Maureen Metcalf – Founder and CEO of the Innovative Leadership Institute, is a highly sought-after expert in anticipating and leveraging future business trends. She helps leaders elevate their leadership quality and transform their organizations to create sustainable impact and results. She captured her thirty years of experience and success in an award-winning series of books used by public, private, and academic organizations to align company-wide strategy, systems, and culture with innovative leadership techniques. She hosts an internationally aired radio show focusing on innovating leadership and co-creating a thriving future.

She is a Fellow with the International Leadership Association. She also serves on the Advisory Board at the School of Strategic Leadership at James Madison University.

Q: Let’s start with your why?

I am passionate about elevating the quality of leadership globally to create a more prosperous and equitable future for everyone. We are at a turning point in our cities, states, nations, and the world. We see heroes and unsung heroes in every profession dedicated to making a positive impact. By elevating leadership, we shift the conditions create an impact that ripples through time. I want to help develop, and sustain high-impact, compassionate and wise leaders. 

Q: What's your background, and what are you working on?

I started ILI, previously Metcalf & Associates, Inc, 20 years ago. The company initially offered change management services for large systems change. We evolved and shifted our focus to leadership and transformation across a broad range of industries.  

Q: What motivated you to get started with Innovate Leadership Institute?

I worked for a large consulting firm, and the market changed. I focused on the utilities industry during the Enron failure. I needed to redefine what I wanted to do, so I started teaching in an MBA program and started a consulting firm. My transition role became a long-term role. Consulting and running a consulting firm allows me to work with a broad range of clients and focus on helping clients solve big problems and make a genuine impact in the world.

Q: How have you attracted clients and grown your company?

I think clients are attracted to our ability to help them increase their impact. We help successful leaders improve so their organizations can accelerate their influence across the measures they value most.

Q: What are your goals for the future?

We want to continue to grow in size and impact. We host a radio show that is listened to by tens of thousands of listeners each month. The show is one outlet that allows us to provide robust content globally. It is important to me that we offer both high-quality content to our clients and offer high-quality resources to leaders globally who want to develop but who may not have the resources or life conditions to become our clients. We must provide relevant content to a range of leaders and countries.

Q: What are the biggest challenges you've faced and obstacles you've overcome?

Like many entrepreneurs, it has taken time and effort to find our fit, build our reputation, and grow. We invested in developing a highly effective methodology, writing award-winning books, and building a following and a strong client base.

Q: What's your advice for female founders who are just starting out?

Know what you are getting into. Read, find a mentor, listen to podcasts. Running my business has been very rewarding. It has also been the most humbling thing I can imagine. I continue to realize how much I need to learn and grow. I am pushed to my limits regularly. The benefit is that I get to decide how I grow, what impact I make, and where I invest my energy.