Unlock your Leadership Potential

habits. culture. strategy.


authentic leadership growth for individuals & teams.

How can I help?

individual business person moving toward their goals one step at a time

YOU

team working together to achieve their goals

YOUR TEAM

people learning on a stack of books

RESOURCES

Quick Resources

Grounded & Growing

This is your handbook for understanding habits and starting the most essential. Each chapter unlocks a new habit with a brief description and a recipe for action - habit forming action.Learn why habits matter, and how to form habits for the Grounded Self, the Disciplined Self, the Relational Self, & the Discerning Self.Grounded in the latest research, these habits can be integrated into your daily routine right away.Hone your identity, clarify your values, develop courage and curiosity, celebrate early wins, grow your network, tell better stories, inspire your team, and make better decisions.If leadership is an art, then this habit-forming book is your next canvas. Enjoy - you'll never be the same.

20 Habits of Executive Leadership

There are thousands of books and entire workshops on the high-level strategies of executive leadership. But what about the daily minutiae of leadership?How do you achieve a balance between quality of life and leading your organization to success?In this course, I offer 20 manageable and beneficial habits you can build into your life to help you flourish as an executive leader - habits to keep you grounded and habits to help you stay disciplined, habits for handling your relationships, and habits to become a more discerning thinker.And best of all, these habits can easily be integrated into your life, starting today.

Creating a Culture that Inspires

If your organization is like most, you’ve watched as culture just sort of happened. Like a backyard garden left unattended, workplace habits and practices develop on their own. If you have people, they will behave in particular ways and establish particular habits. With or without your attention, your workplace culture will grow. When left unattended, your workplace may produces some fruit alongside thistles and weeds.But if you tend the garden - making sure the soil, sun, and water are there, prune properly, pull weeds at the right time, and on - you’ll end up with a bountiful harvest and a lot less thistle.


What Clients Say

Working with Aaron was extremely beneficial for myself and my business partner! From our limited sessions, we walked away feeling equipped and motivated to outline our HR strategy for the coming year. Aaron gave us tools to navigate both the relational aspects of our business (as friends and co-owners) and the day-to-day operations as a young start-up. Our sessions with Aaron were both humbling and eye-opening and certainly put our business back on the track we needed it to be on. I would highly recommend Aaron!

Working with Aaron was a fantastic experience. As a first-time manager, Aaron helped me hone my instincts into clear managing tactics. His resource recommendations were spot on, and our weekly sessions held me accountable to do the work. The experience was both humbling and empowering, and my team and organization are better because of the work we did with Aaron. I can't recommend him enough!


"Aaron's style feels relaxed. He has a knack for asking penetrating questions and moving you to action." - Sara, Executive

"I appreciate how Aaron worked with me to assess our position, clarify direction, and take tangible steps to achieve that vision." - Jaime, CEO

"I have a fresh understanding of myself - my passions and strengths - and how they shape what I really want in life." -Patrick, Manager

"I hit a point where I needed to reevaluate where I was heading. Aaron helped me think through that and step forward with fresh enthusiasm." - Brian, Director

Grounded by a Philosophy

Culture | how we do life together.

Success happens at the intersection of talent and strategy. Finding the right people, getting them into the proverbial right seat, and making sure everyone is clear about where the bus is heading. It's about growing your people, and getting them on mission together.These two truths drive the work:

1. Leadership is learned.

Exceptional leaders are grounded, disciplined, relational, and discerning. Developing these traits requires practice, but they are learned traits. And, research shows that this kind of leadership transformation happens best through "experiential learning cycles."

2. People want to be on mission together.

It's the organization's job to help they climb aboard. People want to be known, and they want to contribute to something meaningful. Organizations that provide hope, stability, trust, and compassion foster engaged teams on mission together.


