In this episode: When your BHAG gets derailed, do you throw everything out or pivot? Jon Peyton talks with executive accountability coach Chris Waldron about the difference between therapy and coaching, why no one else can hold you accountable, and how clarity, realistic goals and consistency keep you on track.
Key insights
- Therapy looks backward to understand the past. Coaching looks forward to change results.
- No one can make you accountable. Accountability means taking responsibility for your own outcomes.
- A big goal should stretch you without being so large you can’t connect it to what you do today.
- Overwhelm often comes from a lack of clarity. Cut what doesn’t serve your vision, then delegate.
- Success comes from consistency over time. Give yourself grace when things don’t go to plan.
Episode timeline
- 1:04 Meet Chris Waldron
- 1:42 Chris’s story
- 7:01 Therapist, consultant or coach?
- 7:45 Therapy looks back, coaching looks forward
- 11:20 What an executive accountability coach does
- 14:12 From BHAG to everyday accountability
- 15:44 Why no one can hold you accountable
- 17:18 What accountability really means
- 22:28 Is accountability a straight line?
- 25:00 What 2020 taught us about goals
- 31:35 Overwhelmed or overloaded?
- 39:06 Consistency over perfection
- 46:33 Who you have to become
- 48:44 How to reach Chris
The episode in brief
Meet Chris. Chris Waldron is an executive accountability coach who works with entrepreneurs and C-suite leaders. An entrepreneur himself, he started his first company at 20, has sold several businesses and still owns a products company. He believes we’re all shaped by how we grew up. We can’t rewrite the past, but we can understand it and change what it means to us going forward.
Coaching versus therapy. Chris’s simplest distinction: therapy looks backward, coaching looks forward. Therapy helps you understand your past and your emotions, and Chris pushes back on the idea that strong leaders don’t have them. Coaching assumes you can get different results going forward and helps you stay consistent, like a coach watching from the sidelines. Executive coaching focuses on decision-makers who can change both themselves and the organizations they lead.
No one can hold you accountable. When people ask Chris to hold them accountable, he sees a red flag: it places the outcome outside their control. Someone yelling at you might motivate you for five minutes. Accountability, as Chris puts it, is taking responsibility for your own outcomes, and it starts with clarity about where you’re going.
Realistic goals. Chris often meets owners of small companies who want to be billionaires in five years. His first question: who are you trying to impress? A good long-term goal describes where you’d be if things went well. It shouldn’t be so big you can’t connect it to today, or so small that it’s done tomorrow. Jon adds that it should be big enough to hold your leaders’ ambitions too.
Not a straight line. Logical, analytical leaders often want things black and white, then judge themselves when reality doesn’t match the model. Chris points to 2020: plans made in January were upended by March, and for many, simply getting through was a real success. Give yourself credit and grace.
Overwhelmed or overloaded. Overwhelm usually means you lack clarity. Many people are doing things that have nothing to do with their vision. Cut those, and what’s left is usually overload, which you solve by delegating. Jon’s example: he values a clean house and his time, so he hires a cleaning service.
Consistency and who you become. Success comes from showing up consistently over time. Set a baseline you won’t drop below, and go beyond it when you can. And success isn’t only about what you do. It’s about who you have to become to achieve your vision.
Key action items
- Get clear on your vision. Write down where you want to be in five years and why it matters to you.
- Test your goal. Make sure it stretches you but still connects to what you can do this quarter.
- Cut, then delegate. List everything on your plate, remove what doesn’t serve your vision, and delegate what’s left that others can do.
- Set a baseline. Choose a minimum habit you’ll keep every week, even when life gets in the way.
- Decide who you need to become. Identify one skill or habit the future version of you will need, and start building it.
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Guest details reflect the time of recording.
Value Creation Consultancy™ has since merged into Founder’s Accounting™.
This episode is educational and isn’t legal, tax or financial advice. Speak with your own attorney and advisers about your situation.