Bring Proactive Agility™ to Your Organization: Turn Uncertainty into Advantage.

Bring Proactive Agility™ to Your Organization: Turn Uncertainty into Advantage.

Media Recognized: Yahoo Finance,  Entrepreneur, Business Insider, Forbes,  SUCCESS, MSN.

Keynote Speaker | Workshop Facilitator | Executive Coach | Executive Search Consultant | M&A Deal Originator

Available globally from Seoul, South Korea & Charlotte, North Carolina.

My journey, shaped by extraordinary resilience from a life-altering accident at 14, fuels my mission to empower leaders with agility and purpose.

I served in senior leadership roles for 13 years at Adidas, Reebok, and other leading athletic companies.

With over 25 years of experience in executive search and leadership consulting, my approach combines hands-on C-suite experience with guiding transformation for organizations of all sizes. 

I help unlock proactive leadership and build cultures for lasting impact, whether inspiring ambitious start-ups or Fortune 500 giants across Asia, North America, and beyond.

New Book Publishing Q1 2026 :GLOBAL MINDSET: A Guide for Cross-Cultural Leadership Co-authored with Bryan McKinney, (My Son!) Director at McKinney Consulting.

If your organization values cross-cultural insights and transformative leadership, consider connecting about workshops or bulk booking events.

Services:
•	Keynote Speeches (Proactive Agility™, Leadership, Global Mindset)
•	Actionable Workshops
•	Executive and Leadership Team Coaching
•	Global Executive Search
•	M&A Origination

Clients have included world-renowned brands, SMEs, top leaders, and hundreds of executives over the past 25 years.

Ready to future-proof your organization or energize your next event? Let’s connect to explore how Proactive Agility™ can drive your organizational transformation, develop your leaders, or elevate your conference.

[Visit stevemckinney.com and mckinneyconsulting.com] for testimonials and speaking reels, or message me directly here to get started.

When I was Production Manager at Reebok, I made a multi-million-dollar decision based on the opinion of a blue-collar factory line worker.

It was Reebok's largest factor at the time.

5,000-person workforce.

1.2 million pairs of shoes produced each month.

We were evaluating a new production design in the technical trials, which looked brilliant on paper.

Engineers were confident.

Executives were excited.

But to me, something felt off with the design.

I wasn’t sure if it was possible.

But instead of trusting the leadership team's consensus, I did something unorthodox.

I said to my leadership team, “Okay, out of this 5,000-person factory, who is the ONE person that has the most knowledge on this part of the process?

Them: “We have 13 finishing lines where all the products come to finish. Mr. Kim, on line 1. He's our best operator.”

I said, “Okay, bring him up here. I want to talk to him.”

Them: “Why? He's blue-collar. He's a line worker.”

“It doesn't matter,” I said.

Them: “But he's not well educated. His English isn’t strong.”

I took a breath.

Then responded, “I'm about to make a multi-million dollar decision, okay? I need to know if this design can pass the trials. So, let's go to the production line. And talk to him.”

We went to the production line, asked him if this new project was possible.

In less than a minute, we had our answer.

“No. It will not work.”

Mr. Kim didn't have an MBA. He wore work clothes, not a suit. But he understood the specific machinery and process on the production line better than anyone else in the building.


Here’s why I trusted Mr. Kim’s judgement:

He executed this specific process on 3,000 pairs of shoes a day.

But you know what? We have 2 feet, a left and a right.

So he did it 6,000 times a day.

And we have 24 working days in a month.

So that’s 144,000 reps a month.

1,728,000 reps a year.

To me? That makes Mr. Kim a genius in his realm.

Within 30 seconds of explaining the design, he spotted the flaw.

He saved us from a multi-million-dollar mistake.

One that would've cost months of delays and damaged relationships with retailers.

Unsung heroes are in YOUR company, too:

A warehouse supervisor who knows why orders keep getting delayed. A maintenance worker who can spot equipment failure before it happens. A customer service rep who knows what features customers actually want.

But most companies ignore these voices because they don't come with fancy titles or degrees.


The biggest mistake leaders make is assuming intelligence correlates with hierarchy. It doesn't.

Mastery exists at every level of an organisation.

My job isn't to be the smartest person in the room.

It's to identify where the real expertise lives and create systems to capture that knowledge.

I call this “Unleashing the Collective Genius.”

