It’s Me Now

The music was still echoing from the main stage at Unite 2025 when Julie (former CEO) leaned over and told me she was going to make the announcement.

I remember where I was standing. Slightly off to the side. Close enough to feel the energy of the room, far enough not to be the center of it.

“I’m going to announce you as CEO today.”

My first reaction wasn’t pride.

It was resistance.

Not because I didn’t believe I could do it. And not because I hadn’t dreamed of it. When I was 20 years old, I wrote down a goal: CEO before 30. I had structured my early life around that ambition.

And here it was.

But as the applause built and my name carried across the room, my stomach tightened.

We weren’t ready.

The title felt premature — not for me, but for the vision.

Because every promotion I’ve ever received, starting from when I was an intern, followed the same pattern. I either turned it down or negotiated it differently. Not for a bigger title. Not for visibility. But to redirect resources. Hire someone else. Strengthen the team. Build capacity instead of hierarchy.

Titles never motivated me.

Building did.

So when I stepped into the CEO role, it wasn’t triumph I felt.

It was responsibility.

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The Question That Changed Everything

Instead of immediately casting a grand vision, I started with a question:

What is a Real Leader?

Not what sounds good on a website.

Not what looks impressive in a press release.

But what does it actually mean — in practice — for the CEOs we serve?

If I’m a member, can I see myself in this vision?
If I’m a prospect, does this platform elevate me — or just feature me?
If I’m a customer, am I growing because of this ecosystem?

So I listened.

To founders. To operators. To speakers. To those quietly building movements without recognition.

And what they told me shifted everything.

They didn’t want to just attend events.

They wanted to speak on stages.

They didn’t want to join a network.

They wanted to build their own.

They didn’t want to consume content.

They wanted to create it.

And slowly, it became clear:

If we weren’t careful, we were unintentionally keeping them small.

We had built a respected stage. A strong community. Meaningful connections.

But it still centered us.

If leadership is truly about service, then the model had to evolve.

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From One Stage to Many

That realization changed our direction.

We are no longer building one central stage.

We are building multiple stages.

If our members want to grow their audience, we need to help them create a consistent communications plan to reach millions of leaders, not just our community. 

If they need the tools to track their progress, our SaaS contributor platform gives them one simplified system to host their best links, track analytics, and generate leads tied directly to their mission.

If they want to host events and grow their own communities, we partner, support, and amplify.

We are not trying to build one global unite event.

We are trying to unite the globe — one leader-driven event at a time.

Because progress does not scale through centralization.

It scales through multiplication.

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The Reckoning

Here’s what I know now that I didn’t understand at 20:

Leadership is not about becoming the leader.

It’s about creating other leaders.

It’s not about your stage.

It’s about how many stages exist because of you.

It’s not about your reputation.

It’s about the credibility you help others build.

Anyone can organize a team toward a goal.

But a Real Leader is someone who thinks beyond themselves.

Someone who asks, How do I empower others?

How do I build systems strong enough that others can lead without me at the center?

That’s what Julie did.

And when she announced me as CEO at Unite 2025, I felt the weight of that shift.

It’s me now.

And my job is not to be the loudest voice in the room.

My job is to build rooms where others find theirs.

If in five years Real Leaders becomes the ultimate stage for CEOs driving change, it won’t be because we perfected a flagship event.

It will be because thousands of leaders built their own movements — with stronger infrastructure, clearer media, better tools, and deeper confidence.

The measure of my leadership will not be how visible I am.

It will be how many leaders emerge because we built the systems to support them.

That is what Real Leadership is.

And that is the future we’re building.

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