Founder | Dr. Aaron Marshall

Meet Aaron, the entrepreneur and C-suite executive with over 12 years of experience advising and coaching entrepreneurs to achieve clarity, strategic focus, and sustainable growth.Aaron's unique background in character formation (MA, Philosophy) and experiential learning (PhD, Education) sets him apart from the rest. His practical business experience spans across different sectors, from brick-and-mortar to digital entrepreneurship, NPO founding, and even serving as a Zoo COO.But that's not all. Aaron's passion for social entrepreneurship extends beyond his work, as he also teaches it at Westmont College and serves as an affiliate faculty at Penn State's Kurt Hahn Consortium for Values & Experiential Learning. He is also an active member of several local boards.With a variety of published content under his belt, including "Creating a Culture that Inspires" and "20 Habits of Successful Executives," Aaron is a thought leader in the field of business growth and leadership.When he's not working, Aaron loves spending time with his brilliant wife Janay and their three children. You can often find them hiking, biking, paddling, skating, or surfing together in beautiful Santa Barbara. Don't wait to tap into Aaron's expertise - contact him today and start your journey towards sustainable growth and impact.

  • 15+ yrs advising

  • eMBA | PhD Educ

  • 7w8 | ENTP

  • Aristotle Fan

  • Peloton + Paddles

clarity | alignment | culture

©2013 Grounded and Growing

know yourself to lead yourself

It's time you changed the world.
Ready to scale your impact?

Transformational leadership for change-making individuals

Assessments

Understanding starts with measuring. Identify the start, the goal, and the gap. Then, attack it. We use a variety of personality and behavioral assessments.

Text

Executive Coaching

We specialize in supporting your executive team with coaching that digs in to those so called "soft skills" required to hone presence and grow teams.


20 Habits of Executive Leadership

There are thousands of books and entire workshops on the high-level strategies of executive leadership. But what about the daily minutiae of leadership?How do you achieve a balance between quality of life and leading your organization to success?In this course, I offer 20 manageable and beneficial habits you can build into your life to help you flourish as an executive leader - habits to keep you grounded and habits to help you stay disciplined, habits for handling your relationships, and habits to become a more discerning thinker.And best of all, these habits can easily be integrated into your life, starting today.

Grounded & Growing

This is your handbook for understanding habits and starting the most essential. Each chapter unlocks a new habit with a brief description and a recipe for action - habit forming action.Learn why habits matter, and how to form habits for the Grounded Self, the Disciplined Self, the Relational Self, & the Discerning Self.Grounded in the latest research, these habits can be integrated into your daily routine right away.Hone your identity, clarify your values, develop courage and curiosity, celebrate early wins, grow your network, tell better stories, inspire your team, and make better decisions.If leadership is an art, then this habit-forming book is your next canvas. Enjoy - you'll never be the same.


What Clients Say

Working with Aaron was extremely beneficial for myself and my business partner! From our limited sessions, we walked away feeling equipped and motivated to outline our HR strategy for the coming year. Aaron gave us tools to navigate both the relational aspects of our business (as friends and co-owners) and the day-to-day operations as a young start-up. Our sessions with Aaron were both humbling and eye-opening and certainly put our business back on the track we needed it to be on. I would highly recommend Aaron!

Working with Aaron was a fantastic experience. As a first-time manager, Aaron helped me hone my instincts into clear managing tactics. His resource recommendations were spot on, and our weekly sessions held me accountable to do the work. The experience was both humbling and empowering, and my team and organization are better because of the work we did with Aaron. I can't recommend him enough!


"Aaron's style feels relaxed. He has a knack for asking penetrating questions and moving you to action." - Sara, Executive

"I appreciate how Aaron worked with me to assess our position, clarify direction, and take tangible steps to achieve that vision." - Jaime, CEO

"I have a fresh understanding of myself - my passions and strengths - and how they shape what I really want in life." -Patrick, Manager

"I hit a point where I needed to reevaluate where I was heading. Aaron helped me think through that and step forward with fresh enthusiasm." - Brian, Director

Grounded by a Philosophy

Culture | how we do life together.

Success happens at the intersection of talent and strategy. Finding the right people, getting them into the proverbial right seat, and making sure everyone is clear about where the bus is heading. It's about growing your people, and getting them on mission together.These two truths drive the work:

1. Leadership is learned.

Exceptional leaders are grounded, disciplined, relational, and discerning. Developing these traits requires practice, but they are learned traits. And, research shows that this kind of leadership transformation happens best through "experiential learning cycles."

2. People want to be on mission together.

It's the organization's job to help they climb aboard. People want to be known, and they want to contribute to something meaningful. Organizations that provide hope, stability, trust, and compassion foster engaged teams on mission together.