Don't ignore the genius sitting right in front of you.

Steve McKinney

I broke my back at 14 years old.

Our car had flipped 5 times.

I remember the sound of metal folding in on itself.

My brother was in the car, too. He was 16.

We were on our way to school.

A normal morning until the car went off the road and rolled down a very steep bank.

I tried to move my body, but nothing was working. I had no idea that the vertebrae in my back were broken.

I kept asking where my brother was.

Seconds ago, he was sitting next to me.

"James? Where are you, James?"

I kept calling out to him.

But I couldn't see him.

He’d been thrown from the car.

When the ambulance arrived, they loaded me into it. They had to slow down because every bump felt like my back was on fire.

I still didn’t know my brother was gone.

When my mom got to the hospital, she’d just lost her firstborn. Yet somehow, she was calm. She looked me in the eyes and said:

“We can’t worry about him now. He’s in a better place. We have to worry about you.”

As I'm sure you can imagine, that day never left me.

I felt like I had to grow up overnight. I stepped into his role in our family band. Learned his parts. Tried to fill the monumental gap he left behind.

Since then, I’ve tried to use whatever time and talent I have to help others.

Because I wasn’t supposed to survive that crash.

The odds weren't stacked in my favor.

But I did.

And I know it was for a reason.

Picture: (Hugh (dad), Peggy (mom), James (brother Steve (me), our last album with James, 6 months before our accident.

Building global leaders who inspire and transform 

I am a Master Certified Coach and the founder of an executive search firm. I have over 20 years of experience helping Fortune 500 and other multinational organizations identify and place great leaders. I also conduct executive coaching for global leaders to inspire and transform them to achieve their full potential.

My unique skills and network have led me to M&A deal origination opportunities for buyers and sellers in Energy Transition Deals, primarily in Asia. I am passionate about helping leaders to make a positive impact on the world. 

I have received a 2nd chance at life and desire to make the most of it by helping others succeed.

Growing up, I toured and recorded several albums singing and playing the bass guitar from 9 years old with my family group and others, from Opryland in Nashville. Tennessee to Carnegie Hall in New York City to the Blue House for the President of South Korea, I have been privileged to perform meaningful concerts.

However, the most important event which has changed my life occurred at the age of 14. I was in a tragic car accident that took my older brother James’s life. Somehow, I miraculously survived rolling over several times down a cliff inside the car with a broken back.

I have made a career of succeeding from managing the largest factory for Reebok International in Busan, South Korea, Head of Footwear Product Development for Adidas International (global) in Portland, Oregon, to establishing an executive search, coaching, and M&A Advisor firm in 2001.

My team and I have placed hundreds of mid-senior level executives for various positions in multinational companies, from SME to Fortune 500 in South Korea and across borders in other countries with our global search partners.

Also, I have coached over 300 start-up company CEOs and other leaders successfully and more individuals on how to have a global mindset to inspire and transform their multinational organizations.

I am also a partner at Eastpoint Partner Limited, a provider of bespoke advisors to assist companies looking to enter new markets in Asia, either organically or via M&A; to raise capital for companies or funds; to assist in strategic led services and user roles; specific expertise in energy transmission.

My credentials include Leadership Coaching Strategies from Harvard University, Master Certified Coach in Behavioral Coaching, and an Advanced Diploma in Organizational Neuropsychological Coaching, and earned a B.A. Music Ed. from Mars Hill University, North Carolina.

In 1995, I was the Head of Footwear Product Development at Adidas International headquarters in Portland, Oregon.

Here's the delegation process I built that's still serving me 30 years later:

Picture this scenario. Your company's about to go public. The brand is red-hot. Orders are flooding in. You need to deliver more products than ever before.

But there's a catch.

You can't hire anyone new.

Classic chicken-and-egg problem. You need PEOPLE to execute the business, but you need the business first to get the BUDGET for the people.

What do you do?

Many would panic, work 80-hour weeks, or let quality slip. None of which would work for us.

So here's what we did:

I sat down with each team member and identified their superpower (beyond their CORE role).

Bill? Technical genius. From now on, he'd handle all technical queries for the entire team.

Sue? Fashion guru with incredible design instincts. She'd provide color analysis and trend monitoring for everyone.

