Your Team Is Smart. So Why Does Everything Feel So Hard?

But somewhere between 10 and 50 employees, something broke.

Deadlines slip. Good people burn out. Everyone’s stressed, including you. The magic that made your early team hum has been replaced by meetings about meetings, miscommunication, and the constant feeling that you’re one crisis away from losing everything you’ve built.

You don’t need more processes. You need better leadership systems.

I Help Growing Companies Build What Actually Matters: Leadership Capacity

Hi, I’m Marcus Blankenship. For over 15 years, I’ve helped startup founders and small business owners transform their chaotic, stress-filled operations into resilient, high-performing teams.

Here’s what I know: The skills that got you to 10 people won’t get you to 50 – or beyond. The informal communication that worked when everyone sat at one table breaks down when you have multiple teams, remote workers, and competing priorities.

But the solution isn’t more meetings or fancier project management tools.

The solution is developing the leadership systems and people skills that turn a collection of talented individuals into a team that delivers consistently, handles pressure gracefully, and grows stronger under stress.

What Changes When We Work Together

Your Delivery Becomes Predictable

• Projects ship on time without heroic efforts
• Your team knows what’s expected and delivers it
• You stop being the bottleneck for every decision

Stress Becomes Manageable

• People address problems before they become crises
• Conflicts get resolved instead of festering
• Your team handles change and pressure without falling apart

Your People Grow Into Leaders

• Your best people stay and grow instead of leaving for “better opportunities”
• You have bench strength when key people are out or move on
• Leadership becomes distributed, not concentrated in you alone

You Get Your Life Back

• Stop working nights and weekends to keep everything together
• Take vacations without constant check-ins
• Focus on strategy instead of firefighting

How We’ll Work Together

Systems Thinking Approach: We’ll identify the root causes creating chaos in your delivery, not just treat symptoms.

Relational Leadership Development: I’ll help you and your key people develop the communication and people skills that turn groups into teams.

Practical Tools You’ll Actually Use: No theoretical frameworks. Real methods like the Satir Weather Report, decision frameworks, and feedback systems that work in your actual environment.

Sustainable Change: We build changes that stick, even when you’re under pressure.

Is This You?

• You’re a founder or owner with 10-50 employees
• Your team is talented, but delivery is inconsistent
• People are burning out (including you)
• You know you need to delegate, but don’t know how (or, it’s not working!)
• You’re tired of being the person who has to solve every problem
• You want to build something that runs without you having to hold it all together

What My Clients Say

“I require every new manager that reports to me to sign up for Marcus’s newsletter and often discuss it in staff meetings. Leadership with a capital ‘L’ is a real thing, and Marcus gets it.” – Director of Content Acquisition Engineering, Netflix

“Working with Marcus has been the best form of support I could ask for. He helps me question bad assumptions, brainstorm better solutions, and he’s taught me how to manage people without screwing up.” – Startup founder

“I became much more confident as a manager very quickly. Within a few calls with Marcus, I was already doing a better job of working with people and communicating with others.” – Startup founder

Ready to Stop Fighting Fires and Start Building Systems?

Everyone deserves a good boss. Your people want to do good work. You can build a company that delivers consistently without burning everyone out.