Fred Smith | Lead Your Power
You’ve spent years filling everyone else’s cup. Let’s talk about yours.
You’ve carried a lot, and you’ve carried it well. Lately something’s felt off. You have every means to tend to it, and you’re ready to stop carrying it by yourself. I know that place well, because I lived in it as a leader for years. That’s why I built Lead Your Power, so we could sit down and talk about it together.
The people who give the most
If you’re reading this, I’d guess a few things about you. You care about your people. You value your relationships more than your titles. You’ve built something real, and you want it to mean something beyond the number. People trust you, so they bring you everything.
- Your team needs a decision, a client needs an answer, and your phone finds you before your morning coffee does.
- If you’re building on your own, every problem lands on your desk, and there’s no one to pass the next one to.
- You and your partner still get along, but there are a few things you’ve both stopped saying.
- When a friend asks how it’s going, you say “good,” and keep the fuller answer to yourself.
- You come home, and the people you love most get whatever’s left of you.
You give, and you give gladly. That’s who you are. But somewhere along the way, a quiet question started showing up late at night: who’s looking after me?
If you’ve wondered that, nothing’s wrong with you. It usually means you’ve been holding the heaviest part on your own for longer than anyone should. Good people do that. You don’t have to keep doing it alone.
I was that leader
I’m Fred Smith, and Lead Your Power is me. I came up with it because I was a leader struggling with the exact same things you are.
For years I gave to everybody else. I put it this way once: “I liken myself to being a barber where I’m cutting other people’s hair and I haven’t had time to cut my own.” I was so busy filling other people’s cups that I didn’t notice mine had run dry.
What I wanted back then was one person to sit down with. Someone who’d been where I was, who had nothing to gain from flattering me, and who’d tell me the truth with kindness. So that’s who I set out to be for other leaders.
The leader’s confidant
Hard seasons come to everyone who leads. A deal goes sideways. A partner goes quiet. You find yourself awake at two in the morning, turning over a call you made. When that happens, you don’t have to sit with it alone. We’ll sit with it together, and we’ll find the next step.
I’ll also help you see what the noise has been hiding. Everyone has a spot they can’t see from where they sit, me included. Add the people pulling at you and the ones who only tell you what you’d like to hear, and the most important thing in the room is often the one you can’t see from your chair. I sit in a different chair. That’s what I can offer you.
You’ll be met with respect. You won’t be judged, and you won’t be flattered.
Who you’d be sitting across from
You shouldn’t hand what you carry to just anyone, so let me tell you a little about myself. I’m a combat veteran, and I know what it’s like when people are counting on you.
After the Marine Corps, I went to work inside multinational corporations. From inside those companies, I helped scale automotive businesses from zero to hundreds of millions in annual sales, and I’ve worked on multibillion-dollar companies that are still standing today. What I’m proudest of is how it was done: “without filleting people, without miscommunicating.”
Today I’m the mentor of the mentors’ mentors. I coached the coaches. I mention it so you know you’d be in good hands. The rest of my road is on the About page.
Where I learned to lead
You’ve probably heard some fine talks on leadership, and some of them stayed with you.
I learned leadership where payroll was real, where a careless sentence could cost someone’s trust, and where the company had to still be there next year. So what I bring to the table is what actually held up when it mattered, offered plainly and with care.
What carrying it alone quietly asks of you
At work, the calls only you can make keep coming, and each one takes a little more of you. The kind but honest sentence you owe someone keeps waiting for a better day.
At home, you’re in the room and somewhere else at the same time, and you can feel the difference.
Inside, a win that should feel like something feels like the next item on the list.
None of it shows up on a balance sheet, which is why good people set it aside. It deserves your attention as much as anything on the list.
Most of the weight is words you haven’t said yet
A lot of leaders tell themselves some version of this: I’m the one who carries this, and I’ll deal with it if it gets bad. It’s a generous instinct. The trouble is that by the time it gets bad, you’re choosing your words in a hurry, with the least room to choose them well.
Look closely at what feels heavy: the decision nobody else owns, the expectation no one said out loud, the truth no one brings you, the talk at home that keeps getting moved. Every one of those is a conversation. To me, everything comes down to communication, and having those conversations well is something anyone can grow in.
The steadiest leaders I know tend to it early. They say the hard thing clearly, kindly and soon, and they let someone help them hold the rest.
What we’d work toward together
- The thing that’s felt off finally gets a name, said out loud, with someone beside you.
- The conversation you’ve been holding gets had, in words you chose, while it’s still a conversation.
- Hard news reaches you while there’s still time to act on it with care.
- What you’ve built leans a little less on you holding every piece of it.
- You walk through your front door and you’re really home.
Those are aims, and nobody honest promises them. I’ve said it plainly: “I’m not going to guarantee that you’re going to get results, but I can definitely stack the odds in your favor.”
A place for leaders to gather
There’s a bigger reason I do this. I want to see people come together, and leaders are the backbone of that. When a leader is looked after, everyone around them feels it.
Yet good leaders have surprisingly few places to go. The best conversations, the kind you only have with people who’ve lived it, don’t happen on a search page. They happen around long tables, among people who trust each other. So we’re building one: an ecosystem for leaders, starting online, with in-person gatherings to follow, where you can sit with people who carry what you carry and share what’s real.
Who this is for
It’s for good leaders who care deeply about people and relationships, who want their work to carry more purpose and more joy, and who’d value someone in their corner. There are a few places that matter where you’d like some company, and you’re ready to tend to them. Whether you’re building on your own, running a company, or leading inside one, you’re welcome here.
It may not be the right fit if you’re looking for a promised result, a script that changes people overnight, or someone who’ll simply agree with you. That’s all right, too.
What leaders often ask me first
I don’t have a team, or revenue yet. Is this for me?
If you’re the one making the calls and carrying the weight, yes. That weight shows up long before a payroll does, and it’s gentler to work on while what you’re building is still taking shape.
My calendar is already full.
I understand, and I’ll respect that. It starts with one short conversation, and afterward you’ll know whether it’s worth your time.
I’ve read the books and listened to the podcasts.
Then you already know the ideas, and that’s a real head start. What a book can’t do is sit across from you and ask about your week.
Is this therapy?
No. Coaching works on how you lead and the conversations you have. If what you’re carrying calls for a therapist, a lawyer or an accountant, I’ll say so on the first call, because you deserve the right kind of help.
What does it cost?
That depends on which room fits. You’ll hear the number in our first conversation, once we both know.
How we’d begin
- Tell me where you are. A few lines about what you’re building and what feels hardest right now.
- We have one honest conversation. A short call, with no pressure, to see whether this is the right room for you.
- If it fits, we choose the room together. A small circle of peers, one-to-one with me, or a working session for you and your partners or leadership team.
Let someone fill your cup for a change
You’ve given so much, for so long, to so many people. You’re allowed to receive a little of it back.
The first step is small. Do a little homework on where you are, then pick fifteen minutes on the calendar.
Not ready to talk yet? That’s fine. Start here, with short reads sorted by what’s on your mind.
Lead your power.
Coaching isn’t therapy, and it isn’t legal, tax or financial advice. Nothing here promises an outcome.