“Never, ever, stop asking questions. Curiosity and the willingness to learn will bring a lifetime of success.” – Kelly Lockwood Primus
“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” This sentiment captures the essence of transformative leadership, where influence is measured by the ability to inspire, mentor, and drive meaningful change. True leaders elevate others, creating pathways for success and fostering environments where everyone can thrive.
Among those who exemplify this kind of leadership is Kelly Lockwood Primus, CEO of Leading NOW. Renowned for her exceptional vision and innovative approach, Kelly has redefined leadership development by integrating deep research, global perspectives, and a business-minded approach for talent management strategy. Her dedication to empowering others and her ability to navigate complex challenges make her a standout figure in influential women leaders. Through her leadership and the groundbreaking research at Leading NOW, Kelly has driven a change in the mindsets of corporate leaders to recognize the value of building inclusive cultures and embracing the development of underrepresented talent.
Career Journey
Kelly has decades of experience in consumer products, primarily working with entrepreneurial CEOs in agile environments. These roles offered her early exposure to senior leadership and a wide range of responsibilities, allowing for rapid career growth. Her promotions were often based on contributions that successfully impacted the business’ performance.
Throughout her career, Kelly’s passion for supporting women leaders led to many opportunities for mentoring. A pivotal moment was when she worked for a privately-held company in North Carolina as a member of its executive team, supporting its goal of a public offering.
During this time, she mentored several women in Wake Forest’s MBA program, instilling in them the value and knowledge of learning their business, how it functions as a whole, and what it takes for women to be successful leaders in the corporate world. This was the impetus that led her to shift her own career focus from corporate roles to women’s leadership development. She left the corporate world and joined a women’s leadership organization in Dallas, as a member of its executive team.
When returning to her roots in the northeast, Kelly ultimately became CEO of Leading Women, bringing her business experience and knowledge to elevate the stature of its leadership programming. Growing the organization’s impact for its clients’ women leaders, Kelly focused on expanding the tools, workshops, and knowledge offered to the women participants to support their development and to reach their career goals.
Her extensive business experience, including company mergers & acquisitions and public offerings, equipped her with the insights needed to address the challenges leaders face today.
Evolution & Purpose
Leading NOW was founded with a mission to build inclusive organizational cultures through DEI initiatives and the advancement of leadership opportunities for underrepresented groups, including women, in the business world. Leading NOW’s team, like Kelly, have strong business backgrounds, giving them a unique perspective to deeply understand their clients’ needs as they, too, have experienced and solved in their own careers the same problems businesses need to address globally.
The organization’s mission became more effective with its acquisition of Leading Women, a globally recognized organization focused on women’s leadership development. This strategic move bolstered Leading NOW’s commitment to creating gender parity in leadership roles. Foundational to the organization’s programming is its definition of leadership, “Leadership is using the greatness in you to achieve and sustain extraordinary outcomes by engaging the greatness in others.” This remains their guiding principle. This 21st Century Definition of Leadership emphasizes inclusive leadership practices which continue to guide Leading NOW’s work today.
Groundbreaking Research
Leading NOW’s success is driven by its extensive research and proprietary methodologies. Through its Gender Dynamics Institute’s research studies, the organization has identified key elements that differentiate effective leaders. Its intellectual property around gender dynamics and leadership competencies include research on the 9 Critical Differentiators™ and The Missing 33%®, which are key factors in solving the career success equation and closing the leadership gender gap.
In addition, Leading NOW’s research uncovered the “Cultural Dynamics in the Workplace: 5 Key Factors in Driving Successful DEI Initiatives,” which provide a framework for understanding the underlying cultural forces that impact leadership and inclusion. The culmination of this research directly influences outcomes, mindsets, and behaviors of leaders within organizations, forming the intellectual backbone of Leading NOW’s approach to DEI consulting and programming.
Leadership Philosophy
Kelly holds a leadership philosophy rooted in cultivating potential and fostering a growth mindset to ensure a culture of continuous learning. At Leading NOW, that growth mindset is reflected and encouraged in its own global team of leaders and business consultants.
She encourages talent to explore new ideas and skills, creating an environment where learning is not just encouraged but expected. Kelly actively fosters an atmosphere where questions are asked, ideas are explored, and no one remains stagnant in their role. For her, effective leadership is about ensuring that learning never stops and that people are always evolving in their careers. Her approach is not about setting limits on people’s potential but rather encouraging exploration and growth. She believes in providing opportunities for individuals to try new things, take on challenges, and push beyond their comfort zones.