Each person got 2 roles: their category leadership AND a team contribution. Everyone contributed something special to the group effort. No one felt singled out or overburdened.

Now we had the bandwidth of a much larger team.


Here’s why it worked so well:

1. It Maximized Resources: Bill's technical expertise served multiple      
 categories instead of one. Sue's fashion sense elevated every product line                     

2. It Created Genuine Buy-In: When you ask someone to contribute their strongest skill, they feel valued.

3. It Built Cross-Functional Knowledge: Team members started understanding challenges beyond their own areas.

4. My Time Was Freed Up for Strategy: Instead of being the bottleneck for every decision, I had specialists handling their areas of expertise.


30 years later, I still use this approach.

When resources are tight, look inward first.

Your team has more capability than you're using.

The key isn't finding MORE people.

It's finding more ways to leverage the brilliant people you ALREADY have.

Don’t think of delegation as dumping tasks.

Think of it as unlocking superpowers.

"Who's the best teacher you've ever had?"

For me, it was my first failed company.

I founded a company called “Bojams”, but it crashed and burned.

I had the right product, the production, and a proverbial blue-ocean market. But I made the mistake of bootstrapping instead of raising capital, which led to weak financial management.

If you’ve ever had a business failure, you'll know how this feels:

You're left questioning reality, "Oh my gosh. Me, a failure? I can't even say those words out loud." It goes against our pride as human beings.

But after enough reflection, I finally admitted it.

And with dignity.

The truth is, when you launch a start-up, you learn very fast what you're good at… And what you're not so good at.

It feels devastating at the time, but on the back of this "failure," Converse recruited me to develop their new Action Sports category.

They'd heard about my work in the footwear industry.

I'd spent years leading teams and production at Reebok and Adidas.

See, "Bojams" was an unknown name.

But Adidas & Reebok carried decades of status. Universal status. They were household names. Bojams wasn't. And once that sunk in, it changed my business outlook.

So when I launched @McKinney Consulting a few years later, I did things differently.

Because to really commit to something, there can be no turning back. You have to tell yourself, "I can't fail."

And this is why I love the metaphor, "Burn the boats." And it’s true.

I had to burn them.

I had money invested in the firm. I was in Korea. I'd already shipped some of my stuff back to America. I had no backup plan. So, instead of grand visions, I set small, achievable goals and let the compound effect do its thing.

And McKinney Consulting is still going strong 24 years later.

——

THE TRUTH ABOUT FAILURE:

It's not actually failure. What you're getting is information.

“Okay, this thing didn't work. But it's helping me pivot. As long as I always keep moving forward, I'll be okay."

The only real failure is quitting.

Each setback gets you closer to knowing what works.

Most entrepreneurs give up too early because they see setbacks as proof they're not cut out for business.

In reality, those setbacks are exactly what separate successful founders from everyone else. They're willing to learn from the information and adapt. Others aren't.

An obstacle is only a true "obstacle" if you give up.

There's always a way to circumvent it.

Ever wonder why some teams navigate change before the numbers shift, while others get caught off guard? The secret isn’t just data, it’s knowing what the lessons are really telling you.

Some years ago, I watched a leadership team hit a wall. The metrics looked good—on the surface. But the real insights came in the after-action review,

Open article: Decode the Trajectory: Using Data and Reflection to Lead Change by Steve McKinney • 2 min read

Decode the Trajectory: Using Data and Reflection to Lead Change

My dad told me something when I was younger that I thought was complete nonsense.

He said, “No matter what you do, work hard, do your best and you'll never go hungry.”

And I laughed (inside my mind).

I thought, “That’s not really smart. It’s kind of naive.”

Years later I realized I owed him an apology - He was absolutely right.

Imagine you’re running a company… One of your employees comes to you and he says, “I don't like this job. I’d like a job in another department please.”

But he's not giving it his all in his current role.

He's dragging his feet.

The first question in my mind would be, “What's my guarantee that he'll do a good job in the new position when he's doing a lousy job now in the one he doesn't enjoy?”

But let’s flip the story around.

Let’s say the guy comes to me, he's doing a great job where he's at, but he doesn't like the job.

And he says, “Steve, I'm working in a job and I'm doing my best, but I’d really like an opportunity to do something else. I don’t enjoy the work I’m doing right now.”

I can bet that guy would do a top notch job in the new role.

