I help exceptional individuals and teams unlock their performance potential.
What’s wrong with leadership today?
Form over Substance
A growing issue in leadership is the dominance of form over substance—where style, confidence, and polished delivery are mistaken for competence.
Leadership development programs often reward surface-level traits, neglecting the cultivation of deep thinking, ethical clarity, and meaningful impact.
True leadership demands more than polished presence; it requires intellectual rigor focus on performance, as well as principled action.
Complexity over Simplicity
Many leaders today favor complexity—elaborate frameworks, dense language, over-engineered strategies, and jargon-laden communication—to signal intelligence and control.
Leadership development programs frequently reinforce this, overlooking the value of clarity and simplicity.
True leadership distills complexity into focused, actionable insight. Simplicity is not naïveté; it’s the outcome of deep understanding and sound judgment.
Management over Leadership
Leadership development tends to prioritize management over leadership—focusing on control, efficiency, and execution rather than vision, inspiration, and change.
Programs often train individuals to optimize systems, not challenge them.
True leaders are not only administrators of the present, but architects of the future. This requires deep questioning in order to focus on what really matters and mobilize others towards great impact.
How do we develop True Leaders?
We emphasize Substance over Form, Simplicity over Complexity, and Leadership over Management.
True leadership focuses on substance—not form. This pillar encourages leaders to ask better questions—of themselves, of their teams, and of the issues at hand. It cultivates intellectual curiosity, ethical discernment, and independent thinking.
Instead of accepting surface-level narratives or relying on style, leaders are trained to interrogate ideas, explore multiple perspectives, and make thoughtful, grounded decisions that lead to real impact.
Simplicity is a leadership superpower. In a world addicted to complexity, this pillar helps leaders see the essential and prioritize what truly matters.
Where most are trapped in complexity, clouding judgement and inhibiting performance, True Leaders cut through noise and clarify the path. Leaders learn to translate complexity into clarity. Simplicity becomes a leadership strength—an outcome of deep understanding, not shallow thinking.
Leadership without action is just aspiration. This pillar ensures that leaders do not just think—they deliver. It shifts the focus from managing process to leading performance—not just hitting targets, but inspiring change.
Leaders are equipped to act decisively, mobilize others, and navigate uncertainty with confidence. Performance is redefined as delivering value through purpose-driven action, not simply maintaining order, or optimizing processes.
Transform How You Lead
Tailored Leadership Development Programs
Keynotes
Spark new leadership thinking and begin shifting mindsets in under one-hour.
Seminars
Introduce foundational leadership concepts through engaging group sessions.
Masterclasses
Deep dive into and learn the anticomplex leadership tools, habits, and mental models.
Bootcamps
Accelerate leadership transformation through intensive, high-impact and practical experiences.
Advisory
Partner with leadership teams to embed the three pillars of anticomplex into strategy and culture.
Coaching
Provide personalized one-to-one support that builds clarity, confidence, and performance over time.
Simplicity drives Performance and determines Leadership Success
Welcome to the SPL Leadership Profile.
Leadership comes in all shapes and forms. Discover your unique profile.
15 contrasting leadership attributes. No good or bad. Just awareness and tradeoffs.
Hi, I’m Rend Stephan
I work with decision-makers around the world on complex performance and leadership topics: 100+ clients, 500+ leaders coached.
20-year top-tier consulting across 20+ countries. CEO in data analytics technology and services.
Speaker at the World Economic Forum 2023 on leadership and simplicity.
A practical leadership mindset to unlock real change - not just smart talk.
Anti-Complex
The Book
At small or large scale, most strategies fail to deliver on their intended purpose despite talented leadership, capable experts, and sophisticated approaches. Why is that? The short answer is: complexity.
With wit and wisdom, Rend offers a compelling guide to the anticomplex mindset, allowing leaders to unlearn misguided approaches and shed years of complex programming in order to take their organization to new heights.
It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.
Leadership Made Simple
Cut the noise. Weekly insights for anticomplex leaders — on Substack.
