LEADER OF LEADERS: DAVID BARTHOLOMEUSZ
David runs the Entrepreneurial Leadership Journey which guides scaling business teams toward peace, purpose, and profit through timing, accountability, and focus. We show you how to transform from a manager of followers into a leader of leaders.
Reflecting on your tenure as the president, what do you consider to be your greatest achievement and why?
Creating three world-class events with a world-class team of tenured EO members. It's just been absolutely wonderful not just to create the outcome, but to do it with such capable people. It’s been an absolute delight to see so many of our best leaders working together to create a truly world-class experience for our emerging leaders in this region.
Dave, we know you’re not one for regrets, but is there anything you would perhaps have done differently during your presidency? If so, what and why?
I would’ve had more courage to push back on our members to pay for two events upfront at the start of the year. Although this would’ve meant we had fewer members, it would have meant that all members would’ve been fully committed. I was so inspired at all four events we’ve run since I took over as the president, and I just felt so sad for the members who haven’t come to all 4 of these events.
I still have such a clear vision in my mind of getting off the helicopter onto this tiny stone circle on the ridge overlooking Mount Everest and walking down the narrow path to the highest monastery on the planet. It’s just something you cannot do without the caliber of members we have inside this regional chapter. It just fully reset the bar for me as to what’s possible with membership in Entrepreneur’s Organization.
You took over the presidency right out of Covid and were the first ever President to run 3 in-person retreats in your term. From this experience, are there any specific challenges or obstacles that you faced during your presidency that you believe the incoming president should be prepared to address?
It was scary when I took over, I’m not gonna lie. But I also realized that I had achieved amazing things with teams who were so much less capable, qualified, and committed than the team I had formed in our APAC Bridge board. The primary challenge for future presidents would be of creating a clear and simple operational cadence so that the chapter can run without us, and that we could focus on leveraging our local hosts against that simple format to create truly once-in-a-lifetime experiences that can only be created through the influence and leadership of our world-class membership.
Can you share a memorable moment where you saw the impact of EO APAC Bridge on a forum or individual?
Until the day I die, I will not forget sitting inside a cave deep underground with a ceiling sparkling with jewels. I was there with ten other members, many of whom I’d met for the first time just the day before. We did an exercise called the “Night of the Living Dead” which is one of the most personal and vulnerable experiences a human being can undertake in any area of life. At the end of the session, it was like we were long-lost family members reunited after years in the wilderness. The connections made in that cave are deeper than the connections I have with many people I’ve known since birth. It’s staggering to me how when we bring together members with extensive experience and deep commitment, we can create a depth of sharing that is at another level again to even what we experience in our local forums.
As the outgoing President, what legacy or lasting impact do you hope to leave behind for EO APAC Bridge and its future members?
I’m hoping not to leave any legacy at all. I mean that with all that I am. This chapter is young and full of energy and ideas. I’m not going to be the one who will constrain what’s possible for the chapter in future years by constraining any of those ideas. The incoming board are in a unique position where they have a solid foundation to work from and immense freedom to craft this chapter to be a truly world-class repository of vulnerability and wisdom. To enhance the resources that each individual member brings, by connecting us in ways that one simple human like myself never could. I’m so excited to see how Trixie’s board will take this foundation to make it their own in the year ahead. There’s no limit to the depth of sharing we can access; or the heights of the once-in-a-lifetime experiences we can have right now. I’m inspired to see how the incoming team makes a whole new level of experience available for all of us.
I’m sure you’ve grown close to your Board over the last year of serving together — any achievements to highlight, and anything you’d like to say to them?
This year’s board has shown me the EO core values in action. I feel so grateful for each of them modeling these values to me so powerfully, so many times across the year. Having been a member for so many years, I think I have forgotten that at its core this organization is a vehicle for entrepreneurial exploration of the aspects of humanity deep inside us that are most precious. By opening myself to the diverse ideas and skills of the board this year, I’ve been able to identify deep inside of myself so many hidden gems, wisdom, and genius that I’ve kept hidden for so long. It’s like the board members have revealed these hidden qualities in me and revitalized my spirit.
What personal growth or lessons did you derive from your experience as President?
The reason why I said yes to the presidency was not actually to serve, but to challenge myself to show up more as a leader of leaders and less as a manager of followers. I’ve been able to do that at a whole new level this year because both my board and the members have stepped into their leadership so many times over the past 12 months. The biggest area of growth for me has been in identifying much more quickly situations in which someone else is the expert and having more wisdom than I had in the past to shut my mouth and let them speak so we could make the chapter a better experience for everyone. By learning how to be a better listener this year, I’ve not only found a way to be more effective but also much more importantly I’ve become far more peaceful and grounded not just in the role but in any area in my life.
How do you envision your new role as outgoing President within the organization, and what contributions do you plan to make in that capacity?
Alongside my presidency this year, I was working with a small team around the world to build out a better support foundation for bridge chapters and leaders. So naturally I was thrilled to be asked to step up my leadership at another level at that time in the year ahead. This means that next year, I will be Trixie’s direct support person. Similar to an area director for a chapter president as well as supporting other bridge presidents to grow their chapters in the year ahead. Having been a member of Bridge Chapters for many years, this is very close to my heart. I know how many members want to take their growth and leadership to another level and this bridge chapter has allowed me to do this in a way that I never got in my local chapter. I’m so excited to support not just our chapter but other many chapters as they make this experience available across the world.
