You are being asked to deliver faster results, lead through transformation, integrate AI into your workforce, and develop your team at the same time. You’re doing what you were taught to do, driving outcomes, pushing for performance, holding a high bar, and still something feels off in how the work is actually moving.

When you step back and look at what’s happening across organizations, it starts to make more sense. According to the Microsoft Work Trend Index (2024), 60% of leaders say they don’t have a clear plan to implement AI, while 53% say productivity must increase, and 80% of employees report not having enough time or energy to do their work effectively. 

So this is not a capacity issue alone. It’s a leadership approach issue, and it’s already showing up in how teams make decisions, align across functions, and execute.

In this conversation, I sit down with Jen Smith, founder of Launch Your Rocket and author of The Love Them Theory, to explore a different way to build a business and lead, and to share how she became the top earner in a billion-dollar company.

That’s why this conversation matters.

The blueprint no one taught you

Jen attributes her success to using a reverse blueprint to the one we’ve been taught. Most of us tend to strive for results. Instead, she focused on serving, caring, and building relationships, even when there was no immediate return.

Her story touched me deeply, and it gives us context for that. She lost a baby at childbirth, and from that point on, how she related to others and what mattered to her changed forever.

So when she stumbled into a new business opportunity, she wasn’t focused on selling or scaling. She was most interested in the person in front of her, spending time with them, following up, caring for them, and supporting them even when there was no immediate return. Some trusted her quickly, others took longer, and she was willing to stay connected without rushing the outcome.

In that process of serving, she received a letter from a man who shared that he had been planning to take his life, and because of the way she showed up for him, he didn’t—that moment reinforced for her that this was never only about business. It was about people.

Over time, people who then became team members started gravitating toward her. They didn’t even realize what she was doing was a business at first. They were responding to how she showed up and how she made them feel when she engaged with them about the product, she was promoting to help people release metals in their bodies and improve their quality of life.

To Jen’s surprise, one of her strongest business builders didn’t come from a team member she was trying to grow. It came from an 80-year-old woman she served, who later connected her to someone who became a key part of her business.

Within a year, Jen became the top income earner in a billion-dollar company, not by pushing or chasing, but by building a powerful business through trust, purpose, and love, where her team and clients chose to work with her.

She left us this golden nugget:

“You don’t build a business by chasing results. You build it by how you show up for people.”

What this reveals inside your organization

As we were talking, it became clear how differently this plays out inside most organizations.

Most competitive, complex, and fast-paced work environments are built around outcomes, metrics, and execution. That’s what you and I have been measured on for decades, and that is reinforced daily. However, when the focus stays only on results, we’re missing something meaningful. 

Our teams do the work and deliver what’s required. Simultaneously, they are responding to how we lead them. They can feel when the focus is only on the outcome versus when the focus is on driving results and how they are doing, too. And that’s reflected in their engagement and work.

You can notice it by how they make decisions, how they collaborate and align on decisions, and how much ownership they take without being asked. 

According to an MIT Sloan Management Review study (2024), examining how improved work design can prevent burnout, reduce stress, and improve productivity, when organizations create clarity, autonomy, and meaning, performance and innovation improve. 

You can see the connection. Leaders shape the environment, and how team members experience their leaders shapes how they show up to do the work. That was the case for Jen, and it’s the same for us.

What you can shift as a leader

If you follow the traditional blueprint, most organizations rely on pressure as the primary driver. More targets, more urgency, more push for faster results. That approach hasn’t changed, even as the environment has.

At the same time, the bar is shifting. The World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report (2023) identifies analytical thinking, resilience, flexibility, and leadership as critical capabilities. 

So, the question is:

If the focus stays on chasing results using the same approach, what changes?

Not much. 

Your team members keep responding the same way. The work drags on longer than it should. Alignment takes more effort than it needs to. And you find yourself spending more effort pushing things forward than actually moving the needle and delivering value.

On the flip side, you can shift your focus to:

·   Caring about building connections with team members and clients

·   Cultivating trust with them

·   Staying aligned with what matters to them and the business 

Using this new blueprint Jen recommends:

“For the work and the business to change, start with the relationship.”

And that starts with how you show up every day.

If nothing changes, the cost is not only engagement. It’s the time lost trying to align over multiple meetings on the same topic. It’s the energy spent tracking and pushing, and the missed opportunity of individual contributors who could be doing more but choose not to.

For Jen, and for you, it means continuing to chase results using a playbook that no longer delivers at the level you need and keeps you running in place.

Call to action

I’m grateful for Jen’s contribution and perspective. She brought us back to something powerful and easy to overlook.

When you notice this is happening in your team, don’t keep pushing harder using the same approach. Take a step back and reflect on the type of environment you’re creating for your team and clients. 

And if you’re ready to take a closer look and explore what this looks like for you and your team, let’s connect for a 15-minute Cyber Coffee. Or email us directly at info@executivebound.com.

Share this vlog with leaders in your network. This is how we spread this message and impact more leaders and organizations.

As you reflect, which blueprint feels more aligned in this season of your leadership?

Lead with purpose, live with joy!
Dr. Ginny