“Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
This quote holds true for business – fear of making mistakes, fear of change, fear of uncertainty. These fears sit at the heart of what prevents enterprises from becoming truly great and realizing their full economic and societal value.
Research shows that even the most successful businesses hit a wall where feelings of stress and disillusion are commonplace.
Lionheart’s job, and passion is to create shifts within entrepreneurs and business leaders – from fearful to courageous – so they can confidently invest in the strategic assets required for outlier-type valuation and a proud legacy.
About Lionheart
Lionheart is a boutique strategic advisory firm specializing in helping entrepreneurs and small business owners unlock their full leadership potential and grow the equity value of their enterprise, no matter what stage of development they are at. We work alongside business owners and management teams to accelerate long-term, sustainable growth.
Lionheart is built with open-minded, purpose-driven business owners and senior leaders in mind; those who are willing to challenge the status quo and are seeking growth for themselves and their business.
Lionheart believes it’s ALL about the JOURNEY; the journey to become a complete business leader and raise the game of others on the team; the journey to add new and practical strategic skills; the journey to build the business assets that drive long-term equity value.
Success on the journey of growing an enviable business takes great leadership – And great leadership takes courage; a willingness to go first in an industry, and last within your own company.
Lionheart is known around the world for helping our clients master the skills necessary to build a business worth top dollar, and to lead it with pride along the journey.
WHO – The Lionheart Leader
I’m Chris Cook.
Besides being the CEO of Lionheart, I’m also a partner in Shirlaws, a global organization that advises private enterprise along the business journey to grow, fund, exit and enjoy.
My leadership skills and perspective were forged in the fires of a successful 20-year corporate career, for which I’m forever grateful, as I gained deep insights into organizational culture, and it served as an excellent proving ground.
I’m twice as valuable to my clients today because of those 20 hard-earned years.
I’ve been told it’s my authentic and relatable approach that triggers owners and leaders of private enterprise to seek me out. I help my clients understand what’s really stopping their business from achieving profitable growth, enviable culture, and higher equity valuation.
Purpose-driven enterprises count on me to help embed a culture of leadership, to run inspired strategic retreats and to help clarify and tell their unique story of value.
Professional Achievements:
- Decades of experience leading functions, teams, and change
- Bachelor of Commerce, Finance (The University of British Columbia)
- Master of Business Administration (Queen’s University)
- Alumnus of the UBC Portfolio Management Foundation (Leslie Wong Fellow)
- Executive Development Training (Center for Creative Leadership)
- Mentor (Junior Achievement of Canada)
- Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Accredited
I am also licensed to use the unique Shirlaws Group methodology, which offers world-class, tried and tested business-building systems, used by thousands of private enterprises globally.
That is who I am in a professional space, but if you want to get to know the real me, and find out the reason I do what I do, read about the Lionheart “why”.
WHY – The Lionheart Legacy
The leader I am today has everything to do with my 3 daughters. However, it’s taken me a long time to get to this point.
You see, for much of my life, I was a selfish bully. Mind you, not the kind of bully that might be conjured up in your mind; taking lunch money; beating up kids at the playground.
No, I was the kind of bully who did all of his damage to the person he looked down on every day in the mirror. That inner-bully used to be the main influence for everything I did, and didn’t do, in my life – And the genesis that brought him out to play was my unwavering pursuit of perfection.
From a very young age, I was slowly becoming an addict, and my drug: praise. From parents, teachers, coaches, friends, and strangers. I got a sniff early in life, and I couldn’t get enough. This lead to my obsessive need to get the highest marks, score the most goals, and most dangerously of all, try to be liked by everyone.
Mind you, there’s nothing wrong with doing well in school, or excelling in sport, or performing at the highest level in any endeavor. But when you start to modify your behavior in search of praise, you start to connect praise to self-worth, which is exactly what I had done.
I conditioned myself in such a way that if I couldn’t be the best at something, I wouldn’t even try. And on the rare occasion where I did lose, out came my bully to berate me and make abundantly clear that I was not to step outside of the safety zone of my proficiencies. This resulted in me playing a really small game and even influenced my choice of careers.
Rather than a profession that I might actually enjoy, I was dead-set on one that would deliver me money, status, and accolades. I believed to my core that if I had those things, I’d have trust, praise, and love – And ultimately, I’d be happy.
I adapted a “Have – Do – Be” mantra; and it goes like this:
If I HAVE two degrees, an impressive job, and a big bank account, I’ll be able to DO things like buy a big house, a fancy car, and take first-class family vacations, then I’ll finally BE happy.
