Beyond Strategy Execution: The Leadership Shift That Changes Everything

Most executive teams focus on managing strategy. But what if leadership itself became the force that moves the system?

There is a profound difference between an Executive Leadership Team that executes strategy and one that embodies the organisation’s future—not just driving initiatives, but becoming the gravitational force that shapes decisions, culture, and momentum.

Over the past two days, I had the privilege of working with the Executive Leadership Team of Life Without Barriers (LWB)—a leadership team willing to take this leap. They weren’t just refining execution or aligning on plans. They stepped into something far more profound: leading strategy through them, not just by them.

This was a shift in leadership orientation—not about doing more, but about leading in a way that allows strategy to move with greater coherence and flow. Instead of strategy being an external framework to manage, it became an extension of who they are as leaders.

Why This Work is Not for the Faint-Hearted

This kind of leadership doesn’t replace high performance—it amplifies it. It moves leaders from effort to flow, from pushing results to generating impact that scales beyond individual action.

Letting go of control in favor of alignment and presence is one of the hardest leadership shifts to make. But in the teams that do, something powerful happens: execution accelerates, not through more effort, but through sharper coherence and attunement.

The Power of a CEO Who Stands for More

This level of transformation is only possible when a leader makes a stand—not just for execution, but for elevating the consciousness of leadership itself.

Claire Robbs CEO of Life Without Barriers, is one of those rare leaders.

She doesn’t just drive outcomes; she creates the conditions for leadership to emerge at a completely different level. She doesn’t just ask her Executive Leadership Team to perform—she holds space for them to become the force shaping the organisation’s future.

The shift in an ELT when a CEO leads in this way is profound. The leadership team stops looking for clarity from outside themselves—in frameworks, plans, or directives—and instead becomes the clarity that moves the organisation forward.

Claire leads not just from intellect, but from presence, vision, and deep systemic awareness. It is this kind of leadership that shifts an ELT from managing strategy to embodying it—from operating by effort to leading through presence.

And yet—it is never just about one leader. It takes a team willing to step into something more.

The Courage of the Executive Leadership Team

The ELT of Life Without Barriers stepped into this work with openness, depth, and a commitment to something bigger.

? To lead with presence, not just authority—enhancing performance through deeper influence.

? To move from control to attunement—where the right decisions emerge with greater ease and precision.

? To trust what is emerging rather than force predetermined outcomes—staying agile, effective, and future-ready.

These shifts may seem subtle from the outside, but they are what allow an executive team to move as one leadership field rather than a collection of individual leaders.

Leading Strategy as a Living Presence

The ELT engaged with leadership in a way that goes far beyond governance and execution. They explored:

?? Leadership as Transmission – Moving beyond executive presence as performance into leadership as energetic influence. When leaders become the organisation rather than simply guiding it, every decision is infused with coherence and depth.

?? The Field We Create – The ELT is not just setting direction but actively shaping how the organisation feels and moves. Leadership presence creates the conditions for trust, clarity, and momentum across the entire social fabric of the organisation’s reach.

?? Strategic Flow – Leadership as a living system, where strategy emerges in rhythm with what is unfolding rather than being forced through rigid, mechanistic plans. This means shifting from controlling outcomes to attuning to what wants to emerge—responding with precision and presence rather than reactivity.

?? The Inner Shift – The biggest transformation was not in the strategy itself, but in who leaders were being as they led it. This is the shift from To Me and By Me leadership into Through Me and As Me—where influence happens not through force but resonance.

When this happens, strategy stops feeling like a series of disconnected priorities to be managed and starts moving like a river—adapting, self-regulating, and finding its most effective path forward.

This Moment in Leadership

For all leaders reading this—where does your leadership team operate from?

?? Are you still managing strategy? ?? Or are you embodying the future that is emerging through you?

Deep respect to the ELT of Life Without Barriers for their courage and depth. This was not just a workshop—it was a threshold moment in how leadership moves, within and beyond the enterprise.

Deep thanks to Robert (Bob) J. Anderson whose pioneering work at the Unity Academy inspires precisely this kind of shift in executive leadership teams.

?? What’s your experience with leading strategy? Where have you seen leadership move beyond execution into something deeper? Let’s explore in the comments.

#LeadershipTransmission #ELT #ExecutiveLeadership #UnityAcademy #ThroughMeLeadership #EmbodiedLeadership #StrategicInfluence

Mark Leigh Leanne Johnson GAICD Carly Jacobitz Michael Robinson Donna L. Mary Mckinnon Brigitte Fairbank Emma Bennison MBA GAICD Servena McIntyre Jeevani Korathota Life Without Barriers Paula Head William A. (Bill) Adams Robert (Bob) J. Anderson