3 Key Takeaways from Stacey Lawson’s Summit 2025 Community Spotlight
Growth is the most powerful thing a leader can commit to—especially in times of uncertainty. When leaders choose to stretch themselves, they not only unlock their own potential but also create the conditions for their teams and organizations to thrive.
At Summit 2025, as part of our Community Spotlight Series, Stacey Lawson—Chief Human Resources Officer at Premier Health, TEDx speaker, and nationally recognized advocate for equity and leadership development—shared practical and inspiring ways leaders can “level up.”
Here are three core themes that resonated most with Summit 2025 attendees and will hit home with anyone striving to lead with clarity, confidence, and heart.
1. Craving focus? Take a Mound Visit
In baseball, a “mound visit” is a pause in the game where the pitcher and coach step back, recalibrate, and reset. According to Stacey, sometimes leaders need the same.
A mound visit might look like carving out time to reflect on your mindset, asking yourself what’s working, or identifying what needs to change before moving forward. It’s an intentional time to pause, recalibrate, and get back in the game stronger and more focused.
Just like in baseball, mound visits in leadership often come at critical, high-pressure moments—when the pace is fast, the stakes are high, and the margin for error feels slim. Taking that step back creates the perspective needed to see the bigger picture: Are you playing to your strengths? Are you letting fear drive your decisions? Are you modeling the calm and clarity your team needs? These moments of pause don’t slow the game down; they make it possible to play it better.
2. Reframing Failure as Growth
Every leader encounters moments where the possibility of “failure” looms large. The challenge is in what we choose to do with that word. Failure can keep us stuck—repeating an unhelpful soundtrack in our heads—or it can become a springboard for resilience and growth.
When reframed, failure is no longer final. It becomes a fork in the road, offering leaders the chance to retreat or to rise. The most successful leaders see failure not as the end of the story, but as a steppingstone to leveling up.
The question becomes: what soundtrack are you letting play the loudest? Too often, we replay the “what if I fail” loop until it drowns out everything else. But when leaders pause and reframe, the soundtrack changes from “failure means I’m not enough” to “failure means I’m learning something new.”
That shift opens the door to courage, creativity, and even innovation. In truth, some of the greatest breakthroughs in leadership happen not in moments of easy success, but in the refining fire of mistakes and setbacks.
3. Moving Beyond Annual Reviews to Real-Time Feedback
Just as no one would measure a health goal by measuring your blood pressure only once a year, leaders shouldn’t expect performance to improve through annual reviews alone. Real growth happens in real time.
Leaders can fuel growth by embracing frequent, in-the-moment feedback. Simple questions like When have you seen me at my best? or What would take my performance to the next level? create opportunities for continuous improvement. This kind of direct, ongoing dialogue builds stronger teams and more adaptive organizations.
Feedback, when done well, is less about judgment and more about growth. Annual reviews often feel like looking in the rearview mirror—helpful for seeing where you’ve been, but not nearly as useful for steering where you’re going. In contrast, real-time feedback is like adjusting the wheel while the car is in motion. It allows leaders and teams to make small, meaningful course corrections that prevent bigger problems down the road.
The best leaders invite this kind of dialogue often, not because they enjoy criticism, but because they know it keeps them learning and moving forward. When feedback becomes part of the daily rhythm, it creates a culture where growth is expected, safe, and shared.
Keep Growing as a Leader
Leveling up is not a one-time event. It’s a practice of pausing, reframing challenges, and embracing feedback to continually evolve. Leaders who commit to this journey not only strengthen themselves but elevate the people and systems around them.
If you’re ready to take your own mound visit and grow as a leader, Aileron’s Becoming a More Conscious Leader (BMCL) program is designed to help. Through reflection, coaching, and practice, BMCL equips you to lead with clarity, confidence, and purpose.
Not ready to commit just yet? Sign up for a complimentary Discovery call to connect and learn more.
