Developing Leaders Who Drive Real Change

Authentic leadership means asking the right questions, bringing clarity to chaos, and building systems that help others thrive. Few understand that better than Nate Allen, a United States Military Academy graduate and Army veteran with a Ph.D. in management and technology. In this #shifthappens episode, Nate shares lessons from his time guiding soldiers, advising at the Pentagon, and coaching leadership teams across sectors.

Nate’s insights are essential for business executives aiming to develop others by creating environments where future changemakers can emerge and succeed.

Leading Starts with Following

Effective guidance doesn’t begin with authority; it starts with service. Early in his U.S. Military Academy journey, Nate learned that to lead well, one must first learn to follow. That mindset grounded his approach throughout his military career.

Those in charge aren’t defined by how loudly they speak or how decisively they act, but by how well they support and empower others. True leadership requires both character and competence. One without the other may win subordinates’ compliance, but not their trust.

Followership teaches perspective. It shows decision-makers what their team needs and how their choices affect others. It trains empathy, discipline, and the restraint necessary to build respect rather than demand it. In a corporate context, executives who understand what it means to follow build more resilient teams because they’ve seen both sides of a decision.

Experience as the Engine for Development

Growth comes through experience, especially when those experiences are new or demanding. Unfamiliar situations force individuals to let go of assumptions and reorient. Challenges push people beyond their comfort zones and require learning on the fly.

Nate draws from leadership development theory and real-world experience to explain that growth accelerates most when we’re in a state of stretch — not overwhelm — but just outside what was mastered. That’s where capability gets built.

Experience alone is not enough, though. The difference between average and exceptional guidance lies in reflection and taking time to look back to create insight. Skipping that step risks repeating mistakes. This principle applies to teams as well. Organizations that encourage reflection through after-action reviews, retrospectives, and feedback loops position themselves to adapt faster and respond smarter.

Four Insights to Lead Through Uncertainty

Nate’s approach to development is grounded in humility, trust, and real-time learning. Here are four insights that can help managers create lasting impact:

1. Challenge Is the Shortcut to Growth

Meaningful development often begins before one feels ready. Nate reminds us that capability is forged in motion, not in waiting. Leaders build resilience, perspective, and creativity by stepping into high-responsibility moments and learning as they go.

Nate notes that the fastest way to build capacity is by creating supported stretch experiences. This could mean rotating team members into new roles, handing off critical responsibilities, or encouraging bold initiatives. However, this approach only works if reflection is built in. Stretch experiences without reflection lead to burnout. With reflection, it leads to transformation.

The takeaway for managers is this: Don’t shield your people from challenges. Instead, prepare your workforce to meet them.

2. Build a Culture Where It’s Safe to Speak Up

Nate emphasizes that high-performing teams thrive on trust, not fear. A culture of openness, where people feel safe to speak honestly, challenge assumptions, and admit uncertainty, is crucial. Those guiding others set the tone. When they model vulnerability and create space for discourse, teams respond with creativity and courage. When speaking up is normalized, so is course correction, innovation, and growth. In a world of constant change, that’s an advantage you can’t afford to lose.

Creating this kind of culture requires more than open-door policies. It requires consistency. People in charge must respond constructively when feedback is offered or when someone takes a chance. Repeated experiences of safety create lasting norms.

3. Zoom Out Before You React

In complex situations, reflexive decision-making creates more problems than it solves. Nate encourages leaders to pause, assess, and ask: “What am I missing?” This simple act of stepping back fosters systems thinking and strategic clarity, helping them respond instead of reacting.

When the pressure is on, the most effective individuals pause. Asking, “What am I missing?” invites a shift in perspective. It’s not stepping away; it’s stepping back to respond with clarity.

Strong contributors resist the temptation to react. Instead, they foster awareness by creating room for second-order thinking: “Why now? What does this pattern tell us?”

That moment of reflection creates space for systems thinking, values alignment, and strategic awareness. It’s how decision-makers catch blind spots before they become failures—and how teams learn to slow down just enough to get it right.

4. Leaders Think Three Generations Ahead

Leadership isn’t just about the next quarter but the next generation. Nate challenges those in leadership roles to invest in the people who will eventually guide others. He introduces the concept of third-generation leadership: shaping not just your team, but the people your team will develop.

In this cascading model of influence, mentorship, delegation, and knowledge transfer become the real levers of scale. Nate encourages a shift from directing to listening, from owning every answer to building systems that surface insight from the edge. Strategy shouldn’t live exclusively at the top. Often, your frontline teams hold the clearest insight into what’s working and what needs to change.

This doesn’t mean giving up control. It means honoring the intelligence embedded in your organization. Pull it forward. Build from it. Legacy leadership requires modeling growth, sharing ownership, and thinking beyond tenure. It’s not about what you build but who you empower next.

Lead with Optionality, Not Rigidity

In uncertain conditions, rigidity kills adaptability. Nate encourages executives to treat more decisions as experiments: testable, flexible, and easy to adjust. Calling something an “experiment” instead of a “program” can open minds and reduce resistance. When change is framed as learning, people engage differently.

Optionality also lowers the stakes for trying something new. That lowered-risk environment invites curiosity and fosters resilience. If a pilot fails, it’s a data point, not a disaster. Teams stay motivated to keep testing without fear of being branded failures.

When you embrace optionality, you commit more strategically, not less. Ultimately, your most significant legacy isn’t what you built but who you empowered to lead after you.