Max Q
Apply the practices that separate the best from the restA masterclass for CEOs & Senior Teams
Winter 2021 cohorts are forming now!
Even successful leaders are struggling
The signs are everywhere.
Leaders applying conventional strategies while others move to compete with 40% less operating expense.
Cloud. Digital Transformation. Artificial Intelligence. Remote Architecture.
COVID-19 has amplified these competitive opportunities, creating an entirely new playing field.
Markets are changing faster than most organizations can adapt.
The quantity and speed of change a CEO’s biggest strategic concern.
Are our plans bold enough? Are my leaders skilled enough? Am I?
Now is the time to drop any illusions.
Either you are exploiting new strategic opportunities, or you are not.
Either you are installing more powerful ways of leading, or you are not.
Either you are developing the skills to fulfill your intentions, or you are not.
Play offense is a choice – your choice.
You don’t have to play from behind.
You can be the disruptor.
You can lead.
Will You?
Without a roadmap, developing the skills required to act boldly in uncertainty will be frustrating, costly, and full of false starts.
Rising Above Requires Raising Your Standards

Module 4 | Outperform
Results rise as your skillfulness does.
Module 3 | Outmaneuver
Quality decisions require trustable execution.
Module 2 | Outthink
Success is tied to your ability to make great decisions.
Module 1 | Escape
Excellence requires upgrading your beliefs and habits.
Rising Above Requires Raising Your Standards
Module 1 | Escape
Excellence requires upgrading your beliefs and habits.
Module 2 | Outthink
Success is tied to your ability to make great decisions.
Module 3 | Outmaneuver
Quality decisions require trustable execution.
Module 4 | Outperform
Results rise as your skillfulness does.

Nothing Will Change Until You Do
Learn More

Current Approaches Fall Short
Learn More

Skillfulness is an Iterative Process
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Are You
Really Ready?
Learn More
Not just a guy with a theory
Scott is a four-time business leader and CEO whose teams have created nearly $1B in organic shareholder value. He’s helped CEOs across industries create breakthrough performances where others had failed.
This masterclass is an apprenticeship with someone who lives in the trenches and is gifted guiding implementation and change.

Employee NPS +36 pts.
Customer NPS +39 pts.
EBITDA($) increased 50%
EBITDA(%) increased 54%
~$500M in Organic Value Creation
Industry Recognitions:
- Most Improved Vendor Award
- Most Trusted Vendor Award
- Best in Class Award
What Leaders are Saying
The twelve month Masterclass
When I ask business leaders what they need help with, these are the words I hear:
Strategy. Direction. Guidance. Feedback. Support. Community.
Do those words resonate with you?
Max Q is a personalized, high-touch 12-month masterclass is designed specifically for busy executives. It includes the following support:
- Launch Calls to clarify your ambitions, breakthrough project, and competing commitments for the year
- Monthly Virtual Learning Modules to sequence new learning and apply practical principles in real-time with ambitious colleagues, so you depart ready to implement “the new”
- Bi-Weekly Virtual “Office Hours” to learn from others’ ideas, questions, and obstacles. Sessions will be recorded for replay at your convenience
- Bi-weekly Partner Accountability to provide support and challenge so you follow through. These check-ins also build your skill with more sophisticated accountability practices
- Peer-to-Peer Learning accelerates your progress and fuels follow through as you make sense together and put the principles in motion in unique ways. The shared experience will create bonds that lasts a lifetime.
The minimum monthly time commitment will be approximately three hours, but each month also includes an optional three hours of coaching support for implementing the principles (e.g., “Office Hour” sessions).
The Max Q masterclass is available for as little as $2.5K/month for the CEO-only cohort and as little as $10K/month for intact senior teams.

