Strengthen Your Change Leadership with a Coach You Can Trust |Forbes Contributor |Accenture Alum |Former NU Adjunct Faculty

Empowering Leaders to Navigate Change and Drive Results

With over 20 years of experience guiding executives across industries, I've honed my expertise in leadership development, change management, and high-performance team building. My journey from competitive tennis to global change initiatives at Accenture and other global firms has taught me the critical importance of adaptability, resilience, and strategic communication in today's volatile business landscape.

Key focus areas:

 - Elevating leadership potential through personalized coaching
 - Mastering Change Leadership to drive sustainable transformations
 - Enhancing executive presence and inclusive leadership skills

My approach combines structured frameworks with agility, utilizing assessments, workshops, and hands-on coaching to deliver rapid, measurable progress. Drawing from my academic work at Northwestern University and insights from the Forbes Coaches Council, I provide leaders with practical strategies to navigate complex challenges and inspire their teams.

Ready to elevate your leadership and drive impactful change? Let's connect.

Email: smschwan@evolvingstrategies.com
Phone: +1.312.371.7263
Schedule a call: https://calendly.com/sandyschwan

Sandy Schwan

Helping Leaders Ignite Change Through Inner Growth 🌱

There are truly two ways to live in 2025:

1. Striving endlessly for more. Feeling separate & disconnected.
2. Living fully in the present. Aware of our shared connection.

Most live stuck in the first.

Inevitably leading to stress, burnout, and a sense that something’s missing.

The bigger problem?

This way of living doesn’t just drain your energy, it costs you the deeper joys of life:

- A clear & peaceful mind.
- Meaningful relationships.
- A deep sense of fulfillment.

The truth?

You don’t have to sacrifice well-being for success.

Life doesn’t need to feel like a constant grind.

Your way forward:

Live (and lead) with presence, connection, and intention.

My goal is to help leaders and organizations:

- Embrace the present moment to lead with clarity & connection.
- Build emotional intelligence for stronger relationships.
- Shift focus from individual goals to shared progress.

The future belongs to those who lead with the heart, inspiring collective growth over individual ambition.

--

I am a husband, father and co-creator.

For 15+ years, I have been building tech companies and supporting leaders to:

- Improve lives
- Extend quality time
- Foster positive change

My deepest purpose in life is to touch and improve as many lives as possible.

To achieve this, I share everything I know and continue to learn over time.

It's up to you to decide how to use this knowledge to help others.

If you ever want to work with me, my door is open.

If not, take what you learn and pay it forward. 

We are all in this together!

Marco Franzoni

If you’re not growing in your role, you’re shrinking.

But shrinking is subtle.

It hides as consistency.
It looks like loyalty.
It feels like being the dependable one.

I’ve told myself that story before.

“Now’s not the moment.”
“I should just be thankful.”
“My time will come if I’m patient.”

While I waited:

A colleague took a stretch project I avoided.

A junior asked braver questions and got noticed.

An external hire shaped the direction I wanted.

If the system doesn’t stretch you,
it slowly trains you to stay small.

Careers don’t stall from lack of effort.
They stall from lack of intention.

Growth looks different than promotions.

Saying yes before you feel ready. 
Building leverage, not just output. 
Finding mentors, not just managers. 

Pause and reflect:

- What’s the last skill you learned that actually changed your output?

- Who actively challenged your growth in the last 90 days?

- What capabilities are you building for what comes next?

If those answers feel unclear, that’s not safety.

That’s drift.

And drift is decline dressed as stability.

The biggest career risk isn’t speed.

It’s comfort that lasts too long.

If nothing changes,
where are you this time next year?

Growth doesn’t wait for permission.


♻️ Please repost to promote intentional growth over comfort.
🙂 Follow Marco Franzoni for more."

Nobody cares how capable you are
if people shrink around you.

You may carry great experience.

Or an impressive track record.

But none of it matters if your presence drains the room.

❌ Dominating every conversation  
❌ Turning feedback into defense  
❌ Treating mistakes like crimes  
❌ Creating tension instead of trust  

Being good to work with is a true leadership multiplier:

1. Celebrate progress
↳ Small wins compound motivation
↳ Momentum beats perfection

2. Stay curious
↳ Ask before assuming
↳ Curiosity disarms ego fast

3. Respond, don’t react
↳ Pause before speaking
↳ A calm leader stabilizes the team

4. Be clear about intent
↳ Explain the “why”, not just tasks
↳ People commit to meaning

5. Protect psychological safety
↳ People perform when safe to try
↳ Fear kills creativity instantly

Skills may open the door.

