As a female leadership coach, I have a front-row seat at the careers of many powerful businessmen. And due to the nature of my work, I have been granted access to their backstage. This has given me some line of sight into their world.

One of the interesting things I have learned about “the world of powerful businessmen” is how intense and primal the competition is among them. And when I say primal, I mean that even a man’s physical nature plays a role in his career.

“I cannot build relationships as well when we are working remotely.”

“It is hard to read people as well in a virtual meeting as I can do in-person.”

My clients and their team members have been repeating these mantras to me since the pandemic started, as they suddenly had to conduct all their business via technology rather than meeting with colleagues in person.

Businesspeople who have been successful at large, hierarchical, highly competitive corporations are attractive senior candidates for smaller firms with big growth ambitions. Such individuals often have a strong grasp of strategy, know how to execute, and understand larger-organizational practices, exactly what earlier-stage and smaller firms want.

More than ever, business leaders are having to address – in real-time - the practical implications of our country’s social, political, and public health challenges inside their companies. And some of them are managing these issues in a more powerful, effective, and positive way than our political leaders are doing at the national level.