Unconditional 30-day Money-Back Guarantee. I’m so confident that the content and structure will help you resolve issues undermining your business results that if you aren’t convinced after the first month of the masterclass, I will give your money back. No hard feelings.
Winter 2021 Bonuses
For CEOs or senior teams who get started in the Winter of 2021, I will also include:
- 1:1 Curriculum-Based Coaching (as needed) to personalize development and application of principles for individual executives ($12,000 value)
- Weekly Leadership Practices outlining how you apply the new skills with quality in their daily work ($5,000 value)
- Two-Day Intensives (x2) to deepen proficiency with sophisticated frameworks and tools* ($10,000 value)
Your results are a perfect reflection of your development and where you need to become more skilled.
Scott W Zimmerman
Playing Offense is a Choice
Let’s be honest.
If you don’t intentionally do something to become more skilled, can you really expect a breakthrough this year? Probably not.
You’ll still wish for better results, but if don’t raise your expectations and get the insight, guidance, accountability, and encouragement you need to stay focused amidst the day-to-day distractions, it’s probably not going to happen.
- What would it mean to you to start achieving more will less wasted effort?
- How could new ways of working increase your team’s commitment to their work and to each other?
- What would investing in their skills and success mean to them?
Where else can your team learn more powerful ways of working from a seasoned CEO? Skillfulness that is built-in service to a defined business outcome?
This approach is one-of-a-kind and the limited slots will fill quickly.
Your satisfaction is guaranteed, so let’s have a conversation to see if this is a fit.
Application Process
1. Schedule a no-obligation call with Scott to explore your ambitions and desired business breakthrough.
2. If we both agree the program is a fit, you will fill out an application and make a $1,000 deposit to reserve your seat.
3. Once your deposit is received, we will schedule a third-party assessment to measure your current development and customize your learning experience.
Seats are confirmed once: 1) a candidate has completed the application process, 2) been deemed to have a genuine commitment, and 3) submitted a deposit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Dummy Question
How is this different than CEO coaching?
Coaching supports leaders for seeing themselves and others more clearly, so they can respond more effectively to today’s crisis. Coaches are a great sounding board, providing feedback and new ideas.
This program goes beyond ideas and quick fixes. It’s a highly-potentiated ecosystem for leaders with a serious commitment to become more skilled at their craft.
- There is a sequenced development path with practical applications to produce new business outcomes
- The group structure supports you for staying focused amidst distractions
- The monthly “practice fields” give you a place to experiment with new ideas and gain real-time feedback, so you can make new connections and build skill
- And because you’re sharing the journey, your learning is accelerated through their experiences, creativity, and feedback enacting the same powerful principles in their business
If you want a streamlined learning process that enables you to be a better autonomous learner, this is the community for you.
How is this different than a CEO discussion group?
Professional networking organizations offer access to educational resources as well as intimate spaces for discussion and advice. These groups are meaningful, but their value is limited if the goal is to advance one’s ability to operate more skillfully in the world.
This program IS NOT… | This program IS… |
A peer group that gives advice or shares experiences based on a pressing issue. | A community for leaders with a specific and deliberate goal of executing with more skill. |
A confidential environment where the advice today helps, but doesn’t build future-readiness. | A space for evaluating familiar ways of thinking, feeling, and acting, and internalizing new, more effective choices. |
An unsequenced series of speakers that expose you to new ideas but don’t support you for implementing them. | A curriculum designed to build the core skills required to be higher-functioning and maximally adaptive. |
A place without accountability and structure to support your growth between meetings. | Designed for continuously applying practical strategies to your business, so you can realize strategic and operational breakthroughs. |
How is this different than other leadership training?
This program IS NOT… | This program IS… |
Taught by non-operators/practitioners | Led by a proven, skilled operator |
Acquiring more knowledge as the answer | Skillfully applying practical innovations to produce improved business outcomes. |
Enacting static, pre-fabricated methods | Training your adaptiveness (dynamic principles) |
Is this program right for me?
No one can be taught unless they are ready and willing to learn. If you are looking for a few silver bullets on a particular problem area in your leadership or business, this community is not for you. Creating consistent results requires letting go of ingrained points of view, so you can better perceive and interpret what’s really going on.
This program is for leaders who are wise enough to:
- Recognize their results are a perfect reflection of their development and where they need to become more skilled
- Realize skillfulness can only be built through repeated real-world application
- Want to fast track their skill building so they can save years of expensive trial and error
There is arguably no business investment more important or strategic than improving your ability to compete more successfully. If you are serious about training your mind to broaden your perspective and deepen your discernment, so you better fulfill your intentions, then this is the community for you.
Schedule time with Scott to explore further.
What are the requirements for applying?
Sincerity is the most important attribute because effort is required to build and deepen new skills. You must be earnest in your desire to be a more powerful leader. And you must want it more than I want it for you.
Whole-hearted participation is essential not just for you, but the rest of your cohort. Becoming a better performer necessitates living into higher standards.
The prerequisite learning panel above can assist in determining if this community is a fit for you.
What if I get too busy to participate in sessions?
Your acceptance into the program assumes you are making this program a priority in your life.
To keep pace, you are expected to make a committed effort to be part of both group learning and regular 1:1 partner sessions.
Being trustworthy, in part, means making and keeping meaningful promises to yourself and others. Elite athletes don’t let their teammates or trainers down. They train even on days they don’t want to train. They do what they committed to do even when it’s not convenient. Doing so strengthens and deepens character.
If your attendance drops below 90%, we will have a conversation about your commitment and what support you may need to stay engaged. If your participation remains low, you may be asked to withdraw. Please carefully consider whether you can make this commitment.
Is there a lot of reading to do?
I’ve led enough organizations to know that your life has extensive demands and the last thing you need is the stress that comes with keeping up with a long reading list.
A major value of this course is getting away from flavor of the month business ideas, so you sustain focus on the enduring principles that support consistent business performance. We will separate the “signal from the noise,” helping you break the unconscious pattern of looking outside yourself for answers. Instead, we will put your attention where it belongs – logging time enacting and becoming skilled with more effective choices.
Throughout the year, you will get regular updates with suggested short readings, videos and other resources you might find useful and inspiring.
Do we have accountability partners?
Absolutely. Over the course of the year, you’ll be guided through a series of inquiries and applications that will refine your understanding and uplevel the power of your choices.
Fufilling your commitments and transparently sharing your experiences with your assigned partner each month will support you for embedding more powerful cognitive, emotional, and relational skills in your work.
Partners will meet two times per month to support and challenge one another to lean in, even when its initially awkward and uncomfortable. The most committed participants will do weekly standup calls to accelerate their development.
What is the purpose of the retreats?
Retreats have a specific theme and are heavily experiential. They are a profound way to improve your mental representations and build increasingly trustable skill. Retreats stoke motivation and reinforce your ability to see and act more powerfully in the world.
The relationships you develop through this year of single-minded focus will not be surface-level. Retreats deepen the connection and support you feel with your cohort, helping you develop eleven new lifelines you can activate any time you need them not only during the year, but for your lifetime.
Application
“There’s a discernible difference between being an ordinary leader and being a leader who has done the work to be among the best. Their choices separate the best from the rest.”
-Scott W Zimmerman
If you are a leader in your field and would like to be considered as a candidate for this powerful program, begin your application below. Please do not apply unless you are prepared to step into a higher standard of performance, including fulfilling your commitment to full participation.
Applications are due by December 1st.
This application simply reserves you place in line. Scott will schedule time with you to explore more of your background and ambitions as a leader and for your company.
The world needs a different kind of leader
The Elite Leadership Project aspires to build a lineage of ethical leaders capable of meeting the unique challenges of our time.
Max Q is the foundational inquiry in the Elite Leadership Fellowship. It’s for leaders deliberately pushing themselves to live into their potential.

