“If your performance is not in line with your values, then you’re less effective at a minimum, and you’re miserable at the worst. Because you’re not doing what you think you should be doing and what you know you believe in.” –Tom Connally

Tom Connally is the Founder and President of Connally Consulting, LLC, a leadership development firm that transforms managers into leaders through strategic assessment and coaching. Drawing on his extensive military leadership experience, he helps organizations build cultures of performance by aligning their mission, strategy, and organizational dynamics.

A retired Marine Corps Colonel, Tom served in numerous high-impact leadership positions during his distinguished 30-year military career. His roles included Chief of Staff at the Joint IED Defeat Organization, where he managed a 600-person staff and a $2.8B budget, and Commander of Headquarters Battalion, 3d Marine Division in Okinawa, leading over 1,000 personnel. As Deputy Director of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory’s Wargaming Division, he shaped future operations planning and provided strategic insight to USMC leadership.

Beyond his consulting practice, Tom serves as a Leadership Coach with the National Marine Corps Business Network, a nonprofit organization, where he continues his passion for developing leaders. He combines his strategic planning expertise and commitment to holistic development, from professional to personal, spiritual, and physical, to help organizations and leaders exceed their performance expectations and those of their competitors.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How Tom evolved from 30 years of Marine Corps leadership through defense contracting to founding his company, Connally Consulting.

• How a heartfelt letter to his daughter about leadership was the catalyst to finding his true calling and writing a book.

• The profound realization that his corporate roles weren’t aligned with his core mission of developing leaders, leading him to launch a consulting practice centered around helping managers become stronger leaders.

• Tom’s systematic approach to leadership development, starting with helping clients identify their core values and creating alignment between their inner beliefs and outer actions.

• The critical connection between personal values and organizational performance.

• Tom’s unique perspective on leadership coaching was shaped by commanding 22 organizations during his Marine Corps career, including insights learned from recruiting duty that became foundational to his coaching methodology.

• The evolution of Connally Consulting’s service offerings into five distinct coaching programs.

• Tom’s integration of business disciplines with his service-oriented mission, balancing pro bono work for nonprofits while building a sustainable coaching practice.

• His emphasis on written reflection and goal-setting as powerful tools for personal and professional development, demonstrated by his own practice of keeping written goals since 1989.

In this episode, we sit down with Tom Connally, Founder and President of Connally Consulting, LLC, a leadership development firm that transforms managers into leaders through strategic assessment and coaching. A retired Marine Corps Colonel with a distinguished 30-year military career, including roles as Chief of Staff at the Joint IED Defeat Organization managing a $2.8B budget and Commander of Headquarters Battalion, 3d Marine Division, Tom shares how a heartfelt leadership letter to his daughter evolved into both a book and finding his true calling. We explore his unique approach to leadership development that begins with personal values alignment, drawing from his experience commanding 22 different organizations and insights gained from Marine Corps recruiting duty. Tom takes us behind the scenes of transitioning from defense contractor to entrepreneur, revealing how misalignment in corporate roles led to him founding his consulting company and refining his core mission of developing leaders. He offers valuable perspectives on building a service-oriented business while maintaining authenticity, including his innovative system of five distinct coaching programs and commitment to pro bono work for nonprofits. This episode is essential listening for leaders at all levels, transitioning veterans, and anyone interested in creating alignment between their personal values and professional mission.

Connect with Tom

• LinkedIn

• Connally Consulting

• tom@connallyconsulting.com

• Facebook

• Instagram

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Special thanks to Tom Connally for joining me this week. Until next time!

-Scott Mackes, USNA ’01