Leadership Reflection #17: Knowing when to ask for help

One of the most challenging assignments of my career took place in Brazil.

As VP of Operations, I was tasked with consolidating twelve separate telemarketing departments across multiple campuses into a single centralized operation in Rio de Janeiro. There was just one problem: my Portuguese was roughly at a second-grade level, and I had virtually no experience in either sales or telemarketing.

The operational side of the project was difficult enough. The organization was highly decentralized, and bringing consistency to reporting, procedures, and performance metrics required months of persistence. For nearly two months, I held calls with campus leaders twice a day to review KPIs, validate reporting, and reinforce expectations.

While operational consistency was improving, sales performance was not.

That's when I learned one of the most valuable leadership lessons of my career.

Leaders are not expected to have all the answers.

They are expected to find them.

Recognizing that I was operating outside my area of expertise, I reached out to a trusted mentor from Full Sail University. He flew to Brazil and spent several days helping me understand the fundamentals of sales management, telemarketing operations, and the metrics that drive enrollment performance.

That experience reinforced two lessons that continue to shape my leadership approach today.

First, organizational change requires consistency long before it produces results. Culture is not transformed through a single meeting or announcement. It is built through repetition, accountability, and patience.

Second, asking for help is not a weakness. It is often one of the most effective leadership decisions you can make.

As I've progressed in my career, I have become more comfortable making difficult decisions. But I have never outgrown the habit of seeking advice when I encounter unfamiliar territory. When the stakes are high, I would rather ask questions, challenge my assumptions, and learn from experts than rely on confidence alone.

Some of the best decisions I've made as a leader started with a simple phone call asking for help.