But the energy you bring decides who wants you in the room.


♻️ Please repost to promote respectful leadership.
🙂 Follow Marco Franzoni for more.

If you have to shrink to belong,

you’re in the wrong environment.

It’s not a confidence problem, it’s a context problem.

Because the wrong room
can turn power into doubt.

Here’s how subtle cultures erode you:

❌ You over-edit your words because honesty feels unsafe

❌ You slow your momentum because excellence draws friction

❌ You dim your standards to avoid outshining the room

And slowly, you lose touch with who you were.

Healthy environments don’t require self-censorship.

Here’s a quick leader check:

↳ Do people elevate your ideas or water them down?

↳ Can you bring tension with care — without fallout?

↳ Do your strengths spark collaboration or insecurity?

You’re not the issue.
The environment is.

And you always have two options:

Transform the culture.
Or find a room that can hold your full range.

Don’t spend your life adapting to spaces that drain you.

Choose people who refine your edge and expand your thinking.

Find environments that value your strengths, not compete with them.

You were made to grow.
Not to collapse inward.

💬 Who in your life expands your potential?
Tag them. Let them know.


♻️ Please repost to promote cultures that help people rise. 
🙂 Follow Marco Franzoni for more.

Some leaders pull back and call it trust.

Others hover and call it help.

One feels like neglect.

The other feels like control.

Neither builds real ownership.

True leadership isn’t about stepping in.

I’ve watched high performers shut down.
Not because the workload was heavy.
But because the tension never stopped.

I’ve also seen ordinary teams exceed every target.
Because their leader carried the pressure for them.

Leaders who elevate others don’t control people.

They shape the conditions and systems people work in:

1. Model calm under stress  
↳ Your nervous system is contagious  
↳ Regulate first, respond second  

2. Build safety before performance  
↳ Make it safe to speak early  
↳ Candor prevents costly mistakes  

3. Create clear scoreboards  
↳ Define what “done” looks like  
↳ Autonomy needs boundaries  

4. Coach the thinking, not the task  
↳ Ask better questions  
↳ Grow judgment, ↳not dependence  

5. Anchor to purpose daily  
↳ Remind people why the work matters  
↳ Meaning fuels effort better than pressure  

People don’t grow because you push them.

They grow because you believe in them.

Be the leader that you wish you had.


♻️ Please repost to promote purposeful leadership.
🙂 Follow Marco Franzoni for more.

Your title alone doesn’t make you a leader.

How you respond when pressure rises does.

After years of supporting leaders,
I’ve seen the same pattern repeat:

People will endure tight timelines and imperfect systems.

But one thing they won’t ignore:

A leader who checks out.

5 ways leaders unknowingly drive their best people away:

❌ Making everything urgent 
↳ Constant pressure turns motivated people into exhausted ones.

❌ Avoiding hard conversations 
↳ Silence creates confusion that top talent won’t tolerate.

❌ Treating presence as optional 
↳ When leaders are mentally absent, trust erodes fast.

❌ Solving every problem for the team 
↳ It steals ownership and crushes initiative.

❌ Celebrating outcomes but ignoring effort 
↳ High achievers want their process seen, not just results.

How to keep your best people:

✅ Protect deep-work time 
↳ Focus is fuel. Guard it like a strategic asset.

✅ Give autonomy with clarity 
↳ Define the “what,” let them co-design the “how.”

✅ Celebrate learning, not just wins 
↳ Growth becomes a shared identity, not a performance test.

Choose to be the leader who lifts others higher.

Because top performers don’t just leave jobs.
They leave leaders who stopped truly seeing them.


♻️ Please reshare to promote healthier leadership. 
🙂 Follow Marco Franzoni for more.

It’s time we retire the term soft skills.

They drive hard results.

These traits aren’t optional anymore,
They’re the edge in an AI-powered world,
And they’re what top teams quietly reward.

