You've reached Red Leader without a valid invitation link or purchase session. Red Leader is a paid diagnostic instrument accessed one of two ways:
Through a practitioner. If a fractional executive, consultant, or growth-services firm has invited you, your invitation email contains a specific link to begin.
Directly, through purchase. You can buy Red Leader online for $2,000 and begin immediately after checkout.
Red Leader takes about an hour. It has three sections: a short set of questions about you and your business, a set of questions about how you tend to operate, and a set of scenarios tied to the specific growth plan you're considering. Set aside the hour in one sitting — stopping and starting across multiple sessions degrades the signal the diagnostic produces.
Some of what Red Leader asks about will feel uncomfortable. That's by design. The honest, vulnerable version of your answers produces the most value — for you and for anyone you choose to share the report with. Push through the questions that land harder rather than skipping them. A half-finished diagnostic doesn't give you a half-finished picture; it gives you a distorted one, because the questions you skipped are usually the ones that would have told you the most.
Remember that at the end you will decide whether to share your report with your practitioner. You own the output. Nothing you say during the diagnostic will be shared with anyone until you specifically choose to share it, and you can decline sharing without affecting anything else about your engagement.
Before you begin.
Red Leader takes about an hour. It has three sections: a short set of questions about you and your business, a set of questions about how you tend to operate, and a set of scenarios tied to the specific growth plan you're considering. Set aside the hour in one sitting — stopping and starting across multiple sessions degrades the signal the diagnostic produces.
Some of what Red Leader asks about will feel uncomfortable. That's by design. The honest, vulnerable version of your answers produces the most value. Push through the questions that land harder rather than skipping them. A half-finished diagnostic doesn't give you a half-finished picture; it gives you a distorted one, because the questions you skipped are usually the ones that would have told you the most.
Your report is yours alone. The report arrives in your inbox when you finish, and what you do with it from there is your decision.
About you and your business.
A few basics to anchor the rest of the diagnostic.
Your report will be sent here.
What the business keeps.
In rough terms, what's left over at the end of a typical year as a share of what came in?
Yes, that sounds right
Closer to higher than that
Closer to lower than that
Where that money goes.
For the money the business keeps, which of the following are meaningful uses? Check all that apply.
Owner's draw or distributions
Profit-sharing or team bonuses
Reinvestment into the business
Building up an operating reserve
Paying down debt
Something else
Marketing investment.
Roughly what share of revenue has gone to marketing over the past two years?
Yes, that sounds right
Closer to higher than that
Closer to lower than that
Your relationship to the business.
Sole founder / owner
Co-founder with others
Bought the business
Inherited or took it over from family
Hired as CEO
Something else
The growth you're pursuing.
Before the diagnostic reads your behavior, we need to understand the growth you're actually working toward. Four short questions.
5–10% per year
10–20% per year
20–40% per year
40–75% per year
75% or more per year
I think about this in different terms than annual growth percentage
I'm still exploring; no specific target yet
Over what timeframe?
12–18 months
18–36 months
36–60 months
60 months or more
Growth and profitability.
There's a real tension between funding growth and keeping what the business generates. Which of these best describes how you'd handle that tension during the growth phase ahead?
Accept a year or two where the business keeps less of what it brings in, to fund growth investments that create a materially larger business by the end of the plan
Protect what the business currently keeps, and accept slower growth that stays within what the business can fund without squeezing that
Accept some reduction in what the business keeps over the short term, but only up to a specific limit — beyond that limit, growth investments get cut regardless of the long-term thesis
Design growth so what the business keeps never goes down, even if growth takes longer or ends up smaller than it otherwise could
How growth plays out.
Which best describes how you want growth to happen over the plan window?
Steady annual growth at a sustainable rate, even if the total result is modest
Variable growth that may underperform expectation in some years but produces a bigger total result over the full window
Specific moves and investments now that build capability in the near term, with the results showing up in later years
Growth concentrated around specific defined events (acquisition, product launch, geographic expansion, major hire) rather than spread evenly across the window
The initiatives you're considering.
Which of the following growth initiatives are you seriously considering as part of the plan ahead? Check all that apply.
Expand sales team — add seller headcount or restructure the sales function
Launch a new product or service line
Enter a new geographic market or vertical
Pursue a strategic acquisition
Invest substantially in brand and category positioning
Something else
What you're planning to commit.
Growth asks for money, time and attention. Four questions about what you're planning to put in.
Yes, that sounds right
Closer to higher than that
Closer to lower than that
Under 3 months
3–6 months
6–12 months
More than 12 months
No fixed point. I'd know it when I saw it.
Under 1
1–3
3–6
6–10
More than 10
One leader owns it, and others have specific roles.
One or two leaders, alongside their regular jobs.
Mostly an outside partner, with the team kept informed.
Mostly me.
About you.
Twenty short statements. For each, mark whether you mostly disagree, completely disagree, mostly agree, or completely agree. There's no neutral middle — pick the direction that fits best, even if the fit isn't perfect.
Answer as honestly as you can. The diagnostic can't help you if it reads a version of you that isn't actually there.
The last section.
Red Leader's final section is a set of scenarios and reflection prompts tied specifically to the growth plan you described. It's where the diagnostic does its deepest work.
Last week.
Start with something concrete. Walk us through last week. Not a typical week, the one that just happened. Your calendar will help, but it won't show everything. Include the time that never made it onto it: the calls you took, the problems that found you, the email at night.
Specific beats complete. “Tuesday 9–11, pricing meeting with ops and finance” tells us more than “meetings most of the day.”
Weekend, early mornings, travel. Optional.
Under 40
40–50
50–60
60–70
More than 70
Last week and the growth plan.
Your week, as you described it
A real share of last week went to the growth plan.
Some of it did, fit in around everything else.
Not much. Last week wasn't typical.
Not much, and that's about normal right now.
Not much from me directly. Other people are carrying the plan, by design.
It's hard to separate. Running the business well is what drives the growth.
Ready to submit.
When you're ready, submit your responses.
Thank you.
Your responses have been received.
Your report will arrive within 48 hours. You'll have the choice at that point about whether to share it with your practitioner.