Justin Nassiri, founder and CEO of Executive Presence, joined Julie Williamson to explore what it really takes to move from agreement to alignment, especially when leaders know they should be more visible but struggle to act. Justin traced his leadership journey from drum major to the Naval Academy, nuclear submarines, Stanford, and multiple startups, landing on a key insight Julie reinforced throughout the conversation: leadership is never finished; it keeps evolving as you do. A powerful moment came when Justin shared, realizing, at 45, that he was experiencing true partnership with his leadership team for the first time. Julie named it clearly: that moment shows what leadership can feel like when alignment is real.

Together, they unpacked why leaders often agree they should work on self-awareness, emotional regulation, or presence, yet don’t align to do the work. Justin explained that personal growth doesn’t come with clean metrics or fast wins, unlike most business skills. Julie connected this directly to the Failure Gap, where good intentions stall without commitment, patience, and the willingness to sit with discomfort.

Episode Takeaways

• Leadership is not a destination. It’s more like a subscription you have to renew with humility
• Personal growth fuels leadership growth: emotional regulation and self-awareness create space for more honest, productive team dialogue
• For entrepreneurs: don’t confuse “co-creating everything” with alignment. Sometimes the visionary’s job is to sketch the destination so the team can build the route
• “Simple is better” plus repetition wins: if you can’t rattle off your values, your team definitely can’t. Turn the volume up 10x
• LinkedIn success comes down to three things: a compelling why (usually service to the business), clear measurement (what does “good” look like?), and a system (motivation is a flimsy employee)

Justin’s closing “align on this” is deceptively hard: listen better. Reflect back on what you heard, slow down the hot takes, and watch the temperature drop. In a noisy world, the most executive thing you can do might be to stop talking for a second.

Connect with Justin on LinkedIn here or learn more about Executive Presence here.
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Learn more about Julie and Karrikins Group:

• Connect with Julie on LinkedIn
• Follow Karrikins Group on LinkedIn 
• Check out Julie's book, 'Make HOW Matter: Key Conversations for Leaders to Build Alignment and Accelerate Growth'
• Learn more about how Karrikins Group helps enterprise teams drive better results