Leadership Quotient

In this episode of the Leadership Quotient Podcast, Henry Myers, Co-Founder and Managing Director at High Water Search, shares why entrepreneurship is one of the clearest mirrors for leadership and what that reveals about talent in private equity today. Drawing on his path from finance into building a global PE-focused search firm, Henry explains how personal responsibility, self-awareness, and discernment shape effective leaders on both the investor and operator sides of the table. He unpacks why great recruiting is less about volume and pedigree and more about pattern recognition, timing, and deep alignment between a firm’s culture and an individual’s direction of travel. Henry and Lindsay explore the growing bifurcation between mega-funds and emerging managers, how incentives like carry structures shape behavior and collaboration, and why many investment professionals struggle when moving from large institutional platforms into more entrepreneurial environments. They also discuss the behavioral traits that increasingly differentiate successful PE leaders—empathy, adaptability, communication, and the ability to build trust with founders and management teams—and why reputations travel fast in a small ecosystem. The conversation closes with a look ahead at how private equity talent needs are shifting as value creation replaces multiple expansion, AI reshapes deal teams, and a new generation of leaders reassesses what kind of firms—and cultures—they actually want to build.

In this episode of the Leadership Quotient Podcast, Neil French, Co-Founder & Director at STOIX, shares why the executive search industry needs a more iconoclastic, evidence-driven approach—especially in private equity. Drawing on his unconventional path from aspiring musician to finance recruiter through the 2008 crash, Neil explains how that “challenger” mindset shaped Stoics and why the traditional black-book model still holds back outcomes. He and Lindsay unpack what makes PE roles so attractive to CFOs—finite goals, transformation mandates, and wealth creation—while also acknowledging the reality: these are some of the hardest jobs in business, often with longer hold periods and shifting leadership needs across stages. Neil outlines why many processes still overvalue confidence and prior PE experience, and how that bias can crowd out high-potential, left-field candidates who outperform once given the shot. They also discuss the modern CFO profile—cross-functional influence, calm under pressure, comfort in ambiguity, and learning agility—as well as the importance of aligning stakeholders early, building a realistic scorecard, and evaluating CFO fit in the context of the broader leadership team.

In this episode of the Leadership Quotient Podcast, Anderson Williams, Talent Development Principal at Shore Capital Partners, shares why sustainable value creation in founder-led private equity depends less on spreadsheets and more on how leaders navigate change. Drawing on his path from fine arts and nonprofit leadership into entrepreneurship and microcap private equity, Anderson explains how creative courage, adaptability, and understanding human drivers shape effective leadership during periods of growth and integration. He unpacks Shore Capital’s founder-first approach to investing, why building management capacity is essential to scaling businesses, and how silence during acquisitions often creates unnecessary fear and resistance. Anderson and Lindsay also discuss how leadership bottlenecks evolve across the hold period and why the next generation of private equity performance will be driven by firms that intentionally develop people alongside the companies they build.

In this episode of the Leadership Quotient Podcast, Lee McCabe, Partner at Claymore Partners, shares why the future of value creation in private equity depends on planning for talent early, fixing the broken operating partner model, and building businesses that run on data, not instinct. Drawing on his career across eBay, Expedia, Facebook, Alibaba, and now private equity, Lee explains how exposure to truly digital organizations reshaped his view of leadership, culture, and scalable growth. He unpacks why data eliminates subjectivity and conflict in portfolio companies, why CEOs must deeply understand what business they are actually in, and how clarity around a few core drivers outperforms scattered execution. Lee and Lindsay also discuss why CEO turnover remains stubbornly high in PE, the limits of talent diligence, how digital transformation represents massive untapped upside across traditional industries, and why the next generation of private equity winners will differentiate themselves by pairing strong people with disciplined, data-driven operating models.