Founder, Aaron Marshall, PhD

Aaron is an entrepreneur & C-suite executive with 12+ years of experience advising & coaching entrepreneurs to get clear, strategic, and focused so they can scale their businesses and grow their impact.His academic journey in character formation (MA, Philosophy) & experiential learning (PhD, Education) blends nicely with his practical business experience across sectors: as a brick-and-mortar entrepreneur, digital entrepreneur, NPO Founder, & Zoo COO.Beyond that, Aaron enjoys speaking, teaching Social Entrepreneurship for Westmont College, serving as affiliate faculty at Penn State's Kurt Hahn Consortium for Values & Experiential Learning, and sitting on several local boards.Aaron has published a variety of content including "Creating a Culture that Inspires" and "20 Habits of Successful Executives."He and his brilliant wife Janay have three children. As often as possible, you'll find them enjoying life together - hiking, biking, paddling, skating, or surfing - in Santa Barbara.

  • 12+ yrs experience advising Executives & Entrepreneurs

  • MA Phil | eMBA | PhD Educ

  • Aristotle Fan

  • Peloton + Paddles

  • 7w8 | ENTP

clarity | alignment | culture

©2013 Grounded and Growing

clarity | alignment | culture

Speak the same language.
Pursue the same goals.

Be on mission together.

Collaborative leadership for high impact teams.

robust culture-building

The approach is simple. Assess where you are, identify where you want to go, and close the gap. But, it's hardly easy. Alignment has everything to do with vision, clarity, expectations, and culture.

Imagine deep support across your company, providing the talent and org development partnership you need to keep people rowing together.


Creating a Culture that Inspires

If your organization is like most, you’ve watched as culture just sort of happened. Like a backyard garden left unattended, workplace habits and practices develop on their own. If you have people, they will behave in particular ways and establish particular habits. With or without your attention, your workplace culture will grow. When left unattended, your workplace may produces some fruit alongside thistles and weeds.But if you tend the garden - making sure the soil, sun, and water are there, prune properly, pull weeds at the right time, and on - you’ll end up with a bountiful harvest and a lot less thistle.


Assessments

Understanding starts with measuring. Identify the start, the goal, and the gap. Then, attack it. Unlock transformation with growth-framed personality and behavioral assessments.

Text

Executive Coaching

It can be lonely at the top. Provide the support your executive team needs to know themselves more deeply, to lead themselves, and in turn to lead your organization.

Leadership Development

Transformational leadership pathways should develop management practices, emotional intelligence, productivity, & alignment.

Team Building

People want to be known, and they want to be on mission together. With a focus on clarity, alignment, & culture building - get your team inspired & in sync.

Text

Org Development & Design

Honing vision, mission, & values ought to be more than wordsmithing. Organize strategically around your core beacons.

Offsites | Workshops | Retreats

Focused learning accelerates skills development alongside trust-building & alignment. Get more out of team experiences.


You recognize the value of robust culture building.

You want to see your talent developed. Getting it done sounds daunting and expensive. You need support building out the processes and systems that sustain culture and develop people. Who needs what? How many hires will it take? What if it doesn't work?

Let's work together.

Rather than bolt experiences on to the hustle that already overwhelms, Equip to Scale works alongside your organization to foster talent development and culture building as an integrated function for your business.

Accelerate your talent & team.

Imagine everyone moving in the same direction.

clarity | alignment | culture

Building relationships

Helping small & medium-sized clients cultivate talent & team during rapid growth.


What Clients Say

Working with Aaron was extremely beneficial for myself and my business partner! From our limited sessions, we walked away feeling equipped and motivated to outline our HR strategy for the coming year. Aaron gave us tools to navigate both the relational aspects of our business (as friends and co-owners) and the day-to-day operations as a young start-up. Our sessions with Aaron were both humbling and eye-opening and certainly put our business back on the track we needed it to be on. I would highly recommend Aaron!

Working with Aaron was a fantastic experience. As a first-time manager, Aaron helped me hone my instincts into clear managing tactics. His resource recommendations were spot on, and our weekly sessions held me accountable to do the work. The experience was both humbling and empowering, and my team and organization are better because of the work we did with Aaron. I can't recommend him enough!


