15 Lessons in 15 Years: What We’ve Learned About Leadership, People, and Growth

By Laura Crothers, Crothers Consulting
This July marks 15 years since I took a leap of faith and started Crothers Consulting. What began as a solo venture built on passion, trust, and a drive to make small and middle market HR more strategic has grown into a thriving team of professionals who are just as committed to leadership development, culture, and strategic growth as I am. In celebration of this milestone, I’m sharing 15 lessons I’ve learned along the way. 

1. Define your values (or Why) and keep them in the forefront.  
When your values are aligned, decisions are more easily made. 15 years ago, I left a career I loved to put family first.  My kids were entering elementary school, and my father was dying. Those were the people that I wanted to get the “best of me”.   I added time to support my parents as well as the boys sports, school parties and days off to my calendar first.  They were and still are sacred.  I decided what networking events to attend and what type of clients to take on in support of accomplishing that balance. 
 
2. Maximize talent by leaning into everyone’s strengths.   
Rather than focusing on the things to fix, try to really leverage what people are good at AND love to do.  That’s been one of our secrets to success, I have amazing people who are great at what they do and the passion for their craft shines through to our clients and our team culture.   
 
3. People-first isn’t a buzzword, it’s a strategy. 
Organizations that prioritize their people always outperform the ones that don’t. Culture drives performance, and people drive culture.  I heard “Real People/Fast Answers” from a mentor/client and loved it.  Treat your team and clients in a way that shows you care and be real.
 
4. Middle managers are the key to your future. 
The leadership bench isn’t at the top; it’s in the middle. Invest here, and you create a ripple effect that transforms everything.  Markets shift. Technology evolves. But the companies I’ve seen thrive are the ones that develop their managers and constantly evolve their leadership and talent strategy. 
 
5. Coaching is not a luxury; it’s a leadership tool. 
Great leaders aren’t born; they’re continually developing. Coaching helps even the most seasoned managers grow with confidence and clarity.  This is one of the reasons we’ve been transitioning our business model to be in support of management and leadership development in ways that stick and shift behaviors and have added 15 certified coaches to our team.  I have had several coaches along the way - personal and professional  that have helped me develop and learn on my journey.
 
6. Growth requires discomfort. 
Whether it’s giving tough feedback, stepping into a new role, entering a new market or shifting culture, growth isn’t easy. But it’s usually worth it. In the early years, I used to joke that if I had $10 for every networking conversation or free advice I was giving, the business would thrive, but at that point it wasn’t.  I had started focusing on HR’s role in Mergers and Acquisitions.  After a year of pounding the pavement, someone told me – you really need to give us a deal for us to use you!  So, I decided to broaden the strategy to include all kinds of Specialty HR projects and then made my first hire in Annette Matheney to help me.  I was scared to have someone else’s income as a concern in my “lifestyle business” ... but that one hire then gave me confidence to keep growing the Crothers Community and hire a bookkeeper, many more consultants, my right and left hands (Isabelle and Lori), marketing, and coaches.  I knew from being at the WPO tables that transitioning the things that were not the best use of my time was necessary to grow and more importantly to support my values of not going back to working 80 hours a week - I sacrificed income to get time back. 
 
7. Listening is more powerful than any policy. 
We’ve helped organizations solve some of their biggest people problems simply by creating space to listen and reflect.  People want to be heard at all levels and by hearing them, we learn and grow.  I could fill a book about all I’ve learned by listening to so many stories, struggles and successes.   
 
8. Say No and question what you can Stop doing.   
I ask the team regularly, "What can YOU stop doing?  What should we stop doing?  We do things that may no longer make sense or can be automated or delegated.  With AI, I’ve challenged everyone to see if there are more efficient ways to work less manually.   NO was harder for me, I’m wired to help people, and some work doesn’t make business sense.  A focus on the numbers and trust in those around me (Isabelle) to push/question why has encouraged me to get better at the NO’s – work in progress. 
 
9. Pencils have Erasers. 
Most of us are not saving lives, and sometimes the best learning comes from making mistakes and learning from them.  For many owners, including myself, this was hard when you could fix or stop the mistake, but reviewing everything and micromanaging is a waste of time.   I started saying “I trust you” when the team came to me for decisions – that trust empowered them to think it through and be decisive.  Being nimble, we can “erase” and pivot most of the time if something doesn’t work.  This is also the beauty of fast and flexible small and mid-size business markets. 
 
10. Resilience is built, not assumed. 
Especially in times of change, strong leadership is what keeps people grounded and focused. During COVID, we knew we needed to do something to help our clients, so we offered free training.  This kept the team focused on doing something helpful which ended up opening a door for our Training Vertical to emerge. Even in the slow days, I did not let anyone on the core team go, I knew that we would learn resilience together and come out stronger. 
 
11. Moments create lasting impact.   
Culture doesn't live in posters; it lives in behavior. It’s often the side conversation, the kind check-in, or the honest coaching session that leaves a lifelong impression.  Your values only matter if they’re practiced every day, at every level of the organization.  We’ve created a fun culture – we celebrate annually and even brainstorm with flipcharts in the pool when we find ourselves stressed .... This ignites different parts of our brains, helps us get unstuck and is honestly just plain fun. We also like to surprise and delight both our clients and our team – it’s one of our core values.  Those are the moments people still talk about.
 
12. HR must be both strategic and compassionate. 
You can’t design strong structures without understanding the human experience behind them. We focus on business needs, cultural and HR alignment, and showing leaders that treating people with dignity and respect is good business and strategic no matter how they feel about the employee or client who wronged them. Every team, leader, and company have unique needs, that’s why we tailor everything we do. Every training exercise, every coaching engagement and every specialty HR project like designing a succession plan, an incentive plan or a new org structure is customized.  Yes, there is theory behind things, but most of our work is also “art” from the years of experience we bring in blending HR and business. 
 
13. Feedback should be frequent, kind and clear. 
One of the most important things a leader can do is tell someone how they’re doing and how they can grow. I do believe feedback is a gift and it’s one that many are uncomfortable giving.  I learned that we all need to model this at every level and at the same time realize just because we gave the gift, doesn’t mean the recipient will embrace it – they get to decide what to do with the gift, and we need to decide what the accountability will be. 
 
14. Work hard, play hard.   
Running a business is hard work, but it can be on your terms if you define the boundaries.  I know most of you have probably received a late-night email from me, when I chose to do some work, because I’ve made time to do the things I want with family and friends.   I was away from the office for 6 weeks in the first half of 2025 playing and my team benefits by running the ship (back to pencils have erasers). 
 
15. Surround yourself with people who believe in your vision, trust one another, and challenge you to grow. 
Trust is the foundation of every strong team. When its present, people speak up, innovate, and collaborate. Without it, even the most talented teams fall flat. When you can be vulnerable with one another, magic will be unleashed in your business and life. This team, my family & friends, our clients, and our partners have pushed me to be better every day. Friday walks with Anna, trusted groups like BRAG and WPO, friends that call me out on my “bs” and help me acknowledge I’ve created something – it's not just luck.  I’m deeply grateful for them and for every supportive and tough conversation.   

Fifteen years later, we’re still growing, evolving, and learning. And if there's one thing, we’re sure of, it’s that the work we do today shapes the leaders of tomorrow. 

To every client who’s trusted us, every employee who’s joined our mission, and every leader we’ve had the privilege of guiding, thank you! This milestone belongs to all of us. Here’s to the next 15!