The origins of Max Q
I was looking for the perfect name for this masterclass, but every time I used descriptive words, something got lost. I needed something that represented the spirit of the work we would be doing together.
Then, it hit me – Max Q!
The term comes from physics, where q refers to dynamic pressure. For scientists and engineers wanting to push a rocket through the atmosphere, they must build a platform that can handle the point of maximum dynamic pressure. Similarly, part of experiencing personal and business breakthroughs is transcending moments of dynamic pressure.
As your company’s most senior leader, you will not lead others to achieve more with less wasted effort without a deliberate, sustained effort to improve your own capacities.
Max Q in our community means striving to achieve the highest level of competence and execution in your leadership.
Module 1 | Escape
Transcend the busyness and beliefs that undermine your effectiveness. Consider what it would mean to:
- Neutralize the attitudes, beliefs, fears, and distractions, so you can stop sabotaging your teams best efforts
- Learn how to install new team expectations, so you can lay down the load you have been carrying for others, freeing up time to do your most valuable work
- Let go of trying to control and muscle your people, so you can lead more powerfully and effortlessly
Module 2 | Outthink
Train your mind to surface what no one else can see and to make wiser choices. Imagine what it would mean to:
- Learn what to ask, who to trust, and how to filter information, so you and your team see situations more clearly
- Leverage that clarity to generate new possibilities, so you can seize opportunities others would have missed.
- Use the routines of the best decision makers to make quick, confident decisions, so those decisions deliver the results intended.
Module 3 | Outmaneuver
Learn how help your teams achieve more with less wasted effort. Consider how business results would improve if you could:
- Learn how to use meetings to grow individual and team capability, not just to drive focus or discuss problems, so you create fewer problems than you have today.
- Use frustrations and disappointments to build trust and transparency rather than diminish it, so you begin to eliminate the back-channel conversations that undermine teamwork.
- Communicate requests in ways that enlist your team’s sincere commitment, so they begin to consistently make and keep their week-to-week promises.
Module 4 | Outperform
Discover how to get and stay better than everyone you compete against. Imagine what it would mean to your company’s future to:
- Understand how to accurately assess and select the most impactful place to improve, so you are bold where others hold back.
- Learn how to use daily work to accelerate skill acquisition, so you can develop faster than everyone else.
- Understand how to navigate the emotions and discomfort associated with the learning process, so you can consistently rise above the ordinary.
What the Extraordinary do Instead
They stop wandering! Instead, they shift their attention to principles that allow them to achieve more with less wasted effort.
Unlike the tactical choices, greater mastery requires more clarity, focus, and time accruing the necessary enduring skills.
Durable learning requires:
- Sustained inquiry to deepen understanding
- Daily practices to support new ways of being, thinking, feeling, and acting
- Sequenced instruction to scaffold skill
- Like-minded community aspiring to a higher standard
- Retreats to deepen principles and foster connection
These elements are woven into Max Q.
Building Skill is an Iterative Process

