Leading Without the Mask

What would it take to leave a job you love, with steady pay and great people, to bet on yourself? Tacy Riehm, Founder of Vos Consulting, joins Jamie Jacobs to share how her family's adoption of their fourth child pushed her to leave the company where she had spent 15 years and start the consulting, coaching and keynote practice she has now run for 11 years.

She talks about the feedback that urged her to fit a corporate mold, why she chose to show up as herself instead, and why leaders today earn more trust by dropping the mask than by pretending to have every answer. Tacy also explains why mid-level managers carry the weight of misaligned leadership teams, how assuming positive intent changes hard conversations, and why most people who feel stuck have more agency than they realize.

Key Takeaways

• A personal catalyst can push you past comfort. Tacy left a corporate job she loved when her family was adopting their fourth child, a risk she says she would not have taken otherwise and has never regretted.
• A new consulting practice needs a clear focus. Offering to do everything on the human side of business got Tacy nowhere at first; a narrow, targeted offer came first and the broader scope came later.
• Being yourself is a business decision. Tacy accepted that she is not the right fit for everyone, which lets her have harder and more honest conversations with clients.
• Leaders no longer need to have all the answers. People can tell when a leader is struggling behind a mask, and leaders who admit what they don't know and co-create with their teams keep their trust.
• Cross-functional work needs cross-functional alignment. As AI and other changes cut across departments, Tacy spends more of her time on team dynamics than on individual leadership development.
• Alignment starts with the first team. Using Lencioni's first team model, Tacy shows how unresolved tension among executive peers turns into conflict between the teams below them.
• Mid-level managers carry the weight of misalignment above them. They are asked to deliver results and keep their teams happy without clear ownership, decision rights or agreements on how peers work together.
• Before you leave a role, look in the mirror. Tacy asks clients whether they have done everything on their side of the fence, because unresolved patterns follow people to the next job.
• Assuming positive intent and asking "What am I missing?" takes courage. Curious questions replace the stories we tell ourselves and help teams say what needs to be said.
• You have more agency than you think. Tacy's arrow tattoo reminds her to pause, ask whether her work and life are still serving her, trust her own direction and correct course when she needs to.

Timestamps

0:00 Introduction and guest background
1:54 Leaving corporate: the courageous leap
4:33 Focusing your consulting offerings
6:48 Redefining success through authenticity
13:04 Co-creation replaces having all answers
15:09 How leadership development is evolving
17:06 Cross-functional team alignment challenges
24:09 When to stay vs. make a career move
27:54 What courage looks like across the workforce
31:37 One courageous choice to make this year

Connect with Tacy Riehm

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tacy-riehm-41924210/
Website: https://www.vosconsulting.com

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