A six-session leadership installation for the Detroit Economic Club’s Young Leader members (under the age of 40) – where high performers become the kind of leader their people can carry, and their company can’t afford to lose.
You became the bottleneck. And bottlenecks don’t get promoted.
Everything runs through you – the hardest worker, the safest pair of hands, the one who owns every call. That made you valuable. It also made you the ceiling on your own career, because the next role never goes to the person the work can’t run without. You are not stuck because you are not good enough. You are stuck because you are too good to replace where you sit.
The fix isn’t working harder. It’s leading differently.
Carries it. Controls it. Can’t step away.
Performance depends on you being in the room. The day you are out, the standard slips – and every slip is quiet proof you can’t yet be trusted with more.
So you work harder, own more, answer everything. It feels like leadership. It’s actually the trap tightening. The team never learns to hold the standard without you, so you never get to leave your seat.
Holds the standard through people, under pressure.
The standard holds when you’re not in the room. Your people own the call, make the decision, and carry the result – because you installed the behavior, not just the answer.
That’s the leader the next rung requires: one whose value grows the further they step back. It’s the exact shift these six sessions install, one behavior at a time.
The DEC cohort is where driver becomes guide – six sessions, your real work on the table, and a standard that finally holds without you.
Keep driving, and you stay exactly where you are. Learn to guide, and you earn the next rung.
Not a class you forget by Monday. An installation you feel for the rest of your career.
Every session confronts one driver instinct, installs the guide behavior that replaces it, and sends you back to real work with a hard output and proof it is changing.
Define winning, or you’re just driving fast.
Drivers chase the number and call it strategy. You define what winning actually is – in behavior, not slogans – and the standards you won’t trade to hit it.
YOU WALK OUT WITH: a clear result, its score and guardrails, and a seven-day commitment with an evidence check.
Lead from who you are, not how you feel.
Under pressure, drivers react, rescue, or avoid. You anchor how you lead to your identity so the standard holds when it’s tested, not just when it’s easy.
YOU WALK OUT WITH: one behavior to stop, one to start, and honest feedback from someone who sees you lead.
Stop being the answer to every question.
Drivers make themselves the bottleneck and call it helpful. You install the behavior that makes people think and own the next move.
YOU WALK OUT WITH: a real ownership conversation and a clear agreement about who decides what.
Say the thing. Now, not later.
Drivers let it slide and call it patience while the standard erodes. You name what you won’t tolerate and practice the conversation that resets it fast.
YOU WALK OUT WITH: the conversation you delayed, a clear standard, and an evidence check on what changes.
Catch the drift before it becomes the culture.
Drift is inevitable; recovery is optional. You spot where the standard has slipped and install how to bring it back on purpose, not by luck.
YOU WALK OUT WITH: an owner-defined recovery plan with a standard, a next action, and an evidence check.
Make it hold every week, not just this one.
Motivation fades by Monday; discipline compounds. You install the weekly cadence that keeps the standard alive after the program ends.
YOU WALK OUT WITH: a weekly rhythm, proof the foundations hold, and a 90-day plan you own.
Please provide your information to join the interest list.
Sessions will be held 8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. in Southfield.
A special thank you to Citizens for providing their space.
By applying to the Emerging Leaders Academy, you acknowledge that, if selected, you are committing to attend and actively participate in all scheduled sessions, projects, and assessments. We emphasize the importance of full engagement in the program and encourage you to ensure you have the necessary organizational support to make the most of this opportunity.
Participants must have an active DEC Young Leader membership. Not a member? Click here to learn more about Young Leader benefits.
The $1,000 Emerging Leaders Academy investment opens the door to a world of opportunities and growth.
Participants will receive two complimentary tickets to regular DEC meetings and access to the Speaker Reception throughout the Academy. The goal is to apply what you learn and build authentic connections at DEC meetings.
Emerging Leaders can also purchase a ticket to the 2027 Young Leader Conference at a discounted rate.
Guide, Don’t Drive is the Human Performance Operating System. It makes performance hold under pressure – through people, not through any single person in the room. Most leaders rise by driving: out-working the room, controlling the work, carrying the standard themselves. GDD installs the behavior to guide instead – to set a standard and make it hold without you.
Performance that depends on one person is fragile. We build standards that hold regardless of who is in the room.
What you know doesn’t change results. What you do consistently, under pressure, does. We install behavior.
A workshop is a starting point. Real change comes from a weekly rhythm with visible proof within seven days.
It is not the full organization installation – that starts with the CEO and runs through the company. It is the same operating system, installed in the way you lead your own real work, with a clear path into the full system when your company is ready.
Steve Lowisz
Founder & Chief Guide
Across 25+ years and 200+ organizations, Steve has helped leaders stop being the system their teams depend on. He created Guide, Don’t Drive and the Monday Morning Implementation method, is a keynote speaker with more than 4 million TEDx views, and he leads every DEC session himself – in the room, with your real work on the table.
Contact Matt Valant if you’re interested in learning more about the upcoming cohort.