Some leaders build great companies.
The best ones know where they're going.
The Guardrailing Leadership Cohort is a 12-month program designed for 15 visionary leaders committed to building with clarity, alignment, and purpose. Through the Guardrailing Framework, you'll define your Destination and align your decisions, priorities, and actions around achieving it.
The Real Challenge Isn't Growth.
It's Direction.
Most leaders don't struggle because they lack ambition or knowledge. They struggle because the decisions they're making today aren't creating the business they want tomorrow.
Without a clear Destination, every choice feels high stakes. A defined Destination creates clarity, making it easier to evaluate opportunities, navigate uncertainty, and stay focused on what matters most.
Building without a defined Destination means shifting goals to fit whatever you've built, instead of the opposite. The goalposts move — and you don't notice until it's expensive.
Boards, investors, and clients notice when leadership lacks conviction. A clear Destination, and a framework for pursuing it, change every business conversation you'll ever have.
A clear, measurable model of the future you are intentionally creating for your business.
The principles, frameworks, and processes that guide decisions on the path to your Destination.
Goals help you make progress. A Destination ensures that progress is building the business you actually want.
A Three-Dimensional Transformation —
for your business, your leadership, and your life.
These goals aren't separate. They're connected outcomes. The Guardrailing Leadership Cohort helps leaders align decisions, actions, and priorities so success in one area supports the others.
Business Clarity: Create the Destination that drives every decision
You leave with a specific, financial, time-bound Destination — and a Guardrailing framework that aligns every key business decision with your goals.
- A written Destination Statement with the financial math
- Your personalized Good Decision Framework
- A 24-month Guardrailing business roadmap
- Capital strategy and investor relationship clarity
Leadership Wisdom: Navigate challenges with clarity and confidence
Gain the emotional intelligence to work confidently and more effectively with boards, investors, clients, and teams.
- Guardrailing Leadership Profile™ and Values Assessment
- Board and investor communication mastery
- Hiring, team building, and culture frameworks
- Conflict as a leadership tool — not a threat
Personal Sustainability: Lead with abundance, not sacrifice
Reaching your Destination isn't enough. You should arrive with energy, perspective, and relationships intact. This section helps you build personal guardrails for clear thinking, judgment, and long-term effectiveness.
- Personal energy audit and development plan
- Mindfulness and stress-management tools
- Clarifying your identity beyond the company
- Non-negotiable personal practices that keep you grounded and effective
Mindfulness practices can help leaders improve focus, manage stress, and make better decisions under pressure.
One year. Three in-person intensives.
Twelve months of direct coaching.
Intensive Events (In-Person)
Two intensives at SupplySide Global and Expo West, plus a 2-day graduation retreat in September. All three are required for every Cohort member.
Group Sessions (Monthly · Virtual)
Monthly 90-minute sessions with pre-work, peer spotlights, and application of the month's theme to your business.
Private Coaching Hours (1:1 · Monthly)
Spend an hour each month with Michael — direct, confidential, and focused on your business, and your growth.
Accountability Pods (Peer-Led)
Groups of three peers meet monthly for structured accountability — separate from group sessions and as honest as you allow.
Assessment Tools (Pre & Post)
The Guardrailing Leadership Profile™ is administered twice — before October and after August — to document measurable growth across the year.
Guardrailing Plan (September Graduation)
You'll create a complete written Destination Plan — business, leadership, personal — to present at graduation and guide you forward.
Three gatherings. Three turning points.
The journey begins here. You'll learn the Guardrailing framework, build trust with your cohort, and design your Destination. 1.5 days. Co-located with SupplySide Global.
A strategic checkpoint for commercial strategy, team structure, and reflection. What's working? What isn't? What must change to stay aligned with your Destination? 1 full day. Co-located with Expo West.
A two-day retreat in a destination setting. Each Cohort member presents their Guardrailing Plan, receives peer feedback, and closes the year with commitments that carry forward. 2 full days.
Four quarters. Each transforms how you lead and build.
Where are you going — and why? Define your Destination with precision. Build your Good Decision Framework. Align today's choices with tomorrow's goals.
How will you get there? Map your business roadmap, capital strategy, commercial design, and team — to your Destination.
Who do you need to become? Develop the self-awareness, communication skills, and resilience required to lead through complexity and change.
How does it all come together? Bring everything together into a written Guardrailing Plan that guides execution beyond the Cohort.
About Your Facilitator
"I spent years building by instinct until eventually I created a framework. The Guardrailing Leadership Cohort is that framework — made explicit, transferable, and yours."
