You’ll never get more truth than your team thinks you can handle.

Most CEOs say they want their teams to “tell it like it is”... no sugarcoating, no fluff.

But I’m not talking about improving company culture.

I’m talking about improving your internal culture... the presence you bring into every room.

The standards, habits, and honesty you model before anyone else does.

The thing no one will say out loud, but everyone can sense.

Few CEOs are willing to look at that... to see how much of it they’re actually responsible for.

Because wanting more from your executive team is a two-way street.

You can’t expect transparency if your presence doesn’t invite it.

Even your most seasoned executive leaders still soften the truth.

Not out of weakness... but self-preservation.

They’ve learned who can handle candor, and who can’t.

So your role as CEO isn’t to decode what’s said.

It’s to read what isn’t.

To trace the gap between their words and what’s really happening in the room.

That’s where your leadership edge lives.

Because the onus will always be on you.

Your team is a reflection of your emotional clarity, your honesty, your example.

If you’ve built an image of the CEO who always has it together... your team will rely on that.

They’ll defer.

They’ll dilute.

And you’ll be surrounded by polished truths instead of real ones.

A company transforms when its CEO does.

And when you raise the level of honesty and clarity in the mirror, you’ll see it rise everywhere else.

This is the private work I do with CEOs ready to see what their leadership is truly reflecting.