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Growing into a Leadership Role: A CEO's Playbook

Discover how to replace a culture of blame with trust and accountability. Learn to practice servant leadership to empower your team and drive exceptional results.

Created byAdam Mendlerworkspace_premiumBest Instructor
BeginnerUpdated Jan 19, 2026

What You'll Learn

  • check_circleBuild a high-performance team culture.
  • check_circleEliminate blame to encourage risk-taking.
  • check_circleAdopt servant leadership to empower teams.
  • check_circleLead effectively without formal authority.
  • check_circleHire for cultural fit to avoid toxicity.
  • check_circleDrive results through clarity and vision.

About This Course

In this insightful course Adam Mendler interviews Janet Garcia, the CEO of PSI Services and President of ETS. Drawing from her dynamic career journey—which began in law before pivoting to executive leadership in the education technology sector—Garcia shares a masterclass on how to cultivate environments where teams truly thrive. She argues that the antithesis of high performance is a blame culture, and she offers practical strategies for leaders to move beyond fear-based management toward a model of trust, clarity, and empowerment.

The conversation delves deep into the evolution of Garcia's leadership style, specifically focusing on the concept of servant leadership. Learners will discover why the most effective leaders view themselves as working for their teams, rather than the other way around. Garcia explains how shifting your mindset to focus on removing obstacles for others can transform organizational output. She also discusses the critical importance of clarity in goal setting and the necessity of creating a safe space where calculated risks are encouraged rather than punished.

Throughout this course, participants will explore the following key learning outcomes:

  • Strategic Career Pivoting: Learn how to recognize when a professional path no longer aligns with your passion and how to transition intentionally into roles that leverage your natural strengths.
  • The Servant Leadership Model: Understand the distinction between management and true leadership, focusing on how to serve your team to maximize their potential.
  • Eliminating Blame Culture: Discover methods to replace a culture of finger-pointing with one of high performance, characterized by support, accountability, and psychological safety.
  • Effective Hiring Practices: Gain insights into why you should never hire in haste, the importance of cultural fit, and why a leader must be genuinely excited about every new team member.
  • Global Leadership Competencies: Explore the keys to managing international teams, including the need for flexibility, cultural empathy, and leading across time zones.

Whether you are an individual contributor learning to lead without authority or a seasoned executive managing a global workforce, this course provides actionable advice on building a resilient and motivated organization. By adopting the principles shared by Janet Garcia, you will be better equipped to foster a culture of excellence that drives results while maintaining authenticity and humility.

Course Content

2 activities • 1 videos • duration: 47m

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The Blame Culture Trap: Build High Performance Instead1 videos • 47 min
  • videocamThe Blame Culture Trap: Build High Performance Instead
    Duration 47:06
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Final Assessment1 quiz

Your Instructors

Adam Mendler

Motivational & Leadership Speaker

menu_book46 courses
star2,244 reviews

Adam Mendler is a nationally recognized authority on leadership, renowned for his unique ability to deliver perspective-shifting insights shaped by interviewing more than 500 of America’s most successful leaders. The creator and host of the top-rated business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, Adam regularly elicits insights from America's top CEOs, founders, athletes, celebrities, and political and military leaders. A keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations, Adam has written extensively on business and leadership, having authored more than 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc., and HuffPost. A Los Angeles native and lifelong Angels fan, Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA, serves on the board of UCLA’s Master of Applied Statistics & Data Science program, is an emeritus member of USC’s Board of Governors, and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders.

Janet Garcia

CEO of PSI Services and President of ETS

Janet Garcia is a prominent business leader in the global assessment, licensure, and credentialing sector, currently holding leadership roles at both PSI Services and ETS. Key Roles and Responsibilities: President of ETS (Appointed Nov 2025): In this role, she oversees the integration and expansion of operations across the ETS enterprise. CEO of PSI Services: She continues to lead PSI Services LLC, which she has managed since 2017 and which was acquired by ETS in January 2024. Focus Areas: Her work emphasizes advancing assessments through AI, secure credentialing, and driving growth in education and learning technology markets. Background and Recognition: She was named one of the Top 20 EdTech CEOs of 2025 by Technology Innovators magazine. She has a strong background in business strategy, e-learning, and consulting. She is based in Washington, D.C.. Under her leadership, PSI and ETS deliver over 50 million assessments annually across more than 200 countries and territories.

Credit Information

Is this course eligible for my CPD requirements as a Canadian CPA?

Provincial regulators of CPAs in Canada do not require that independent providers of CPD be approved to offer courses. Instead, individual CPAs are responsible for assessing whether a CPD activity meets their requirements, and may take activities from any source provided those requirements are met.

Every course offered on LearnFormula is delivered by a qualified subject matter expert or learning organization, and advances learning objectives that are relevant to the responsibilities or professional competencies of Canadian CPAs. All activities on LearnFormula are quantifiable in terms of hours, and are also verifiable, in that users receive documented evidence of their attendance via a certificate of completion after finishing a course (and this certificate is stored by LearnFormula indefinitely). Nearly 100,000 Canadian CPAs successfully satisfy their CPD requirements via LearnFormula on an annual basis.

What Students Are Saying

4.8 out of 5
Student's Choice
12 reviews
  • PK
    Patrick K.
    starstarstarstarstar

    Very informative conversation.

Frequently Asked Questions

We are a registered provider with 300+ associations and regulatory bodies worldwide. We operate across 27 global markets including Canada, the US, Australia, and the UK. Every course page clearly displays its specific accreditations. Upon completion, you receive a professional certificate that can be validated online. Our certificates include all necessary accreditation details, credit hours, and completion dates, and are formatted specifically to meet the submission requirements of most global regulatory bodies.

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