I’m not a traditional consultant. I don’t deliver spreadsheets, decks, or workshops.
Instead, I hold confidential, hour-long conversations with individuals across your organization — strategists, writers, designers, account managers, leaders. Through these conversations, I surface insights, strengthen trust, and help your people think more clearly about themselves, their work, and their relationships with each other.
At eighty, I bring the perspective of decades in the creative world — and the vitality of someone who can still outrun his teenage grandsons.
Non-threatening authority figure
I use my history, successes, failures, and personal struggles to maintain my humility. “Humble,” my mentor, Mr. Fujii, yelled, “Humble, Mr. Leonhardt.” I was eighteen, about to graduate high school, and feeling a flush of success at being accepted to attend a locally acclaimed art school. I can still hear his voice ringing in my ears.
The demand for humility guides my effort to provide insights.
I emphasize guidance and support that encourages creatives to grow and understand why they sometimes feel comfortable acting and at other times do not.
Creative shops thrive when people feel comfortable offering their own ideas and opinions. Often, that can seem challenging to leadership, so creatives hold back. One of my goals is to help people find ways to challenge that result in mutuality and agreement.
Growth stalls when we feel uncomfortable offering our ideas and opinions. When we feel forced to comply, genuine buy-in is impossible to achieve. In our creative professional world, personal safety is essential for taking risks. And risk is required for meaningful growth to occur.
I inspire others through enthusiasm and helpfulness. Humility keeps me from being the one who knows.
I learned that empathy, not a demonstration of superiority, is required for my consulting clients to succeed. I learned, I changed and gained confidence as my advisory practice grew.
There was another critical factor that led to the growth of my practice. And I found it while exploring the history of my own adoption. I began to write and, through writing, gained insights into why I am the way I am. So, if you look at my blog, you’ll find my adoption series mixed in with my writing about being a creative, getting the money, and so on.
Best of all, when working with my clients, I get the same rush of pleasure the creative flow of drawing or writing gives me (maybe more, now that I think about it). Best of all, my process brings results. The creatives I work with get better work from better clients and have less anxiety along the way.
Why This Works
When I work with a firm, leaders notice that:
-Team communication becomes more transparent and more candid.
-Emerging issues surface early, before they turn into crises.
-People feel connected to the group and their own purpose.
-Leaders gain insight into what’s happening inside their firm.
This is deep, sustained work — not a quick fix. My availability is intentionally limited so I can give each client my full attention.
Let’s Talk
If you’re a founder or senior leader of a creative firm and want to explore how this might work for your team, let’s start with a conversation.
I just had a phone interview with an agency, and of course the topic of salary came up. Because of all the tools you have provided, I was more than prepared to handle that part of the conversation.