Becoming a skilled performer is an iterative process.
- Learn more powerful choices
- Observe new ways of working in action
- Experiment with applying new techniques
- Reflect on your experience with ambitious colleagues
- Apply new distinctions to deepen skill
As the performer improves, so do the performances.
Nothing Will Change Until You Do

Leaders incorrectly assume that if they go to work every day, they are getting better.
Like any other performer, leaders can only improve if they are intentionally training their performance ability.
While counterintuitive, improving performance is rarely about trying harder, but rather trying differently.
If you want to free yourself from outdated conventions and formulas, going beyond what you currently know and can do, you have found a community to develop those next-level capabilities.
Current Approaches Fall Short
Organizations invest enormous sums of money in speakers, training workshops, or employing coaches, many of whom operate from pre-packaged methods. These interventions largely fail to address the emerging needs of the modern leader.
While these choices can provide valuable short-term motivation and insight, they are too reactive, disjointed, and episodic to deliver sustained impact. New post-methodological approaches to leader development are required.
Approach
Value
Constraint
Speakers & Books
Expose leaders to novel ideas with a dose of inspiration and motivation.
Passive information intake and lack of application are insufficient for durable learning and skill building.
Workshops
Discussions and exercises can be entertaining and extend exposure to new concepts.
Familiarity creates the illusion of knowing. Knowledge is not enough by itself to build new skills.
Coaching
Support leaders for seeing themselves and others more clearly during today’s crisis, including surfacing new ways to respond.
Regress to sounding board conversations that lack a defined development path. Coaches are often missing deep business acumen and scaling expertise.
Peer Discussion Groups
Reduce leaders’ sense of isolation by providing a confidential sounding board among peers who face, or have faced, similar problems.
A group’s cognitive and emotional abilities don’t sustainably grow. Session lack the practice, feedback, and striving required to grow skill.
Prerequisites
If you are not willing and committed to going through the sometimes frustrating and challenging process required to grow new skills, you won’t benefit from this community.
This program is for leaders who are hungry to be more and do more, yet are challenged to move beyond fire fighting and being held hostage by short-term demands.
Qualified Candidates
(aka The Strivers)
Created for leaders...
- desiring greater success and meaning
- with sincere humility in search of better answers
- seeking to expose their gaps and push their limits
- longing for deeper relationships that support their sincere desires and best efforts
Not Ready
(aka The Content)
Not a fit for leaders...
- content with their current success
- believing they have all the answers
- desiring the comfort of what they already know
- comfortable in their current relationships
If you are an ambitious learner with the maturity and sincere commitment to deepen your understanding and practice, so you can operate in your business and life with more wisdom, elegance, and effortlessness, you have found the community to develop those capacities.