If you want to future-proof your career, build these 12 capabilities:

1. Systems Awareness
↳See how your work impacts the whole.
Optimize the process, not just tasks.

2. Deep Listening
↳Listen to understand, not to reply.
People feel the difference instantly.

3. Self-Regulation
↳Slow your breath before big moments.
Calm is contagious in tense rooms.

4. Decisive Thinking
↳Make informed calls with 70% data.
Momentum beats perfection.

5. Courageous Candor
↳Say the honest thing with care.
Trust grows in hard conversations.

6. Energy Management
↳Protect your focus like an asset.
What drains you drains the team.

7. Strategic Patience
↳Think long term in short-term chaos.
Compounding beats reacting.

8. Accountability
↳Own outcomes, not excuses.
Leaders go first here.

9. Boundary Setting
↳Say no to protect what matters.
Clarity prevents resentment.

10. Curiosity
↳Ask better questions.
Innovation begins there.

11. Positive Framing
↳Reframe problems as design inputs.
Constraints spark creativity.

12. Consistency
↳Small daily standards.
They build reputations quietly.

Which of these do you see missing most in teams today?


♻️ Please repost to promote human-centered leadership.
🙂 Follow Marco Franzoni for more.

Your history doesn’t define you.

Your next move does.

We all carry moments we wish went differently.

The deal that fell through.  
The hire that didn’t work out.  
The risk you didn’t take.  

But I learned something powerful:

The past is feedback.  
Not a forecast.

Your ceiling isn’t set by yesterday.  
It’s set by the standards you choose today.

8 ways to step beyond your past ⚡️

1) Upgrade your environment  
↳ Energy is contagious. Choose wisely.

2) Extract the lesson, drop the drama  
↳ Write the lesson in one line. Delete the rest.

3) Reconnect to your “why”  
↳ Purpose turns pain into fuel.

4) Regulate before you react  
↳ Slow breath. Calm body. Clear choice.

5) Design systems, not willpower  
↳ Build habits that make growth automatic.

6) Speak to yourself like a leader  
↳ Replace blame with ownership.

7) Act before you feel ready  
↳ Courage creates clarity.

8) Make today a proof point  
↳ One aligned action changes identity.

You are not your worst moment.  

You are your next decision.

What’s one bold move your future self needs from you today?


♻️ Please repost to promote ownership over excuses.  
🙂 Follow Marco Franzoni for more.

12 mindsets strong leaders practice,

And every one can be trained:

1. Energy Stewardship: "Protect the source"
↳They guard sleep, focus, and recovery

2. Discipline: "Show up anyway"
↳They honor the process, not their mood

3. Self-Awareness: "Notice before reacting"
↳They regulate stress before it spreads

4. Systems Thinking: "Fix the process"
↳They build engines, not heroic sprints

5. Service: "It’s not about me"
↳They measure success by impact, not ego

6. Listening: "Seek to understand"
↳They create safety before solutions

7. Clarity: "Why does this matter?"
↳They start with purpose, then act

8. Courage: "Say the hard thing"
↳They choose honesty over comfort

9. Decisiveness: "Progress over perfection"
↳They move with 70% clarity

10. Patience: "Think in decades"
↳They trade quick wins for lasting value

11. Accountability: "Close the loop"
↳They finish what they start

12. Adaptation: "Shift without drama"
↳They adjust fast when reality changes

You don’t need all 12 at once.

Even seasoned leaders wobble.

Pick one.

Train it daily.

Character compounds.

Results follow.

Which one feels most alive for you?


♻️ Please repost to promote conscious leadership.
🙂 Follow Marco Franzoni for more.

"I accepted a stronger offer."

Translation: I found a leader who sees me.

I’ve supported many leaders through exits.

The truth is rarely in the headline.

Behind next step or new challenge is a quieter signal:

They don’t feel significant.

Nobody appreciates.

Their effort feels invisible.
Their growth feels stalled.
Their voice feels small.

If you want your best people to stay:

↳ Ask what energizes them
↳ Admit when you’re wrong
↳ Remove obstacles quietly
↳ Model calm under pressure
↳ Coach their strengths weekly
↳ Invest in their learning path
↳ Create safety for hard truths
↳ Give them ownership, not tasks
↳ Challenge them to think bigger
↳ Protect their focus from noise
↳ Clarify what winning looks like
↳ Connect their work to a mission
↳ Celebrate progress, not just results

You can’t buy commitment.

You build it through trust, and belief in their potential.

Become the leader you wish you had.


♻️ Please repost to promote human-centered leadership.
🙂 Follow Marco Franzoni for more.

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Sandy Schwan

Marco Franzoni

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The Battle

Sandy Schwan

Marco Franzoni

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Marco Franzoni's LinkedIn Performance

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