"Aaron's style feels relaxed. He has a knack for asking penetrating questions and moving you to action." - Sara, Executive

"I appreciate how Aaron worked with me to assess our position, clarify direction, and take tangible steps to achieve that vision." - Jaime, CEO

"I have a fresh understanding of myself - my passions and strengths - and how they shape what I really want in life." -Patrick, Manager

"I hit a point where I needed to reevaluate where I was heading. Aaron helped me think through that and step forward with fresh enthusiasm." - Brian, Director

Grounded by a Philosophy

Culture | how we do life together.

Success happens at the intersection of talent and strategy. Finding the right people, getting them into the proverbial right seat, and making sure everyone is clear about where the bus is heading. It's about growing your people, and getting them on mission together.These two truths drive the work:

1. Leadership is learned.

Exceptional leaders are grounded, disciplined, relational, and discerning. Developing these traits requires practice, but they are learned traits. And, research shows that this kind of leadership transformation happens best through "experiential learning cycles."

2. People want to be on mission together.

It's the organization's job to help they climb aboard. People want to be known, and they want to contribute to something meaningful. Organizations that provide hope, stability, trust, and compassion foster engaged teams on mission together.


Founder, Aaron Marshall, PhD

Aaron is an entrepreneur & C-suite executive with 12+ years of experience advising & coaching entrepreneurs to get clear, strategic, and focused so they can scale their businesses and grow their impact.His academic journey in character formation (MA, Philosophy) & experiential learning (PhD, Education) blends nicely with his practical business experience across sectors: as a brick-and-mortar entrepreneur, digital entrepreneur, NPO Founder, & Zoo COO.Beyond that, Aaron enjoys speaking, teaching Social Entrepreneurship for Westmont College, serving as affiliate faculty at Penn State's Kurt Hahn Consortium for Values & Experiential Learning, and sitting on several local boards.Aaron has published a variety of content including "Creating a Culture that Inspires" and "20 Habits of Successful Executives."He and his brilliant wife Janay have three children. As often as possible, you'll find them enjoying life together - hiking, biking, paddling, skating, or surfing - in Santa Barbara.

  • 12+ yrs experience advising Executives & Entrepreneurs

  • MA Phil | eMBA | PhD Educ

  • Aristotle Fan

  • Peloton + Paddles

  • 7w8 | ENTP

clarity | alignment | culture

©2013 Grounded and Growing

Grounded by a Philosophy

Culture | how we do life together.

The goal is your success. Equip to Scale knows that you win when your leaders are learning and your teams are invigorated.These two truths drive the work:

1. Leadership is learned.

Exceptional leaders are grounded, disciplined, relational, and discerning. Developing these traits requires practice, but they are learned traits. And, research shows that this kind of leadership transformation happens best through "experiential learning cycles."

2. People want to be on mission together.

It's the organization's job to help they climb aboard. People want to be known, and they want to contribute to something meaningful. Organizations that provide hope, stability, trust, and compassion foster engaged teams on mission together.


Building Relationships

Helping small & medium-sized clients cultivate talent & team during rapid growth.


What Clients Say

Working with Aaron was extremely beneficial for myself and my business partner! From our limited sessions, we walked away feeling equipped and motivated to outline our HR strategy for the coming year. Aaron gave us tools to navigate both the relational aspects of our business (as friends and co-owners) and the day-to-day operations as a young start-up. Our sessions with Aaron were both humbling and eye-opening and certainly put our business back on the track we needed it to be on. I would highly recommend Aaron!

Working with Aaron was a fantastic experience. As a first-time manager, Aaron helped me hone my instincts into clear managing tactics. His resource recommendations were spot on, and our weekly sessions held me accountable to do the work. The experience was both humbling and empowering, and my team and organization are better because of the work we did with Aaron. I can't recommend him enough!