So I got a degree in finance, and immediately headed to Wall Street, because, as Gordon Gecko said, “Greed is good.” And over the next 20 years, I chased money over meaning and rose up the corporate ranks. Sure there were long hours, more degrees to earn, and a lot of time away from my family, but I was inching closer and closer each year to that coveted corner office in the sky.
Finally, I had a safe and lucrative corporate career, the fancy car, and the big house.
But…
In 2008, I had a moment of clarity while sitting on the beach in Kapalua, Maui with my family.
I wasn’t happy … in fact, I was fucking miserable.
I waited, and waited, and waited for the happiness to set in. But it seemed it missed its flight to Maui. There I was, Piña Colada in one hand, Blackberry in the other, more concerned with not getting sand in the keys than building a castle with my kids.
And as if on queue, enter the bully, “wow, great dad you are”.
Shortly after returning back home, I realized my “Have – Do – Be” mantra needed to be challenged because something wasn’t working. So I decided to channel my inner ‘George Costanza’ and just do the opposite of everything I was doing. I flipped life on its ass, and I made some choices.
I chose to be happy, instead of waiting for happiness to magically show up on some beach.
I chose to be confident and to do the things that scared the shit out of me.
I chose to be present for my family.
I realized my corporate office wasn’t serving me anymore, and I quit my job, leaving all the long-term money and incentives on the table.
I just walked away…
And the dividends from that decision began to show up almost immediately.
I remember sitting on the couch with my middle daughter watching Dora The Explorer. Dora and Map were discussing the best way to get to Abuela’s house, and we were cheek to cheek discussing this journey. My daughter turned to me with her beautiful blue eyes and she said, “you’re the best dad.”
Taken back, and asked, “Really, you think I’m the best dad?”
Her eyes washed over with puzzlement and she responded, “No, not ‘best dad’ … breathe’s bad.”
I lost it. I laughed so hard tears rolled down my face and my stomach cramped. Realizing she said something funny, she started laughing uncontrollably as well. And as our joint laughter hit a crescendo, time stopped and stood still for us. We were in that moment, together, and it landed for me: for the first time in as long as I could remember, I was truly present.
It was one of the greatest moments of my life, and I will never forget that day.
This one simple family story captures the same level of presence and passion I now choose to bring to every aspect of my life, and business. No longer do I subscribe to my old “Have – Do – Be” model of searching for fulfillment and happiness. Nor do I suffer from an unwavering pursuit of perfectionism, in life or business.
Continuing to follow in George Costanza’s footsteps, I’ve flipped both of those failed models on their head and now implore the opposite.
‘Be – Do – Have’ is my new ‘Have – Do – Be’:
BE willing to go first and take risks, in life and business, and pursue things I believe in, even in the face of making mistakes. DO stay true to who I am at the core, and operate with authenticity and alignment. HAVE fun and help others do the same in their lives and businesses.
When I let go of my safe and predictable corporate life, I faced the one thing I had done everything within my power to avoid for most of my life: making mistakes.
And mistakes, I made.
More than a few.
And lessons were learned.
More than a few.
But what’s curious about these mistakes I made, is that they actually qualified me even more to serve my clients. As we all know, mistakes are some of the best teachers – And today, people hire me as much for the mistakes I’ve made in my career as they do for the many successes I’ve had. I’ve been there and done that. Both good and bad. And I am able to leverage my personal experiences and share them with clients, to help them short-cut their learning curves and avoid some of the same pitfalls.
Truth is, today I’m happier and more content than ever – Because, along my journey, I’ve figured out exactly how to lead others to the same place in their businesses (which ultimately translates into their personal lives).
And nothing would bring me more pleasure than to help you achieve the same in your business (and life).
If you’re ready, I’m here for you.
WHAT – The Lionheart Workshops
The Lionheart Leadership Playbook – Lead with pride and become a more respected, inspired, and successful leader in your business, industry, and life.
More Lionheart Workshops Coming Soon!
HOW – The Lionheart Advantage
Hybrid Model: While this business is an advisory business at the core, my strength over pure consultants comes from understanding when to ask (coach), versus when to tell (consult). This skill allows me to help my clients remove roadblocks that have sometimes been in the way of their business growth for years.
Skills Transfer: It is my genuine desire to work myself out of a job, in relationship to your business. I share a number of proven tools and frameworks and a simple and replicable approach to strategy design with my clients, so they can continue to be used to support an ongoing and sustainable change in their business.
Proprietary Methods: Leveraging a long-standing partnership with Shirlaws, Lionheart enjoys access to world-class business tools and processes, specifically designed to support businesses at all stages of development. They are road tested and have generated results for thousands of businesses globally.