Pathbuilders develops leaders who see more, with mentoring and development built for every stage of a career.
Stage three of four
LEAD
A program for accomplished directors and VPs learning to lead and influence at scale.
The focus: the crossing into enterprise leadership.
See where LEAD fits: the four stages →These leaders have already proven they can deliver. What’s tested now is harder and quieter.
It’s the presence to command a room, the influence to move leaders who don’t report to them, the judgment to navigate politics and make hard calls when no answer is clean.
Success depends on perspectives well beyond their own, and a steadiness that doesn’t waver under real uncertainty. Complexity is now theirs to manage, as they build the capacity to hold the whole and take on the work of enterprise leadership.
Each leader arrives with something in their way. LEAD is built to find it, work through it, and leave them ready for what’s next.
The 5D Model at LEAD
The 5D Model names the five dimensions that define great leadership at each of the four stages. The SEE Framework™ describes how a leader’s capacity to see more grows across them.
This is leading through other leaders: the level the LEAD program is built to develop.
Great Leader of Leaders
- Self — Takes on the organization’s goals as their own
- Organization — Drives outcomes through other leaders
- Talent — Sees people and positions them for success
The actions that demonstrate capability, ambition, and potential
- Aware & Future-Focused — Attuned to the outside world and adept at foresight and scenario planning
- Grounded in the Business — Conscious of key business drivers — cycles, structures, time horizons
- Makes it Happen — Inserts self, takes responsibility, and drives to completion
The choices that enable commitment and position for more
- Connected — Builds trusting relationships; has a deep, strong, and broad strategic network
- Invested — Puts the company first, and owns their seat on the leadership team
- Conscious — Has resolved the tension between personal and professional priorities
The practices that are critical to success
- Decisiveness — Able to balance risk and reward to take action, given available information
- Communication — Delivers messages and engages across level, function, and medium, inside and outside the organization
- Influence — Savvy at navigating systems, relationships, and perspectives to move initiatives forward
The mindset a leader brings to their own growth
Embracing different perspectives
Across their sphere of influence, exposing blind spots by widening the conversation.
See the full model and the SEE Framework™ →Surrounding each leader with what they need.
Each element of LEAD could stand as a program on its own. At the center, an executive-level Mentor. Supporting that relationship, rich content, real-life stories from leaders who’ve been there, and a sounding board of peers.
Before the year begins, each leader sits for an extensive personal interview, exploring their development needs, their blind spots, and the kind of Mentor who will push them hardest. The year is then configured around what surfaces there.
The Right Mentor. Matched to this leader’s specific challenge and trajectory, and theirs for the year. Willing to share the wins and the failures, and invested in the outcome.
The Right Content. Proven insights, made actionable and tuned to what this cohort is navigating, building the muscle for seeing past their own view.
The Right Peers. Chosen for genuine connection, so support, challenges and suggestions carry weight, and get acted on.
The Right Experience. A combination of people, topics, ideas, and strategies, crafted to transform a leader.
Pathbuilders mentoring packs years into hours.
The Mentor chosen for each leader has already lived the change they’re only beginning.
The executive who fought through that change, emerged wiser, and remembers every step. That is who can prepare a leader for the one ahead.
We recruit 30% more Mentor candidates than we place. Strong Mentors go unmatched rather than mismatched. See how we make the match →
The Mentor’s hindsight is the Mentee’s foresight.
The Mentors
A full year. Every month, a workshop, time with their Mentor, and time with their Peer Network. Four full days together in person.
Developing leaders at this level is the work Pathbuilders has done longest. Thirty years, more than 3,000 leaders, and some now return as Mentors.
Each cohort brings leaders from companies across North America into one room — a rare opportunity to connect with high-caliber talent well beyond their own organization.
The year opens with the Kick-Off, the first of the four Summit Days, where Mentees meet their Peer Network face to face. From there, each Mentor and Mentee build the partnership, starting from a review of the leader’s 360 report and exercises that set the course for the year.
Monthly workshops
Proven concepts turn into practice through the speaker’s real stories, breakouts, exercises, and the action plans a leader walks away with.
Mentoring sessions
Rich, live exchange, unpacking workshop takeaways, workplace realities, and key relationships. A partnership where the Mentee is the managing partner. They own this time, so the agenda is theirs, and so are the agreed actions.
Peer Network sessions
Time with the peers chosen for them. Sharing the real truth, what’s actually working, learning from each other, untangling issues together, and leaving with fresh ideas on everything from corporate strategy to motivating a team.
Summit Days
The four in-person days, where keynotes, panels, and networking take on the broadest topics, while personal connection groups and Peer Networks turn a cohort into a community.
What changes.
The deepest shift is in how a leader sees themselves.
They discover what was already there
“I had it in me the whole time, I just had to unlock it. I’d always had a hard time believing my worth and value. Through this process I realized I had the ability all along.”LEAD graduate, Equifax
They look outside and ahead
“I thought my role required me to run the operations of the organization while the CEO looked outside and ahead. I learned in this program that I was thinking too small. My job is to foster a team that can manage the facility and operation in the day to day, while creating room for forward momentum and change… My role is to balance today with tomorrow.”LEAD graduate, Fox Theatre
They operate at the enterprise level
“I am leading an effort across the entire organization to align financial processes — my future role is much broader and my influence much greater.”LEAD graduate, Southern Company
You have leaders positioned to step onto the enterprise stage.
Let’s talk about the year that gets them there.