“You’ve Changed My Life” and other LQ magic

“You’ve changed my life,” he said. He then proceeded to share the kind of radical shifts that happened in the months and years following his experience on a “Quest” led by Leaders’ Quest.

I’ve heard this same personal transformation story at least ten times from Leaders’ Quest alumni these past six months since joining this company, each story with its own twists, personal epiphanies, and subsequent life changes.

Some individuals radically changed the direction of their companies afterwards, some quit their jobs and changed careers, some shifted their gaze and work to figure out how they can make a difference in the world. I’ve heard it from multinational CEOs, climate change agents, everyday citizens, nomadic adventurers, and everything in between.

When I decided to join LQ in 2022, I’d been drawn into LQ’s orbit by the brilliance they lent to the co-founding of TED Countdown, an extraordinary global initiative committed to accelerating solutions to the climate crisis. I got to know LQ a bit and its luminous founder, Lindsay Levin, leading up to TED Countdown’s launch in 2020. The genius, passion, and commitment of the people behind that launch — including both the TED and LQ teams — were evident and stunning in every aspect of the event.

From that experience alone, I was smitten. I thought then, “who are these people!?” And I committed to finding ways to collaborate with them again in the future. Little did I know that I’d be joining LQ full-time as a Partner in 2022!

When I joined LQ, my knowledge of their work was colored primarily by TED Countdown. I didn’t really have a sense yet of what LQ is most known for — its signature Quests.

I’ve never shied away from ambitious, world-changing organizations, and Leaders’ Quest is no exception. LQ’s mission is “to develop wise leaders to build a regenerative future.” They (we) work to realize this at three levels:

1. Individual Change: Helping leaders gain new insights, shift mindsets and change behaviors — rewiring organizations and collaborations as a result.
2. Organizational Change: Supporting companies’ path to regenerative: aligning purpose and innovation; achieving bold societal and environmental goals
3. Systems Change: Fostering radical collaboration across diverse stakeholders to solve tough problems together (good examples of this are TED Countdown and Count Us In.

One of the key ways LQ achieves this transformational change is through Quests, which they’ve been leading for over 20 years, delivering 500+ transformative learning programs in locations around the world.

What are Quests?

Quests are powerful learning experiences designed to inspire and equip leaders to tackle complex global challenges by taking them into unfamiliar environments where they are immersed in the forces shaping our future.

And they’re not just good at it, they are GREAT at it, by which I mean they deliver a world-class level of facilitative genius applied to humans and organizations in ways I’ve never seen before. This is no ordinary strategic advisory and consulting firm. Given my short time at LQ, I feel I can brazenly say, with zero concern about it coming across as a sales pitch, that Leaders’ Quest changes lives. And it’s changing the future.

Because of LQ’s genius, and the kind of word-of-mouth transformation stories its work engenders, we’ve been hired by some of the smartest, most successful and purposeful leaders and companies in the world, including Google, PwC, Bain & Co., Lord Abbett, PepsiCo, S&P, Daimler, Vodafone, CEMEX, HSBC, P&G, and many others.

How do Quests work?

As a boutique consultancy, we custom-design our advisory work in close consultation with our clients and tailor programs and deliverables to the objectives and needs of the organization. We then apply our “special sauce” frameworks and tools to create the right setting for deep transformation.

We design leadership journeys around topics that matter most to our clients, linking program content with business outcomes. Our programs are immersive, dynamic and fun. We create experiences that cater to participants’ diverse needs and ways of learning. And, our most important “secret sauce” is experiential learning. We mix individual and group activities to create learning that sticks.

Our methodology focuses on:

1. Experience: How leaders actually learn. By meeting people outside their norm, hearing fresh perspectives, and drawing inspiration to apply to their own situation.
2. Sense-making: Through deep listening and reflection, we help leaders and teams explore what’s possible and reach new answers.
3. Right action: We work with individuals to translate insight and inspiration into new ways of leading. Results show up in greater ambition, faster implementation, and healthier collaboration.