In this episode of the Leadership Quotient Podcast, Don Purdon, Director of Transformation, Operating Models, Organization Design, and Business Change at Purdon & Associates, shares why sustainable value creation in investor-backed companies depends on treating organizations as integrated systems—not just financial assets. Drawing on his background in organisational psychology, large-scale mergers, and hands-on leadership in PE-backed and listed businesses, Don explains why integrity and behavioral consistency are non-negotiables in change, and how misaligned owner-managers can quietly stall even the best investment thesis. He unpacks a practical way to think about companies as systems of strategy, capability, structure, process, people, and culture, and why “capability transfer” is the real vehicle for scaling what works without killing innovation. Don and Lindsay also discuss the challenge of moving from entrepreneurial, founder-led cultures into more structured, scalable operating models, how leadership charters help define and reinforce the behaviors required for successful integrations, and why larger acquirers so often suffocate the very capabilities they’ve paid to acquire. Finally, Don touches on how AI is changing the build-versus-buy equation, and what it will demand from leaders who want to create lasting value in the next wave of investor-backed growth.

In this episode of the Leadership Quotient Podcast, John Lepto, CRO at Chamberlain Advisors and Senior Advisor at Clear Go-To-Market, shares why the next generation of value creation in private equity will be led by operator-minded, data-literate revenue leaders—not just financial engineers. Drawing on his path from healthcare banking and B2B SaaS sales leadership into PE-backed value creation and go-to-market advisory, John explains why most teams don’t fail for lack of talent but for lack of clarity, and how “strategy without execution” derails even the best investment theses. He unpacks what good looks like from the CRO and operating partner seat in PE—cognitive agility, bias for execution, servant leadership, radical ownership, and the ability to be truly boardroom-ready on metrics like NRR, CAC, and sales efficiency—while still leading people, not just roles. John and Lindsay also discuss the shift from pedigree hires to field-proven specialists, why private equity needs to stop guessing at win/loss and churn data, and how a more human, patient approach to developing sales leaders can improve both portfolio performance and long-term enterprise value.

In this episode of the Leadership Quotient Podcast, Heath Hunter, Managing Director at the Broadview Group, shares how combining private equity discipline with permanent and flexible capital changes the way investors build businesses and leadership teams. Drawing on his journey from traditional PE to family office investing and now Broadview, Heath explains how longer time horizons enable deeper partnership with management, more thoughtful hiring, and multi-year talent development plans that start in the C-suite and cascade through industrial organizations. He and Lindsay discuss the trade-offs between skill set and fit, why even strong interviewers can fail in the role, and how tools like assessment, team workshops, and targeted development for strategically critical roles improve “batting averages” in key hires. Heath also highlights why the next wave of value creation in investor-backed companies will rely less on financial engineering and more on compounding value through people, culture, and sustained investment in talent.

In this episode of the Leadership Quotient Podcast, Dr. Phillip Meade, COO of Gallaher Edge, shares why the difference between a “good” culture and an effective culture can be the difference between success and catastrophe. Drawing from his experience leading the cultural transformation at NASA after the Columbia accident, Phillip unpacks the three pillars of an effective culture—driving employee engagement, improving people’s lives, and enabling mission or market success—and how the wrong psychological pressures can quietly distort decision-making, even in high-performing organizations. He discusses how defensiveness and “save the program” thinking show up in investor-backed environments, why leaders must intentionally design culture around strategy rather than perks, and how tools like normalizing dissent, restructuring decision rights, and building self-awareness can help private equity firms and their portfolio companies turn culture into a true driver of value creation.

In this episode of the Leadership Quotient Podcast, Dan Cremons, Founder of Accelera Partners and the Ascend PE Executive Accelerator, shares why the future of leadership in private equity depends less on experience and more on attributes. Drawing from his work developing operating executives and PE-backed leaders, Dan unpacks the three qualities that predict sustained success—EQ (emotional intelligence), AQ (adversity quotient), and GM (growth mindset)—and how firms can operationalize them across their portfolios. He discusses lessons from Alpine Investors’ leadership model, the value of “leading yourself before you lead others,” and why adaptability, empathy, and self-awareness will define the next generation of high-performing executives in private equity.

In this episode of the Leadership Quotient Podcast, Matt Young, Operating Executive at North Equity, shares how unconventional paths can create exceptional leaders in private equity. From journalist to documentary filmmaker to growth operator, Matt reflects on how his MFA taught him to read a room better than any MBA and why emotional intelligence, proactivity, and accountability often outperform pedigree. He unpacks lessons from scaling BrightRoll and Yahoo, leading integrations across global teams, and driving rapid value creation at Bain- and Blackstone-backed portfolio companies. Matt also discusses how AI is reshaping the leadership landscape and why adaptability, curiosity, and humility will define the next generation of investors and operators.