About Daniel Khoroshansky
My Story
I set out as an aimless young man from San Diego, CA in 2004 to join the U.S. Army. This ended up being nearly a 7-year adventure that took me to multiple states throughout the U.S., as well as Germany, Iraq, and Kuwait. By fortuitous chance, I spent my last 3 years in the Army as a “Prime Power” technical specialist with a brilliant and exceptionally talented group of high voltage technicians in the 249th Engineering Battalion.
After leaving the Army, I obtained an Electrical Engineering degree at the University of Texas at Arlington, followed not long after by an MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.
In the years that following my engineering education, I further specialized in high voltage engineering, and worked with various engineering firms along the way while honing this technical skillset. During this time, I was also gifted with some wonderful leadership opportunities, including:
· Leading technical teams for engineering projects and field assignments
· Starting up and managing an engineering office, growing the team from the ground up
· Managing two engineering offices/teams simultaneously in two separate countries
· Managing a national substation engineering team with three main offices, and several remote personnel.
There was no doubt a large personal learning curve in these various leadership roles—both from a “management” perspective (P&L, revenue, cost, profit, utilization, etc) and a “leadership” perspective (difficult conversations, accountability, building trust, communication, career planning). This was all new to me, and required a very different set of skills than the ones I had spent so much time on previously.
There were some hard lessons learned—both from my own experience, and by watching others—that I felt could have been prevented with a bit more guidance, and a more purposeful outlook on what good leadership truly looks like…
My Realization
When it finally clicked, it clicked.
When my ego grew, trust shrank, and conflict appeared. When my ego shrank, trust grew, and conflict mended. When I tried to hold on tight to too many things at once, they all slipped through my fingers. When I tried to dictate and control, execution and ownership fell apart.
Every lesson I learned about leadership was a paradox. Each failure was deeply rooted in my own insecurities as an up-and-coming leader trying to make my mark, and the weight that placed on my interactions with others. I was human, and I was struggling.
Then the shift happened.
I made a commitment—to be a better leader, I had to be a better version of myself. It was time to take some serious ownership over how I would choose to show up for my team.
I invested some serious time and energy into leadership as an entirely new profession to master, with intentional effort and investment similar to what I had put into my technical skillset.
I spent a great deal of time on inner work, reprogramming core beliefs about the role of a leader on a team, and rediscovering the “why” of my chosen career path.
I spent time with my team members, learning more about their passions, interests, fears, and how each of them experienced their workplace. I took the time to connect them with their interests and work that unlocked their deepest potential. I took the time to share our team’s vision, and how each of them fit into it.
As I refined my approach, my teams flourished. We experienced high double-digit (and in some cases, triple-digit) YoY growth, decreased turnover, and co-created a workplace that inspired each individual toward excellence. I coached leaders, and leaders of leaders, to successfully build the same relationships with their teams.
There was no single experience more rewarding to me than seeing a newly promoted leader land on their feet successfully, and engage their teams to work as one cohesive group.
Time and time again, I worked with leaders at all levels on my team to overcome their individual challenges and execute effectively, repair broken systems, and build deep levels of trust with each of their own team members.
This was my calling—and it was only a matter of time until I took the next step…
My Calling
Great leaders “do the work” on themselves, and purposefully approach their role—they reduce the stress and uncertainty that their team members in turn bring home to their families. Overall, these leaders add to the net joy and prosperity in the world.
Unprepared leaders roll the dice in every interaction, resulting in increased stress, anger, and uncertainty that their team members in turn bring home to their families. If they do experience short bouts of success, it is usually through luck, in spite of their approach. Intentional or not (even if they are well-meaning!) these unprepared leaders introduce chaos and distrust into the world.
My calling is to prepare the leaders that want to operate on that higher plane. They understand the weight of the responsibility that they have been entrusted with, and they internalize their duty to show up as the great leader that their teams deserve.
They want to be better, and experience the fullness that comes with being a positive force that reshapes the environment around them.
Still, many of these leaders look around and don’t know where to even start.
If this sounds like you, or someone you would like to be, let’s connect and talk about how to break you free—and get you to the next level.