Why? Because he's already doing a brilliant job at something he doesn't even like. So if he applied his mind and work ethic to a job he DID enjoy… the upside would be infinite.

This principle extends way beyond individual performance:

(1) In hiring: Look for candidates who've excelled in roles they didn't love.

(2) In partnerships: Work with people who deliver quality even when circumstances aren't ideal.

(3) In leadership: Recognize that attitude and work ethic make passion irrelevant.

(4) In business development: The clients who respect your process during difficult projects become your best long-term relationships.

What my dad was actually trying to tell me back then wasn’t, "Hard work is all you need." But that a person's true character reveals itself when things are tough.

Not when it’s sunshine and rainbows.

18 years ago, I called my dad out of the blue and asked a very serious question:

“Hey Dad… what do me, Jackie Chan, and Roger Moore have in common?”

“What’s that, Steve?”

“All 3 of us are Honorary Citizens of Seoul, Dad. They made me an honorary citizen, so I've got the key to the city.”

You know how proud this made my dad? A little country boy from Boone, North Carolina. 10-million-person city. Me. An Honorary Citizen of Seoul.

Me. Jackie Chan. Roger Moore.

Ha!

I remember the day I found out. I was in shock. I had a phone call from a government official whom I knew well. He said, “Steve, we need some information from you.”

“What's this for?”

He said, “It’s been recommended that you receive the Honorary Citizen of Seoul.”

“Gee, what is it?”

“Well, everybody really appreciates you and all you've done. It's a gesture, and they want to do this. So, I’ll need to gather some information from you. It’s procedure.”

I was humbled by it. Honored by it. But I also want to be transparent…

It’s placed a weight on my shoulders.

Because it's on my resume. It's out there. The government registered me as this specific “type” of citizen. I'm known in the business community in this country. I have a reputation to maintain.

So, it puts pressure on me to do the best for my team, my clients, and my community. I have to live up to the award.

I moved to Seoul in ‘99.

And received the award in 2007.

Many things led to it, but 2 stand out above all else:

(1) COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION

One, I served many for 13 years on the board of the American Chamber of Commerce for South Korea. Also, I was the Living in Korea committee co-chair. And we developed a book every couple of years about tips on how to live well in Seoul. We created that. 

(2) GOVERNMENT / INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

The main reason for my award was the creation of the Yongsan International School of Seoul, a Kindergarten through year 12 school. And that was that. I'm on the board of the Korean Foreign School Foundation, a Ministry of Commerce initiative that established YISS.  

—

P.S. What do Jackie Chan, James Bond, and I have in common?

(And no, it’s not that we’re all dashingly handsome — although it’s true!)

In a world where markets, technology, and expectations keep shifting, companies are rethinking what “great leadership” looks like—and agile talent is quickly moving to the top of the list.

Breaking the Approval Chain 🚦

Bureaucracy slows everything down, sometimes to hilarious extremes. 🐢

Ever watched a great idea die in the approval process?
One signature leads to three.
Three lead to five.
And suddenly, the spark is gone.

A client once needed nine signatures to hire one person. By the time it cleared, their top candidate had joined a competitor.

Not a lack of interest, just a lack of speed.

Bureaucracy kills momentum, innovation, and morale.

The best leaders simplify.
They push decisions closer to where work happens.
They empower teams to move, not wait.

Here’s a challenge:
What if you removed just one approval step this quarter?
How much faster could your team move?

What’s the longest or funniest approval chain you’ve seen, and how did you finally break through the red tape?

Share your story below. Let’s laugh, learn, and maybe fix a few bottlenecks together.

In a world where what you know today can be obsolete tomorrow, the leaders who win are those who make learning an everyday superpower. Perpetual evolution isn’t optional, it’s your greatest asset in the age of constant change.

Every week, I hear how B2B sales are just about “closing deals.” But no one seems to talk about the reality:

When you need toothpaste, you go to the store and grab your favorite brand.

If they don't have it, you buy your 2nd favorite.

And you go home.

Unlike your favorite toothpaste, multi-step purchases involve:

💠 Months of conversations

💠 Multiple stakeholders

💠 Investments that make a mortgage look modest

I've worked with Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, and multinationals. And here's what catches people off guard:

Every corporate culture operates differently. Some clients obsess over individual leadership metrics. Others care only about team success.

