And I understand the pain of leading without a team of allies. My first experience of leadership was being alone at the top. I was told again and again that it's the way you truly lead, but it didn't resound with me. I quickly realized that relying on my own efforts was neither effective nor sustainable. One day I shared my leadership blues with a fellow traveler who offered a very different model of leadership. He suggested building a team of colleagues and leading comprehensively, together. Right there, I learned the basics of how to lead teams well. I eventually became a trusted leader in my region, and ended up teaching the model to leaders throughout the US and internationally. Today, I'm the CEO of White Oak Consulting, a leadership development company I founded that specializes in helping organizational leaders adopt five practices for building healthy, committed teams. My goal is for leaders to walk away from my program with everything they need to lead their teams with confidence and joy -- and get the results they truly want.