When advising clients, she stresses the importance of intentionality when creating succession plans for their organization, with specific and focused development opportunities for women in mind. Research shows that there are two critical times in women’s careers when they do not get the professional development they need in order to move from manager to director, and then from director to vice president and above. As the head of a leadership development and culture consultancy, Kelly emphasizes to clients the need to intentionally identify high potential women in their talent pipeline when doing succession planning in order to build a leadership pipeline with more women in it.
Empowering Women
At Leading NOW, Kelly, along with the entire organization, is dedicated to supporting women both within the company and in their client partnerships. She understands from her own personal experiences that the traditional career advice offered for women, too often focuses on personal greatness and engaging others versus what she knows to be the most important skills women need to demonstrate to be seen as business leaders.
Kelly emphasizes that Leading NOW’s world-class programs and skill-building workshops are designed to give women the opportunity to achieve the heights of their careers—if they choose to take it. She believes that while she can inspire and provide tools for success, each woman must decide for herself what she wants to achieve and must commit to that path.
What sets Kelly and Leading NOW apart from others?
Kelly says one of the key differentiators setting Leading NOW apart from others, is the value of having experienced business people on their team, each of whom bring their own unique perspectives to the company’s programming. This is something not found at other leadership organizations and something Kelly proudly magnifies to potential clients and business partners. She believes the results speak for themselves.
The breadth and depth of Leading NOW’s unique educational and leadership development offerings are customized for every client partner. And their women’s leadership development programs and facilitators consistently rank above average or excellent by participants, with 96% of participants indicating they would highly recommend their workshops.
What is most important for Leading NOW’s clients are the results achieved by the participants in their leadership programs:
Overcoming Challenges
Reflecting on her career, Kelly acknowledges that one of the biggest challenges she faced was often being the only woman in the room, especially once she reached director and vice president levels in the male-dominated consumer products industry. This was a challenging space to navigate while building her career, but Kelly’s upbringing taught her to embrace independence and confidence. Raised by a police chief father, Kelly learned to never shy away from speaking her mind, regardless of the situation or how uncomfortable it was.
Kelly recalls instances where her unique perspective as a woman proved crucial, particularly when it came to the consumer products that were marketed to women. Despite facing situations where her views differed from those of her male colleagues, she saw those moments as opportunities to share her insights and learn. Although being the only woman in leadership for a significant part of her career posed challenges, it ultimately strengthened Kelly’s resolve and contributed to her leadership style and approach today.
Innovative Strategies
Kelly has spearheaded several innovative strategies that have fueled Leading NOW’s growth. A cornerstone of their approach is conducting their own research to identify barriers to leadership success, resulting in the development of targeted solutions which address the root causes to leadership success and the mindset shifts necessary for change.
Unlike many organizations, Leading NOW creates practical programs based on their research findings, and uses a proprietary M6 Model created to address all factors within a corporate talent management initiative, working alongside clients to reach their goals.
This model includes the use of proprietary assessments to build a roadmap, providing clients with an understanding of the steps they must take to drive successful outcomes for their efforts.
Another innovation was launched in 2019, inspired by a student’s query about leadership education during a keynote presentation. Recognizing that Leading NOW’s unique workshop content was only being shared with their corporate clients’ leaders, it occurred to Kelly that this knowledge needed to be shared wider to have a greater impact for women and businesses.
A new Conference Services division was launched, focused on partnering with industry associations to offer workshops on leadership, cultural dynamics & belonging in the workplace, among others. This expansion has significantly impacted Leading NOW’s growth and successfully met the increased demand for leadership development programming at industry conferences.
Mentorship for Leadership Growth
Today, Kelly highlights the importance of mentorship in leadership development, though it wasn’t explicitly discussed as mentorship early in her career. A key example was her experience with Jerry Kahn, CEO of The Holmes Group, who encouraged her to ask critical questions in meetings, even when facing resistance. This mentorship taught her to always seek to gain a better understanding of the business.
Kelly believes mentorship should extend beyond personal growth for the protege, involving exposure to senior leaders and organizational strategy. At Leading NOW, she emphasizes mentorship that goes beyond support, encouraging mentors to involve proteges in financial reports, strategic execution, and broader business objectives. This holistic approach equips future leaders to excel in both their current roles and gain an understanding of the overall business.