Michael Bush is a business leader, advisor, and former CEO who has spent his career helping companies grow and create long-term value. He led Ganeden from a startup into a global probiotic ingredient company with more than 1,000 products in 65 countries before its $150 million acquisition by Kerry Group in 2017.
Over the course of eight successful business exits, Michael developed the principles that would later become the Guardrailing® framework: a practical approach to making decisions.
Today, Michael advises founders, CEOs, leadership teams, and investors through GrowthWays Partners, helping organizations navigate growth, uncertainty, and complexity with greater clarity and alignment. He is also the author of Guardrailing.
A certified meditation instructor and graduate of the Modern Elder Academy and the Hoffman Process, and a current member of the Modern Elder Academy Fellowship, Michael brings the same commitment to personal growth and self-awareness that he has applied to building successful businesses.
Is this right for you?
The Guardrailing Leadership Cohort is designed for founders, CEOs, and senior leaders who are responsible for shaping the future of their organizations. Participants are typically leading growing companies, managing significant complexity, and looking for a more intentional way to make decisions, align teams, and build toward a clear Destination.
Joining the Cohort
The Guardrailing Leadership Cohort is intentionally limited to 15 leaders. This small cohort size allows for meaningful relationships, personalized coaching, and the depth of conversation required for lasting change.
Participation requires an application and a discovery conversation with Michael. This ensures the Cohort is the right fit for you and the group, not for exclusivity.
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis until the cohort is full.
Tuition and what's included.
What's Included
- 12 monthly cohort sessions with pre-work, peer application, and guided discussion (90 minutes each)
- 12 private 1:1 coaching sessions with Michael Bush (60 minutes each)
- Three in-person intensives: SupplySide Global, Expo West, and the Graduation Retreat
- Guardrailing Leadership Profile™ administered before and after the program
- Values Assessment, Business Health Assessment, and Personal Energy Audit
- Monthly peer accountability pod
- Guest speakers on relevant topics
- Private cohort community and digital resource library
- Full-year curriculum, tools, templates, and session recordings
- Graduation Guardrailing Plan: your personalized operating system for business, leadership, and life
Everything you need to decide.
The Cohort is built for mission-driven leaders, CEOs, and senior executives who are actively building a business toward a meaningful exit or growth milestone — and who want more than business strategy. The ideal participant is a growth-mindset, lifelong learner who is ready to engage with the psychological, emotional, and relational dimensions of leadership at the same depth as the commercial ones. This is not a networking group or passive learning experience.
No. The Guardrailing framework applies to any business being built toward a defined destination. While Michael's deepest expertise is in natural products, consumer goods, and ingredient businesses, the program is designed for leaders across sectors who share the same fundamental challenge: building with clarity, leading with conviction, and arriving exactly where they intend.
Plan for approximately 4–6 hours per month, including one 90-minute group session, one 60-minute 1:1 coaching session, one 45–60-minute peer accountability pod meeting, and one to two hours of reflection and preparation. Attendance at all three in-person events (October, March, and September) is required. The preparation work is intended as reflection time, not homework.
The discovery call is a 30-minute conversation with Michael. There is no pitch and no pressure. You'll discuss your business, your Destination, and what you're hoping to accomplish over the next 12 months. You can also ask questions about the Cohort and determine whether it's the right fit. If both sides feel there's alignment, you'll receive next steps within a few days.
Participants are selected through an application and discovery call process. Michael is looking for leaders who are growth-minded, willing to engage honestly with themselves and their peers, and at a stage where the Cohort's work can be applied immediately. The cohort is intentionally curated because the quality of the peer group is as important as the curriculum itself.
Yes. The October kickoff at SupplySide Global, the March mid-year intensive at Expo West, and the September graduation retreat are required components of the Cohort experience. Please ensure you can attend all three before applying.
For many participants, yes. The Guardrailing Leadership Cohort is considered a professional development or business advisory expense. Because tax treatment varies by business structure and jurisdiction, we recommend consulting your accountant. GrowthWays Partners will provide appropriate documentation for your records.
Fifteen Seats. One Year.
One Clear Destination.
Schedule a 30-minute discovery call with Michael to explore whether the Cohort is right for you.
No pitch. No pressure. Just an honest conversation about your Destination, your business, and the next chapter you're working to create.
Schedule Your Discovery CallThe Cohort is intentionally limited to 15 leaders to ensure meaningful relationships, personalized coaching, and the depth of conversation required for lasting change.