Some are focused on ticking every compliance box imaginable. The mistake most people make is assuming one approach works everywhere. It doesn't. You have to listen and adapt without compromising your standards.

One client wants weekly progress reports with detailed breakdowns.

Another just wants results and finds updates irritating.

Miss these cues and you're stuffed.


EXAMPLE:

Let's use my company, @McKinney Consulting as an example.

I need to be ready when a client comes to us with an Executive Search project.

They may say, "I want to learn about your background and leadership."

Or they may say, “I want to talk about your team. Your success track record, your performance reports, etc.”

Or they may even say, “I want to talk about your processes. Do you follow best practices?”

Because they're trying to test us.

Sometimes they'll say the equivalent of, "I want you to sit there while we describe the Superman or Superwoman that we need for this role."

The money side trips people up, too.

Executive search project fees can be anywhere from $25K, $50K, or upwards of $100K.

Industry-standard fees for retained search assignments are 30% of the first-year compensation, split across three payments.

And most clients have never hired for these roles before.

A CEO might run a $50 million company but be unsure how to structure a hiring process for a senior role. And this is completely understandable. They've never recruited for it before.

Your job becomes part consultant, part coach, part project manager.

You're guiding them through decisions they're unsure how to make. You're delivering what they actually need, not what they think they want. The clients who succeed are the ones who admit they don't know everything and trust the process. We don’t know everything either, so together we’re better.


The companies that struggle with complex purchases usually think they can:

(1) Take shortcuts (2) Micromanage every detail

Complex purchases demand different skills, patience, and expectations.

There are no shortcuts to navigating them.

What works is understanding each client's world and adapting your approach to suit.

Some live events fade as soon as the applause ends, but the best keynotes create momentum that transforms how teams work together, long after the stage goes dark.

Ever seen a keynote light a spark, then watched that energy spread across your organization? The right event can become a true culture shift, not just

Open article: From Keynote to Culture: How Live Events Spark Real Change. by Steve McKinney • 2 min read

From Keynote to Culture: How Live Events Spark Real Change.

Real breakthroughs happen when teams solve problems together, not just when a few leaders call the shots. In top organizations, group innovation is the engine for lasting progress.

Let’s explore how Proactive Agility™ lets leaders unleash collective genius and make breakthroughs a true team sport. Breakthrough progress doesn’t ha

Open article: 
Unleash Collective Genius: Making Breakthroughs a Team Sport  by Steve McKinney • 2 min read

Unleash Collective Genius: Making Breakthroughs a Team Sport

A few years ago, I spoke with a CEO who'd been searching for a CFO for 8 months - burning $20k monthly on interim costs while missing vital growth opportunities.

He called executive search firms "headhunters." But a retained executive search firm is not a recruitment agency. Here's why this mindset costs companies millions (and how the smartest leaders think differently):

THE REALITY:

Retained executive search firms don't post jobs and wait for applications.
We map markets, identify passive talent, and assess cultural fit before candidates even know opportunities exist.

Yet some companies and clients still think we're:

💠 Middlemen adding unnecessary complexity

💠 Salespeople pushing whoever's available

💠 CV collectors charging premium fees

💠 Cost centres rather than profit drivers

This misunderstanding creates a vicious cycle:

Companies treat search firms transactionally → Get transactional results → Conclude executive search "doesn't work" → Waste months on internal hiring → Miss market opportunities whilst competitors move faster.

Our clients approach it differently:

    1. They brief us like strategic partners, not vendors

    2. Share real challenges, not sanitised job descriptions

    3. Invest time in market intelligence and competitor analysis

    4. Recognise that vacant C-level positions cost more than search fees

    5. Understand that quality candidates need compelling narratives, not just salary bumps

The CEO I mentioned... once he shifted perspective, we placed his CFO in 12 weeks.

Here's why it matters now:

Executive talent is scarcer than ever. The best candidates aren't actively looking. They're being approached by multiple firms simultaneously.

When you treat executive search like commodity recruitment, you get commodity results. When you treat it like a partnership, you access hidden talent markets.
——
The bottom line:

How you search determines who you find. It's about making unavailable candidates available, not just finding available ones. The best-fit hires weren't looking until the right opportunity found them. And that's the nuance. The companies that source the best talent invest in market positioning and candidate experience.

