strategic Integrator. Dynamic Optimist.   Nora is a purpose-driven leader, facilitator, and co-founder of Sidekick Consulting who believes that bold and meaningful impact is accomplished when done together. With deep roots in business development and operations, she’s known for her people-first lens and her talent for uncovering insights and ideas that translate swiftly into action, driving both people and performance. Nora brings a rare blend of energy, empathy, and clarity to build momentum that truly matters.  Production by PRCPRN Studio [https://prcptn.com/].  Directed by Giuliana DiBonaventura [https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuliana-dibonaventura-148a69132/]

Ownership & Accountability IRL with Carlton Yearwood

In this episode, Bonny and Nora are joined by Carlton Yearwood, whose experience spans Fortune 200 and the Big 4, the US Marines, government, coaching, and ministry contexts. Together, they challenge a common myth: ownership and accountability aren’t performance tools — they’re a cultural operating system.   Why do leaders say they want ownership but design against it? Why is it so seemingly hard to achieve? What does accountability look like in high-stakes, high-performing environments? And how do you balance psychological safety with high standards?  Packed with real-world examples, this episode offers practical, field-tested ways to build cultures where accountability is modeled, ownership is chosen, and leaders stop carrying it all alone.   Key Takeaways:   ➡️️ Stop demanding accountability. Start designing it into how your team works.   ➡️️ Look in the mirror first. Accountability starts with you, not your team.   ➡️️ If you don’t own the why, your team never will. Clarity drives commitment.  ➡️️ Don’t just assign work, foster owners who drive outcomes.  Listener Challenge:  Pick one accountability ritual you want to practice over the next month.  Don’t make it a memo or a big speech. Choose something small, consistent, and actionable that helps build a culture of accountability. Give it four weeks, trust the process and let it take hold. Practice it, model it, and see what happens.  Our Guests   Carlton Yearwood [https://www.linkedin.com/in/cyearwood/]   Carlton brings a uniquely grounded perspective on leadership and culture, shaped by a career that spans the U.S. Marines, community service in New York, senior executive roles at Fortune 200 companies, and leadership at a Big Four firm. As a former Chief Ethics and Diversity Officer and now Senior Partner at True Blue Inclusion, he’s spent decades helping organizations translate values into real, lived culture — advising leaders across industries on what it truly takes to build accountability, ownership, and high-performing teams.  Our Co-Hosts  Bonny van Rest [https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnyvr/]  Strategic Thinker. Bold Challenger. Grounded Visionary.   Bonny is a strategist, facilitator, and co-founder of Sidekick Consulting who believes momentum is built in the middle of the mess. With a background as a CMO and over a decade of experience across startup and corporate environments, she’s known for her sharp thinking, no-nonsense mindset, and ability to turn big ideas into grounded action. Bonny brings a calm presence, clear direction, and just the right amount of edge to move things forward—with intention.  Nora Griffiths [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nora-griffiths-16676577/]  People-Centered Leader. Strategic Integrator. Dynamic Optimist.   Nora is a purpose-driven leader, facilitator, and co-founder of Sidekick Consulting who believes that bold and meaningful impact is accomplished when done together. With deep roots in business development and operations, she’s known for her people-first lens and her talent for uncovering insights and ideas that translate swiftly into action, driving both people and performance. Nora brings a rare blend of energy, empathy, and clarity to build momentum that truly matters.  Production by PRCPTN Studio [https://prcptn.com/].  Directed by Giuliana DiBonaventura [https://www.linkedin.com/in/giuliana-dibonaventura-148a69132/]