Welcome to In Practice
Hey there, I’m Tony Lillios. I’m a certified integral coach who specializes in helping high-performing founders and leaders reconnect with who they are so they can lead — and live — with more impact.
Before I became a coach, I spent close to two decades building companies, the biggest of which, Speck, went from a garage idea to $140 million before I sold it. From the outside, that looked like success. And it was. But building something that big taught me something I didn't expect: the bigger you get, the harder it becomes to see your own blind spots.
You get good at following your own patterns. You get rewarded for them. The things that got you to where you are often morph into the very things that are standing between you and your next evolution — which is what makes them almost impossible to spot.
I often work with leaders who feel they’ve reached the edge of what they can achieve by themselves. That there’s a next level of growth out there — but they can’t quite name what’s standing between them and reaching it. My work is to help them see what they can’t see on their own.
That’s what I want this newsletter to do, too: to help you build a real awareness of what's in your way — and then turn that awareness into the kind of change you can actually sustain.
What to Expect Going Forward
Once a month, I'm going to write about an idea that’s been showing up in my work with the leaders I coach — the ones who are already good at what they do, already winning by most scoreboards, but still feel like there's a next gear they can't quite find on their own. You won’t be getting fluff or jargon for jargon’s sake — just something you can learn from and actually use.
Here’s what you can expect, so you know what you’re signing up for:
One main concept per issue. I'm not going to try to cover everything. I’d rather give more room to a single idea than try to cram in five things you’ll forget by Friday.
Practice over theory. I care less about you nodding along and more about you doing something differently (or, at the very least, thinking about something differently) by the time you finish reading. Where it makes sense, I'll give you something concrete to try.
My own story, when it's relevant. I've built multiple companies from the ground up. I’ve also done my fair share of physical challenges. So far, I’m up to fifteen Ironmans and a swim across Crater Lake, and I’m preparing to swim the English Channel next year — so I know a thing or two about finding the edge of what you think you can do. Ultimately, my experience has taught me most of what I now teach. I'll draw on it where it's useful, and skip it where it isn't.
Leading and living, not just leading. The title of this newsletter isn't an accident. I genuinely don't think you can separate the leader from the person. Who you are, and what you do, directly translates to how you lead. The adventures, the business, the coaching, the family stuff, the hard conversations. It all connects. And I think the leaders who get the most out of their work and their lives are the ones who stop pretending those are separate buckets.
Where We’re Headed Next
Over the next several issues, we're going to work through some of the ideas I return to most often with clients, including the importance of vulnerability in leadership, how effort and difficulty aren't always the same thing, and what it actually looks like to move from being the best individual contributor in the room to a leader people can follow.
I don't think anyone at the top of their game gets to the next level alone. I certainly haven't. Every real transformation I've made, in business or otherwise, started with someone outside my own head showing me something I couldn't see myself.
That's the role I'm hoping to play here for you, one issue at a time.
See you next month.
— Tony