The Leaders’ Quest Methodology, Copyright Leaders’ Quest 2023

What makes LQ so great?

First and foremost, what makes LQ great is its people. LQers are not only off-the-charts brilliant, but also consistently kind, compassionate, caring, creative, humble, wise, mission-driven, and just a little bit cheeky. This is a group of people that really leans in to its core values of Patient Ambition (tackling big challenges and creating the space for change to emerge; Relentless Generosity (striving to be loving to ourselves and others, even when it’s hard) and Clear-eyed Optimism (looking at life’s realities and seeing possibility everywhere — we know that hope is more powerful than fear). They chose LQ because they want to make a difference in the world. I have never enjoyed working with a group of people more.

The Leaders’ Quest core team at a strategy retreat in Somerset, England, 2023. Photo courtesy of Kim Coupounas.

LQ is also great because they focus on:

1. Deep and immersive learning designed to be transformative, providing leaders with a deep understanding of the complex issues facing our world. By engaging with local communities, experts, and thought leaders, Leaders’ Quest participants are able to gain a unique perspective on the challenges they face and bring that perspective and knowledge back to their own work..
2. Customized and flexible programming to meet the specific needs of its clients. Whether it’s a multi-day immersive journey or a shorter workshop, LQ works closely with clients to develop a customized program that meets their goals.
3. Access to a global network: Leaders’ Quest has a vast network of experts, entrepreneurs, and community leaders around the world, providing clients with access to a wealth of knowledge and expertise. Participants on Leaders’ Quest journeys have the opportunity to meet and engage with these leaders, gaining valuable insights into their work and perspectives.
4. Emphasis on leadership development: Leaders’ Quest is focused on developing the leadership skills and capabilities of its participants. Through coaching, mentoring, and peer-to-peer learning, Leaders’ Quest helps leaders to develop the skills they need to lead effectively in a complex and rapidly changing world.
5. Commitment to impact: Leaders’ Quest is a social enterprise that is committed to creating positive social and environmental impact. By engaging with and supporting local communities, organizations and individuals in the spirit of mutual learning — and in consciously driving purpose into each of its client engagements, Leaders’ Quest helps to catalyze positive change around the world.

Coming full circle

I’ve recently realized how my professional life has come “full circle” in some surprising ways by joining LQ. I spent several pivotal years early in my career in senior leadership roles at organizations that drove personal growth through experiential learning, such as Chief Operating Officer at an experiential private school called Shackleton Schools and as Chief Operating Officer at Up with People.

I was drawn to those organizations because my most powerful personal learnings in life have come through real-world experiences — especially travel and outdoor adventure. I believed so much in this style of learning that I became an Outward Bound instructor in my spare time because I wanted others to have the kind of life-changing wilderness journeys I’d had the privilege of experiencing.

Now and then, I tell my husband that I’ve got “itchy feet,” and when he hears that he knows he better start packing for another crazy boundary-pushing expedition into the unknown. Every odyssey deepens me, changes me in fundamental ways. To realize that I’m once again having the privilege of supporting individuals on similar transformations is almost too good to be true.

The 7 Reasons a Quest Can Change Your Lif

The 7 Reasons a Quest Can Change Your Life. Copyright Leaders’ Quest 2023.

A Quest can change your life because:

1. Active engagement: It emphasizes hands-on experiences and active participation, allowing you to engage directly with the learning material, enhancing retention and understanding as compared to passive learning methods.
2. Real-world application: It provides you with opportunities to apply both theoretical concepts and practical skills learned in real-world contexts, such as leadership, decision-making, adaptability, and problem-solving, which are transferable to different settings, including educational, professional, and personal contexts.
3. Emotional connection: It often involves emotionally engaging activities that elicit strong responses. By experiencing a wide range of emotions, you are more likely to remember the associated lessons and develop a personal connection to the learning process.
4. Reflection & sense-making: It emphasizes reflection where you analyze your experiences, draw insights, and connect them to broader concepts or principles. This reflection process deepens understanding and helps you extract valuable lessons from their experiences.
5. Collaboration & communication: It involves group activities that require collaboration and effective communication among participants. These experiences promote teamwork, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills, which are valuable in many aspects of your life.
6. Personal growth: They challenge you to step out of your comfort zone, confront fears, and push your limits, building self-confidence and developing resilience as you realize your capabilities and learn to overcome obstacles.
7. Long-lasting impact: It creates memorable and transformative experiences. The immersive nature of these programs can have a lasting impact on your attitudes, behaviors, and perspectives, leading to continued growth and development even after the program ends. When experienced at an organizational level involving multiple participants, it can drive culture change at scale. Many of the LQ “alumni” I’ve met these past months talk about their transformational LQ Quest experience as if it happened yesterday.