"Aaron's style feels relaxed. He has a knack for asking penetrating questions and moving you to action." - Sara, Executive

"I appreciate how Aaron worked with me to assess our position, clarify direction, and take tangible steps to achieve that vision." - Jaime, CEO

"I have a fresh understanding of myself - my passions and strengths - and how they shape what I really want in life." -Patrick, Manager

"I hit a point where I needed to reevaluate where I was heading. Aaron helped me think through that and step forward with fresh enthusiasm." - Brian, Director

"Let's work together to grow your talent & get your team on mission."

clarity | alignment | culture

Founder, Aaron Marshall, PhD

Aaron is an entrepreneur & C-suite executive with 12+ years of experience advising & coaching entrepreneurs to get clear, strategic, and focused so they can scale their businesses and grow their impact.His academic journey in character formation (MA, Philosophy) & experiential learning (PhD, Education) blends nicely with his practical business experience across sectors: as a brick-and-mortar entrepreneur, digital entrepreneur, NPO Founder, & Zoo COO.Beyond that, Aaron enjoys speaking, teaching Social Entrepreneurship for Westmont College, serving as affiliate faculty at Penn State's Kurt Hahn Consortium for Values & Experiential Learning, and sitting on several local boards.Aaron has published a variety of content including "Creating a Culture that Inspires" and "20 Habits of Successful Executives."He and his brilliant wife Janay have three children. As often as possible, you'll find them enjoying life together - hiking, biking, paddling, skating, or surfing - in Santa Barbara.

  • 12+ yrs experience advising Executives & Entrepreneurs

  • MA Phil | eMBA | PhD Educ

  • Aristotle Fan

  • Peloton + Paddles

  • 7w8 | ENTP

clarity | alignment | culture

©2013 Grounded and Growing

what shapes your leadership?

clarity | alignment | culture

"It is not from ourselves that we learn to be better than we are." –Wendell Berry

What do you need right now?

Grounded & Growing

This is your handbook for understanding habits and starting the most essential. Each chapter unlocks a new habit with a brief description and a recipe for action - habit forming action.Learn why habits matter, and how to form habits for the Grounded Self, the Disciplined Self, the Relational Self, & the Discerning Self.Grounded in the latest research, these habits can be integrated into your daily routine right away.Hone your identity, clarify your values, develop courage and curiosity, celebrate early wins, grow your network, tell better stories, inspire your team, and make better decisions.If leadership is an art, then this habit-forming book is your next canvas. Enjoy - you'll never be the same.


Are You Scale ready?

Growing pains look similar across scaling organizations.

Increased workloads lead to rapid hiring cycles. Rapid hiring reveals onboarding deficiencies & group dynamics challenges. Culture is tested. A gap develops between the stated culture & the way work really gets done.As things settle, the team finds a new normal & accelerates to new work levels. Then, the cycle repeats.As the cycle repeats, new challenges emerge - founding employees are skipped over for leadership roles, iterations shift power between functions, alignment wanes, role clarity & capacity building get fuzzy, & leadership feels the brunt.

Sound familiar?

And so it goes - in predictable ways, through predictable stages.

Start with what you know.

Are the proper foundations in place?
Do you have systems for clarity, alignment, & culture-building?
Do you have the right people? In the right roles?
What pain-points are most pressing today?

Values & Cultural Artifacts

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Vision, Mission, Strategy

Leadership Development

Team & Trust Building

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Organizational Alignment

Clarity & Communication

Courses

Creating a Culture that Inspires

If your organization is like most, you’ve watched as culture just sort of happened. Like a backyard garden left unattended, workplace habits and practices develop on their own. If you have people, they will behave in particular ways and establish particular habits. With or without your attention, your workplace culture will grow. When left unattended, your workplace may produces some fruit alongside thistles and weeds.But if you tend the garden - making sure the soil, sun, and water are there, prune properly, pull weeds at the right time, and on - you’ll end up with a bountiful harvest and a lot less thistle.

20 Habits of Executive Leadership

There are thousands of books and entire workshops on the high-level strategies of executive leadership. But what about the daily minutiae of leadership?How do you achieve a balance between quality of life and leading your organization to success?In this course, I offer 20 manageable and beneficial habits you can build into your life to help you flourish as an executive leader - habits to keep you grounded and habits to help you stay disciplined, habits for handling your relationships, and habits to become a more discerning thinker.And best of all, these habits can easily be integrated into your life, starting today.


clarity | alignment | culture

©2013 Grounded and Growing

CLARITY + ROADMAP

Congrats! Your in.Exercise 1 is already zipping through cyberspace looking for your inbox."It will feel like a springboard."Do the work & it will transform you.

clarity | momentum | roadmap

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