In 2007 — minutes after hearing his speech — the Secretary of State walked up to me and we talked about Heinz ketchup.

(Yes, you read that right.)

That's former Secretary of State Kerry.

I'm in the VIP section after the ceremony. He's doing his rounds, shaking hands as he goes. But he stops at me. We start having a proper conversation.

10 minutes later, I walk back over to my group.

Now, everyone around me is dying to know what we discussed.

"Steve, what did you talk about? What did the Secretary say?" they continued. "You have to tell us everything!"

Fair enough, I thought.

"We talked about ketchup."

"What do you mean, Ketchup…?" Their faces were puzzled.

“His wife owns Heinz Ketchup, she's part of the Heinz family. And my company has done business with them.”

When the Secretary approached me, I knew I couldn't ask him about state secrets. But I thought if I had the chance, I'd bring up something we could actually discuss - something we had in common.

So I said, "Hello sir, It’s a pleasure to meet you… I actually do business with your wife's company here in Korea."

He put his hand on my shoulder.

"Really? Tell me about it. What do you do here?"

And we had this brilliant conversation - all because of Heinz ketchup.

I could’ve tried to impress him by blurting out policy knowledge or industry insights. But I found some common ground instead. Whether you're networking at industry events or meeting potential clients, there’s always one common touch point you can find with someone.

So at your next big event, instead of trying to be impressive, start being interested in the person in front of you.

P.S. - Look at that red hair! That's probably the only decent picture I have of this moment, but what a moment it was.

Recently, one of our clients asked us to find a new country manager for their company. I gave our top candidate 16 questions to prepare him for his first interview with the company:

(We narrowed over 50 candidates down to just a few…)


(1) How would you set a 5-year plan for the client’s revenue growth while maintaining long-term partnerships over short-term gains?

(2) Tell me about a time you entered a new market or business model - how did you balance risk and opportunity?

(3) What’s your approach to building a sales and marketing strategy in a specialized B2B environment like beverages?

(4) How do you use data and field intelligence to adjust commercial priorities or product focus?

(5) Describe a time you transformed a team during a change or crisis - how did you preserve morale?

(6) How do you build trust across a small, diverse team serving key accounts and distributors?

(7) The company values openness and constructive debate. How do you encourage candor and feedback with your team?

(8) What type of culture have you built or sustained in previous organizations?

(9) What emerging trends in the beverage or FMCG industries excite you most, and why?

(10) How do you see sustainability and digital innovation shaping the Korean market in the next 5 years?

(11) What strategies would you employ to strengthen partner engagement and customer loyalty in Korea?

(14) How do you ensure alignment when co-leading an organization with equal responsibility?

(15) Give an example of a time when ethical considerations affected your business decision.

(16) The company emphasizes “entrepreneurial spirit with reliability.” How does that balance show up in your leadership decisions?


Most candidates don’t lack experience.

They've never been forced to reflect on it properly.

These 16 questions are designed to make the invisible visible, so candidates can present their best selves when it matters most.

The goal isn't to manufacture perfect answers.

It's to help candidates recognize their own value and communicate it clearly.

Thanksgiving Leadership Isn’t Just “Thank You.”

The leaders who leave a mark don’t wait for a crisis or a holiday to appreciate their teams.

They use days like today as a checkpoint:

“Who helped us navigate uncertainty this year, and have I told them 
specifically why it mattered?”​

“When you stayed curious with that difficult client, you opened the door to a new opportunity.”

This week, instead of a generic “thanks, team,” try something different.
 Name the moment.
 Name the behavior.
 Name the impact.

“When you challenged that assumption in our meeting, you helped us avoid a costly mistake.”

“When you stayed curious with that difficult client, you opened the door to a new opportunity.”

Specific gratitude doesn’t just feel good.
It teaches your team what “right” looks like, and that is how culture shifts.​

If you’re a leader, here’s a simple Thanksgiving habit:
Pick three people.
Tell each one, in concrete terms, how they made your work, and your leadership, better this year.

That’s not just being polite.
That’s building the kind of trust and resilience you’ll rely on long after the pumpkin pie is gone.

I made a rule at Adidas in 1995.

It still helps my company thrive 30 years later.

The 10% Rule is simple:

Every week, ask yourself, "What would happen if we changed 10% of [insert important area]?"

What if 10% of your customers disappeared tomorrow? What if your main supplier raised prices by 10%?

