About
The Origin Story
Leaders and Lifters began in 2018. While traveling from Dallas to Austin, I saw an image in my mind and sketched it on a napkin. When I returned home, I created a digital version, filling in the missing pieces of what I believed to be the flow of resources, ideas, and communication within an organization. For years, I reflected on this image, sensing it held a more profound significance. Eventually, the lightbulb came on: the image wasn’t meant to be vertical or top-down—it was meant to be sideways, representing a fundamental shift in how we perceive leadership and organizational dynamics.
This realization compelled me to embrace a new mental model—one that emphasizes co-partnering between leaders and the lifters of their organizations. The crux of this shift lies in renegotiating power dynamics within teams and organizations. Leadership was no longer synonymous with top-down authority; instead, it became about balancing authority with autonomy, fostering collaboration, and empowering every individual to contribute meaningfully.
Audrey Wyatt, Founder and Chief Leadership Architect
But why change?
The traditional top-down mindset can be a mental barrier, hindering personal growth and organizational progress. In that model, leaders are solely responsible for problem-solving, and communication flows in one direction. This stifles innovation and deprives organizations of their workforce’s collective intelligence.
Instead, I envisioned a new social contract rooted in partnership and collaboration. Leaders as coaches, not commanders, signal a shift toward shared responsibility and collective problem-solving. In this environment, everyone is valued as a vital contributor—essential for tackling the uncommon and monstrous challenges that lie ahead.
As my work with leaders and lifters in complex environments deepened, I realized that the recurring struggles of good leaders—thoughtful, committed, well-intentioned people—weren’t due to character flaws or mindset failures. It was the system itself, doing precisely what it had been designed to do.
This insight led me to evolve the image, which became the logo of Leaders and Lifters. The symbol carries four meanings that now define the architecture of my work:
Covenant: Mutual responsibility, not control
Paradox: Navigating tension, not choosing sides
Feedback loops: Learning and adjustment
Emergence: Trust, innovation, and social capital as signals of health
Power moves through the organization—from leaders to lifters, top-down and bottom-up. This is the heart of the People-Powered Leadership Operating System: a new paradigm where leadership is collective by design, not heroic by necessity. It’s about building systems worthy of people’s goodwill, where power and authority flow to expertise and context, and where every voice contributes to the organization’s success. Explore how the People-Powered Leadership Operating System can transform your team.
Another paradox: We must begin with the Heroic Leader (I-Beam) to redesign effectively with teams. Let’s schedule a 30-Minute call to explore whether you are ready to begin.