Our team believes leadership isn’t limited to titles – it’s about how you show up, contribute, and take ownership of your growth. That belief sparked the creation of Boundless, our online personal leadership program designed to help individuals lead from wherever they are.

We sat down with Sue Tardi, who sparked the original idea for Boundless, and Amanda Leuschen, the creative mind behind the course content. Together, they shaped a program grounded in lived experience, real conversations, and a shared commitment to helping people take the reins of their own development.

Here’s what they had to say.

What inspired the creation of Boundless Personal Leadership?

Sue:
Boundless was inspired by a mix of parenting, mentoring, and lived experience. As a parent of young adults, I often found myself reinforcing values like showing up early, doing more than what’s asked, treating people with respect, and owning your impact. These were ideas I hoped would shape not just their careers but how they show up in the world. As time went on, I also realized that these simple ideas came up again and again in mentoring conversations I was having. That’s where the seed for Boundless was planted – I wanted to create something that could help individuals take ownership of their own growth, regardless of their title.

Why did you feel there was a gap in the learning and development space that Boundless could fill?

Amanda:
I don’t think we talk enough about the role individuals play in their own work journey – whether it’s development, growth, or fulfillment. It can quickly shift to people feeling like their professional fate is determined by outside forces; rules or expectations they don’t understand, odds that are stacked against them, ceilings they don’t know how to break through, etc. Some of that certainly may be true at times and yet – it’s our lives, our work, our experience. We can’t simply put our heads down, hope we’re working hard enough, that people will notice, and opportunities will find us. We must be more aware, invested, and intentional.

How do you see Boundless helping individuals own their success at work?

Sue:
Boundless is designed to help people get really clear about how they show up in the workplace, how they communicate, how they take initiative, how they build trust, and how they hold themselves accountable. We talk a lot about “company culture,” but individual behaviour is what really shapes that culture. Boundless gives learners the tools and perspective to take the reins of their own experience at work, to stop waiting for someone else to define their success and instead start leading from wherever they are.

Why do you think the shift from “leading others” to “leading yourself” is such an essential step in today’s workplaces?

Amanda:
I don’t think there’s a shift away from leading others, but before you can do that with intention you need to be clear on how you’re leading yourself. Anyone can be a role model, but that doesn’t mean what you’re modeling is positive, valued, or respected. It’s the classic oxygen mask analogy – you have to take care of yourself before you can support others. At least in a way that’s meaningful and sustainable. Not everyone has aspirations to be a Leader by title, but so many are and can be leaders through their behaviours and the example they set. Sometimes those people have a stronger influence on their peers and colleagues than those with the title.

In what ways can learning personal leadership benefit teams and organizations overall?

Sue:
When individuals embrace personal leadership, the whole organization feels it. People communicate more effectively, they take ownership of problems instead of passing them along, and they build stronger, more respectful relationships. Teams become more resilient, and leaders have more capacity because their team members are thinking and acting with greater intention. It’s the ripple effect – one person stepping up creates momentum that can shift an entire team’s dynamic.

What advice would you give someone just starting their personal leadership journey?

Amanda:
Be courageous and consistent.

Work hard and intentionally at developing self-awareness. Nothing stalls you faster than an inability to manage your emotions and objectively evaluate your skills and behaviours.

Ask for feedback and advice; listen and figure out what you can take from it—even when it’s delivered badly. This isn’t easy, but it’s powerful. ‘What not to do’ is a lesson equally as valuable as ‘What to do’.

Find a mentor; someone who understands what you’re going through and respects you enough to tell you the hard truth when necessary. We learn more from those difficult-to-hear conversations than we do from high-fives and congratulations. Be this person for someone else when you’re able.

What does success look like for you when it comes to Boundless?

Sue:
Success, to me, is hearing that someone took what they learned in Boundless and used it to advocate for themselves, improve a team relationship, or approach a tough conversation with more courage and care.

Important to me is that Boundless is accessible to as many people as possible. For that reason, we have priced it affordably. Whether someone wants to take it as an individual, an organization wants to offer it as one-time learning for their teams, or add it to their onboarding curriculum and benefit from volume pricing, it’s accessible. The Boundless content will continue to evolve, and we look forward to hearing from learners what was most valuable to them.

What’s something you hope every participant walks away with after completing Boundless?

Amanda:
I hope people come away feeling empowered, feeling ownership of their work experience, contributions, and evolution. You might have learned about something early in your career, and hopefully it helped you, but learning it again later can be even more impactful. You see it through a different lens, within the context of your experience, and with potential for the future. Personal leadership is life-long learning and doing. It’s empowering to commit to being in control of your changes and choices because sometimes in our careers it can feel like those things are out of our control. And they might be – but what we do next is always up to us. There’s no better investment than the one in yourself.

Sue:
I hope they walk away with confidence and clarity. Confidence in their own ability to lead themselves, and clarity about the kind of impact they want to have at work. I also hope they gain a renewed sense of ownership, and that they don’t have to wait for permission to grow, contribute, or lead.

If you’re looking for a practical, empowering way to invest in your team’s growth, explore what Boundless Personal Leadership has to offer.