The Irrelevant Leader™ Program
A 12-week leadership development program for organizations that want leaders who take ownership, think independently, and stop everything from filtering up to senior leadership.
When high-potential people start asking, “What’s next for me?”
leadership teams quickly find out whether they have a real development path — or not.
Most don’t.
Strong performers get promoted into leadership roles without the support they need.
Decisions still get pushed up.
Senior leaders stay pulled into issues they shouldn’t be solving.
This program fixes that.
It develops leaders who take ownership, think independently, and stop everything from coming back up the chain.
So your organization can build a stronger leadership layer, without pulling people out of their day-to-day roles.
Before you look at the program, here’s what most leadership teams are dealing with:
Strong performers promoted into leadership roles without enough support to lead well.
Decisions still getting pushed up instead of handled at the right level.
Senior leaders pulled into issues they shouldn’t be solving.
High-potential people starting to ask, “What’s next for me?”.
This program is designed to fix that.
BASED ON PHIL’S decorated military EXPERIENCE and his VERY OWN BOOK - THE IRRELEVANT LEADER
Built to strengthen leadership capacity across your organization
Most leadership programs create awareness.
They don’t change how people lead in the business.
This one does.
The Irrelevant Leader™ Program is built to develop leaders who:
Take ownership
Think independently
Reduce the need for constant escalation
Delivered over 12 weeks through self-paced learning and live coaching, the program creates real behaviour change — not just insight.
What is the Irrelevant Leader™ mindset?
The Irrelevant Leader™ mindset is simple: build a team that doesn’t rely on you to function.
It shifts leadership from being the person everyone relies on…
to building people who can think, decide, and act without waiting.
For organizations, that means:
Less escalation
Stronger ownership
Better decision-making at the right level of the organization
Greater retention of high-potential talent
What People Are Saying About The Program
This is what that shift looks like in practice:
empowering
“This course empowers self-aware leaders to look in the mirror and reinforce the parts of leading people we do well and highlights the areas that we have room to improve and grow both personally and professionally.”
Erinn Smeltzer
Senior HR Leader, Halifax Regional Municipality
TRANSFORMATIVE AND PRACTICAL
“This program strengthened my leadership by deepening my emotional and social intelligence and expanding my awareness of mindset, bias, ethics, and accountability. As a clinical executive, I found it both practical and transformative, grounded in real challenges and designed to build courageous, values-driven leadership.”
Amarpreet Gujral
Executive leader, Horizon Health network, New Brunswick
impacted my everyday life
“It was a privilege to participate in this course, which allowed me to enhance my personal leadership skills through energetic and engaging content. The lessons learned have impacted my everyday life in addition to my career.”
Kyle Niekamp
CFO, Steele Auto Group
value to be found throughout
“The pressures of leadership are overwhelming and no leader is perfect. There is value to be found in each week of this program helping your growth as a leader and defining your path forward to success.”
James Moran
Executive, Transport Canada, Government of Canada
essential in todays workplace
“This program is compacted with excellent awareness information to help learn to survive with the fast challenges and never ending changes we continue to face. With most importantly learning to develop your growth mindset which is essential in todays workplace.”
Tanya Foran
Payroll and Benefits Leaders, Cherubini Group of Companies
help me show up as the leader i evision
“This course allowed me to really dig in and reflect on my approach to leadership and ultimately set goals for the way I wanted to show up as a leader, a coach and a manager.”
Kristen Fulton
Manager, Lawyer Development, Stewart McKelvey
course modules
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The 10 Diseases of Leadership
Uncover the most damaging leadership mistakes and how to break free from them.
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Leadership Defined?
Shift your perspective by exploring how leadership is seen across industries, cultures, and experiences. Then, craft your own leadership philosophy.
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Accountable Leadership
Being a leader means owning your actions. Discover what real accountability looks like and how to build it into your leadership style.
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Emotional & Social Intelligence
Leadership isn’t just about strategy—it’s about understanding people. Develop the self-awareness and social skills that separate great leaders from the rest.
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Mindsets for Leadership Growth
Adopt a growth mindset that boosts resilience, adaptability, and success in any leadership role, and be future ready for the ever changing AI world.
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Biases & Ethical Leadership
Recognize conscious and unconscious biases that impact decision-making and develop strong ethical leadership practices to lead across multi-generational and multi-cultural teams.
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Trust & Motivation
Learn the secrets to building high-trust teams and motivating people in ways that actually work.
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Leading Change & Conflict
Change is constant, and conflict is inevitable. Master the skills to lead through both with confidence.
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Decision Making & The Art of Delegation
Become the kind of leader who makes smart decisions and trusts their team to execute them.
course schedule
Time Commitment & Flexibility
Participants spend about 3 hours per week in the program, with live coaching sessions every three weeks.
The structure is designed to fit within real workloads — so leaders can develop without stepping away from their roles.
This approach ensures leaders build real capability, not just awareness —they’re actively applying it, reflecting on it, and engaging in real conversations that elevate your leadership growth.
The structure allows organizations to invest in leadership development without removing people from their roles. You can engage in discussions from anywhere, making it easy to participate even if you’re traveling or managing a demanding work schedule.
Why organizations invest in this program:
To give high-potential people a clear path for growth
To reduce over-reliance on senior leadership
To strengthen leadership capability across the organization
To address the retention, engagement, and people issues that poor leadership creates
You don’t need more leadership training.
You need leaders who take ownership, think independently, and stop everything from coming back up the chain.