My introduction to Questing

I had my first real taste of Questing in my first few months at LQ in when I led several Quest visits for Partners at a major global consultancy in London this past November. During one Quest, we visited with Shashi Verma, the Chief Technology Officer at Transport for London who was also the creative genius behind the Oyster card, the largest smartcard-based ticketing system in the world.

LQ clients experiencing the London Underground, including the stunning new Elizabeth Line, all of which is overseen by Transport for London, November 15, 2022. Photo courtesy of Kim Coupounas.

The conversation between Shashi and the Partners was dynamic and inspiring, covering a range of topics including the kind of values-led, visionary leadership that’s needed to achieve significant paradigm shifts in complex systems. Shashi shared valuable knowledge about how large multi-stakeholder public projects get done, especially his insights on taking complex systems and simplifying them to enable leaders to get at the essence of blockages so you can move past them. The Partners were wide-eyed and fully immersed in the experience. It was a delight to witness and be a part of.

Every day I discover more and more powerful ways that this small-but-mighty consultancy is forging leaders who have the courage and perspective to tackle today’s most complex global challenges. As you might imagine, LQ had to make some radical pivots when the pandemic arrived in 2020. Many in-person Quests were canceled or quickly reinvented to adapt to the new virtual world. Happily, travel is back — and so are in-person Quests.

For every individual who’s said their life was changed by LQ, there’s an indescribable twinkle in their eye, a spring in their step, and a clear purpose to their life that they can’t help but share with everyone they meet. These humans, who’ve been fundamentally changed — forged maybe? transmuted? — through some beautiful LQ magic, are rare and precious humans indeed — and we need more of them.

Every leader I know deserves an LQ Quest experience.

Every company I know NEEDS this experience for their team to help them meet the challenges of our time.

About Leaders’ Quest

Experts in purpose-led change management, leadership development, and c-suite advisory, Leaders’ Quest (LQ) is a boutique global consultancy known for its signature “Quests” that inspire and equip leaders to build a more equitable and regenerative future — and for its pioneering collaborations such as TED Countdown and Count Us In. LQ’s alchemy is in bringing different worlds together to partner to advance meaningful change. Our work ranges from helping CEOs to align profit with purpose to facilitating cross-sector collaboration towards solutions to the defining challenges of the 21st century. Learn more at www.leadersquest.org

About the Author

Kim Coupounas is a Leaders’ Quest Partner based in Colorado. A passionate business leader, strategist, and entrepreneur, Kim has worked for over two decades to harness the power of business to advance an equitable and regenerative future for humanity and our planet. Prior to Leaders’ Quest, Kim served as a senior global executive in the B Corp movement where she co-led the largest mobilization of companies in history committed to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Prior to B Lab, Kim co-founded and served as CEO of GoLite, a mission-driven outdoor products brand and one of the earliest Certified B Corps. She also served as Chairperson of the Board of the Outdoor Industry Association; Principal at The Parthenon Group (now Parthenon EY); and as an investment banker at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Kim holds MBA and MPA degrees from Harvard, an AB Cum Laude from Princeton, and attended Oxford University as a Rotary Foundation Graduate Scholar. Kim spends her free time with family in nature and enjoys martial arts, yoga, singing, and climbing big mountains. Kim and her husband have climbed four of the world’s Seven Summits, many Colorado “14ers,” and the highest mountain or molehill in all 50 United States.