The Compounding Effect: When Your Growth Sparks Organizational Change
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER | November 2025
Last month, we explored what happens when others resist your evolution, the friction that emerges when you start leading differently. You learned that pushback isn’t proof you’re wrong — it’s a sign you’re doing the brave work of change.
So, here’s the natural next question: What happens when the dust settles?
When you’ve held your boundaries, recalibrated relationships, and learned to lead from authentic authority, what shifts next?
The short answer: Everything.
Because once you change, the system around you begins to change too.
THE RIPPLE EFFECT OF AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP
A senior vice president I worked with described it perfectly:
“I thought this work was about me learning to lead differently. But now, my whole team is thinking differently. The conversations are more honest. The energy is lighter. We make decisions faster because there’s less second-guessing and hidden agendas.”
That’s the compounding effect in action!
When one leader becomes clearer, calmer, and more grounded, it creates ripples through the system. Teams begin mirroring that clarity. Meetings become more purposeful and productive. Decision-making improves because people feel permission to bring their full selves to the table.
Authentic leadership doesn’t stay contained within one role — it radiates.
Authenticity builds psychological safety, and safety fuels performance.
WHY IT WORKS: THE COMPOUNDING EFFECT
Organizations are living systems. When one part of the system shifts, the rest must adapt.
Your integrity, boundaries, and self-awareness don’t just change how you operate, they change what’s possible for those around you.
This is because authenticity builds psychological safety.
When people trust that your words and actions align, they relax. They stop performing and start engaging. That trust compounds, project by project, meeting by meeting, until you have an entire culture operating from greater coherence and confidence.
What starts as one person’s self-work becomes collective transformation.
COMMON TRAPS ALONG THE WAY
The moment leaders see these ripples; they often want to speed them up.
This is the first trap: trying to force transformation.
You can’t push people into authenticity. You can only model it and create conditions where it’s safe for others to join you.
The second trap is over-owning everyone else’s growth.
Your role isn’t to drag others across the line. It’s to stand firmly where you are, lead with clarity, and let them decide if they’re ready to meet you there.
The third trap is measuring your success by how fast others “get it.”
Culture change is slow, nonlinear work. You might not see results right away, but just like compound interest, small consistent acts of authenticity yield exponential returns over time.
MICRO-LEADERSHIP MOVES THAT CREATE RIPPLES
Here are a few small but powerful actions that accelerate positive contagion:
Make your decision-making transparent.
Explain not just what you decided but why. Modeling integrity in action invites others to use values-based reasoning too.
Invite dissent, and mean it.
People watch how you handle disagreement. Responding with curiosity instead of defensiveness creates permission for honest dialogue.
Model rest and reflection.
To encourage your team to think strategically instead of reactively, show them what it looks like to pause. Protect your own recharge time and normalize recovery.
Celebrate alignment, not only achievement.
When a team member makes a hard decision that’s true to shared values, even if it causes short-term comfort, name it and celebrate it. That’s how values become real.
These micro-moves compound, quietly but powerfully.
STAYING GROUNDED AS YOUR INFLUENCE EXPANDS
When your leadership begins to shift the culture, it’s easy to lose your center and feel responsible for sustaining the whole transformation.
But your responsibility is to remain aligned, not to manage everyone else’s evolution.
Keep returning to the practices that anchor you:
Daily reflection: “Did I lead today in alignment with my values?”
Weekly recalibration: “Where am I forcing versus allowing?”
Regular connection: “Which mentors, peers, or coaches remind you of your original intent?”
As your impact widens, so does your need for grounding.
THE MOMENT IT ALL CLICKS
At some point, you’ll notice a subtle shift.
The pushback that once drained you turns into engagement. The resistance that once frustrated you becomes curiosity. The same people who questioned your approach start seeking your perspective. That’s when you’ll know the system has begun to rewire.
Your courage to lead differently didn’t just benefit you — it changed what leadership means in your organization. And that’s the compounding effect of authentic authority.
When you change, the system around you begins to
change too.
This is how sustainable culture change begins… one leader, one conversation, one courageous act at a time.
So, keep leading with clarity.
The culture will follow.
THIS MONTH'S REFLECTION QUESTIONS
Where have you already noticed small signs that your growth is influencing others?
What practices keep you grounded as your leadership ripples expand?
Who around you is beginning to show signs of their own authentic evolution?
How might you nurture others without taking ownership of their journeys?
COMING NEXT MONTH
As we round the corner on another year, I’ve been reflecting on the state of leadership, what’s shifting, what’s still stuck, and what continues to give me hope.
It’s been a year of paradoxes: exhaustion and renewal, disruption and possibility, endings that quietly made room for something better. Amid it all, I find myself optimistic, not because things are easy, but because I see more leaders choosing courage over polish, conversation over performance, and genuine connection over control. Next month, I’ll share my reflections on where leadership stands, and why I believe the future, though messy, is full of promise.
"Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we actually are.”
—Brené Brown