What if you shifted 10% of your product features? What if 10% of your team were to leave?

I’m asking questions that aren’t usually asked.

Some people might respond, “But Steve, we DON’T really have to reduce X by 10%? So what's the point of investing time in this exercise?”

My answer: “Well, what if you DID have to? What then, huh?”

Let’s use shoes as an example.

Just think about this...

How many different ways can you make a shoe? How many other treatments, materials, designs, and shapes can be designed to work functionally and be commercially viable?

It's not an easy task.

So, that idea of getting people to think, work, and really go through the motions…

All of a sudden, people start to speak up.

They find their voice.

The 10% Rule is not about the percentage itself.

It's about the weekly discipline of asking, "What if?"

It forces your brain to think beyond the status quo and consider alternatives you'd never normally explore.

Teams that practice this stop being surprised by change.

So when a supplier actually DOES raise prices or a key customer leaves, they've already simulated the scenario. Contingency plans are sitting in their back pocket.

The 10% Rule creates a culture where questioning assumptions becomes natural.

Sometimes, that 10% change is a subtle yet significant improvement.

Sometimes it's the catalyst for something completely different.

The key is making it routine.

Not a quarterly strategy session or annual planning exercise - a weekly habit.

Label it, formalize it, make it part of how your team works.

Do the teams practice thinking differently often enough?

Agility becomes second nature.

They become comfortable with uncertainty.

I've been the president of an executive search firm for 24 years, but there's one thing I've never really understood:

Why do so many companies hire internally without even browsing to see what talent is out there?

Walk into any boardroom discussion about recruitment, and you'll hear the same logic. "Let's ask around internally first," or "David knows someone who might be perfect." Agreed, there's some comfort in hiring people you know, I get it. I really do. But it's a convenient shortcut that limits your company's options and long-term growth.

This mindset is tough to crack because companies assume internal referrals are somehow safer. But they're far more volatile than you think.

Sure, you get convenience in the short term.

"Okay, we've filled the position. We've ticked the box. Job done."

I mean, giving the job to a friend or in-law feels harmless in the moment, but it's at the expense of your company’s growth.

“I've got a buddy who would do great in this role."

There are 8+ billion people in the world. What are the chances that your buddy is the best guy or girl for the role? You haven't searched the market yet. And I've seen first-hand what actually happens when you search it properly.

Professional search firms understand cultural nuances and manage expectations. When you work with them, they hunt in places you'd never think to look.

Where would they be?

Where would they be working?

What would they be doing?

Who would make sense?

Executive search firms find superstars who aren't even job hunting (but would transform your business almost overnight).

We look for the ideal Superman or Superwoman.

At my firm, McKinney Consulting | Kestria South Korea, we've watched exceptional hires change a company's trajectory. Because searching the market properly brings the kind of fresh thinking to your company that internal referrals simply can't offer.

The market is full of brilliant people you've never heard of. Sticking to your existing network guarantees you'll never find them, but your competitors might.

Your next real Super-hire is out there somewhere, waiting for you to scoop them up.

Have you noticed
how the coolest breakthroughs always start with one big question?
How do humans and technology truly collaborate?


Spent some time recently with my Kestria executive search partners.
The hot topic?
Automation and AI-driven predictive maintenance.

All across tech,
the talent spotlight is shifting to those who “speak” both machine and human.
Machine learning.
Data science.
Cybersecurity.
But also soft skills:

🔵  Clear communication

🔵  Driving change

There’s no autopilot for leading teams through this shift.


Lesson I’m seeing everywhere:
The most futureproof teams are led by people who can forge trust,
not only between humans, but also between humans and machines.

The leaders making waves?
Not just technical pros.
They’re master relationship-builders.
They champion ongoing learning.
And adapt, fast.


Brotherly advice:
If you lead through change,
don’t just hunt for code.
Champion curiosity.
Empathy.
Adaptability.
That’s the stuff that scales,
no matter what comes next.


Let’s connect!
Tell me how you’re building “future-ready” teams
from engine room to boardroom.

Want to future-proof your leadership team? DM me. I help organizations identify and attract top talent who can lead change. 

McKinney Consulting | Kestria South Korea is a Partner Firm of Kestria, the world’s largest executive search alliance 90+ cities | 40+ countries | 6 continents

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