Fostering Inclusivity and Collaboration
Kelly emphasizes the importance of fostering an inclusive and diverse culture within the organization. She describes Leading NOW as a “flat” organization, where there are not many hierarchical layers, which is uncommon for typical corporations. The majority of the team comprises seasoned senior business leaders who have reached significant milestones in their careers.
This unique structure promotes a culture of collaboration rather than top-down dictation. Kelly highlights that the team thrives because they embrace and value each other’s perspectives. By working together as peers and sharing ideas, they cultivate a dynamic work environment. When new research or information emerges, they ensure that it is shared and discussed openly. This collective approach encourages everyone to contribute ideas, share experiences, and consider diverse viewpoints, ultimately creating an inclusive and innovative workplace.
Balancing Ambition and Empathy
When Kelly reflects on her career today, she recognizes that leadership is not only about ambition but also about fostering empathy. She acknowledges that during her earlier years in corporate America, empathy was not prioritized. From the 1990s through the early 2010s, the focus was more on getting the job done and less on addressing the personal challenges that employees faced. It was a time when leaders were encouraged to suppress emotions, a mindset that is now shifting significantly. Kelly appreciates this change, especially as newer generations in the workforce place greater importance on empathy.
When discussing how to handle criticism and setbacks, Kelly emphasizes the importance of framing feedback in a way that fosters growth rather than pointing out failures. She advocates for a culture where making mistakes is seen as a learning opportunity rather than something to be punished. This approach encourages openness, with employees feeling safe to admit mistakes and work towards solutions. By promoting a learning mindset, Kelly helps her team navigate challenges and remain focused on success.
Kelly also highlights the importance of understanding the full lives of employees beyond the workplace. She recently came across the term “sonder,” which refers to the realization that everyone has a life as complex and vivid as one’s own. She believes that recognizing this is crucial for effective leadership. By considering employees’ personal lives and challenges, leaders can foster deeper engagement and loyalty. Without this understanding, employees may feel undervalued, leading to disengagement and quitting.
Advancing Inclusivity
Leading NOW stands out in the competitive landscape due to its specialized approach to fostering inclusive workplaces. Additionally, Leading NOW offers specialized “Women’s Leadership Development Programs” that are designed to address the specific challenges women face in corporate environments. Their evidence-based approach differentiates them from competitors, providing clients with actionable strategies to create more equitable and inclusive leadership structures.
When engaged as a leadership development partner, utilizing Leading NOW’s proprietary workshop content, clients can anticipate better business performance results through the elevated performance of their employees.
Vision for Global Impact
Kelly articulates a clear vision for both herself and the organization. While growth is certainly a priority, she emphasizes that it is only meaningful if it directly contributes to making a lasting impact. The core goal of Leading NOW is to expand its reach and share its knowledge and expertise with more women on a global scale. By partnering with industry organizations, Leading NOW aims to extend its leadership development programs to thousands of women, helping them to become better leaders and to prepare themselves for future success. Growth, in this context, is driven by the desire to empower more women to achieve their full leadership potential.
Legacy and Industry Impact
Kelly envisions her legacy as one of advocacy and mentorship. She hopes to be remembered for empowering those who worked with her, encouraging their growth and development, even if it meant guiding them to opportunities beyond her organization. Kelly recalls a past experience where she told her team that she would help them find new opportunities if her current organization couldn’t provide the growth they needed. Her goal has always been to foster an environment where continuous learning and the pursuit of new experiences are encouraged.
Regarding her impact on the industry, Kelly aims to highlight the value of inclusive leadership. She wants to be known for demonstrating that inclusivity is not a challenge but a means to enhance business performance. By promoting a collaborative and empathetic approach, she believes that organizations can thrive and achieve greater success. Kelly emphasizes that leadership involves understanding the bigger picture and fostering an environment where everyone can contribute their full selves to the success of the organization.
Advice for Aspiring Women Leaders
Kelly highlights the importance of continuous learning for aspiring women leaders. She advises setting clear career goals and seeking expertise from both internal and external sources. Emphasizing the value of ongoing education, Kelly encourages asking questions and learning from various perspectives, even beyond one’s immediate leadership. She also underscores the significance of finding mentors who can provide support and guidance. By understanding different business areas and broadening one’s perspective, women can enhance their roles and contribute to the success of others.
Kelly’s advice is clear: be intentional about your goals, stay curious, and build a network of mentors to champion your journey.
