— EXCEED Leadership™
Where authenticity and capability are the real performance.
EXCEED Leadership™ is EEG's dedicated leadership development practice — built to formalise and scale the programs, frameworks, and IP developed over two decades of leading, advising, and mentoring senior leaders across government, technology, and enterprise.
Month formal program
durations
Delivery formats
Formal and bespoke
Leadership development
tiers
Proprietary assessment at the
core of every program
Years of leadership experience
behind every program
"Leadership development is not an add-on to our advisory work — it is core to what we believe."
EXCEED was built around a fundamental belief: that organisations perform best when their leaders are genuinely capable, authentically confident, and supported in developing the skills required for the next level — not just the level they are already at.
The frameworks underpinning EXCEED emerged from a distinct perspective: one that centres what mainstream development programs consistently overlook. The real barriers to advancement are rarely about capability. They are about how capable people are seen, how they are supported, and whether the environment asks them to perform a version of leadership that is not their own.
Programs are designed for organisations serious about building leadership capability as a sustained competitive advantage — not checking a development box. Every program is grounded in real leadership experience, not theory, and built to create lasting behaviour change.
— Across all EXCEED programs
What every participant builds.
— How we deliver
Formal programs and bespoke engagements — across both streams.
EXCEED programs are available in two delivery models. Both are available across the leadership development stream and the women's specific development stream. The right choice depends on your organisation's context, cohort size, and development goals.
Formal program
Structured cohort engagement
A sequenced, cohort-based program that builds leadership capability progressively over 6 or 12 months. Designed for organisations investing in a defined group of leaders with shared development goals.
Full-cohort kickoff session — establishing the group, the framework, and shared language
Monthly group sessions — building skills, sharing experience, and applying frameworks in real context
Individual 1:1 coaching — personalised support woven throughout the program duration
Available in 6-month or 12-month formats. Available as In-Person, virtual, or hybrid delivery
Program can be tailored specifically for female leaders
Bespoke program
Custom-designed for your context
A program designed specifically for your organisation's cohort, culture, and development priorities. Ideal for organisations with specific challenges, diverse participant levels, or unique contextual needs. Format is entirely flexible — from a once-off masterclass or all-day introduction session through to a multi-month intensive — built around what your people actually need.
Discovery process to understand your context, cohort, and goals
Custom curriculum design drawing on EXCEED frameworks and IP
Flexible format — once-off masterclass, intensive, modular, or multi-session
Standalone workshops and conference keynotes also available
Can be integrated into broader EEG advisory and transformation engagements
— Leadership development programs
A clear pathway from emerging leader to executive.
EXCEED was born out of a frustration most leaders recognise: sitting in development programs where the offer was good intentions and networking — but not the actual tools needed to perform better, address real gaps, or prepare for what comes next.
These programs are built differently. Each tier gives people practical frameworks, honest feedback, and real experience — applicable immediately in their current role and the next one. And for organisations, the logic is straightforward: developing your high performers into your next leaders is significantly less expensive than hiring externally — and far less likely to cost you the culture you have spent years building.
Tier 01
Foundation
For high-potential individual contributors stepping into leadership for the first time. Builds the foundations of authentic leadership — confidence, communication, navigating teams, and understanding the shift from doing to leading.
6 or 12 months
Best for: High-potential ICs identified for leadership roles, first-time managers in their first 12 months
Tier 02
Amplify
For high-potential managers building the capability and credibility for executive leadership. Develops strategic thinking, executive presence, stakeholder influence, and the resilience required to perform under sustained pressure.
6 or 12 months
Best for: Senior managers and directors on the path to executive leadership
Tier 03 — Pinnacle
Executive Excellence
The pinnacle program. For current executive leaders building the conditions for sustained high performance, resilience, and lasting impact — at the level where the decisions matter most, failures are most public, and the support is often least.
6 or 12 months
Best for: Current executives, C-suite, Directors-General, and senior government leaders
The 5V™ Leadership Assessment
A baseline that changes the development conversation.
Every EXCEED program begins with the 5V™ — a proprietary leadership assessment measuring readiness across five dimensions. It moves the conversation from aspiration to evidence: a clear, scored baseline showing where a leader is today, where the gaps are, and what to prioritise.
For individuals, the assessment produces a personalised development roadmap. For organisations, aggregate team data reveals systemic patterns across the leadership population — the kind of intelligence that makes a meaningful business case for targeted investment.
The 5V™ is deployable to any leader in any organisation. Individual, team, and 360-degree options are available.
Vitality
Energy management, resilience, and sustainable high performance. Measures work-life integration, stress management, and renewal practices.
Boundary setting · Energy restoration · Purpose alignment
Assessment options
Individual self-assessment with personalised report
360-degree option with manager and peer input
Team deployment with aggregate analytics for organisations
— Open masterclass
The Credibility Gap
A masterclass for leaders who want to close the gap between how capable they are and how capable they feel — and build the conditions for authentic, sustainable high performance.
Available as an open public masterclass across five Australian cities, or as a private organisational program. Open to all leaders.
Authenticity + Capability > Performance
What we explore
Why performing leadership is exhausting and ultimately ineffective
The link between perfectionism and the imposter feelings you are trying to escape
Building genuine confidence through self-knowledge — not external validation
Leading authentically in environments that expect something different
Creating the conditions for sustained high performance
Format & availability
Half-day intensive format
Open tour: five cities across Australia
Private program available for organisations
Available as a keynote
In-person preferred; virtual available
— Workshops
Working sessions that build real capability.
Workshops go beyond the keynote to give participants time and space to apply frameworks to their own context. Available as half-day or full-day sessions, in-person or virtually, for private organisational delivery.
All sessions draw on EEG's advisory frameworks and can be customised to your organisation's specific challenges, audience level, and development goals. Workshops can be delivered as standalone sessions or integrated into broader leadership development programs and transformation engagements.
A
The Human Edge Series
Three connected programmes building emotional intelligence as a leadership discipline: from the foundation of EI practice, through leading transformation with it, to scaling it across a leadership team. Each session stands alone. Together, they form a complete EI practice for leaders operating at or near the top.
Half-day or full day · All leaders · Private organisational delivery
B
The Credibility Gap Workshop
An extended working session built on the Authenticity + Capability > Performance framework — giving participants time to apply the model to their own leadership context, identify specific gaps, and build a personal action plan.
Half-day or full day · All leaders · Open or private delivery
C
AI and Technology Leadership
Three formats for the same essential question: how do leaders govern, commission and implement AI in a way that holds up — technically, ethically and operationally?
Available as a Board governance briefing, an executive operating model briefing, or a full-day team implementation workshop. Each session addresses a different level of accountability and a different kind of decision.
Half-day briefings and full-day workshop · Boards, senior executives and leadership teams · Private organisational delivery
D
The Human Side of Change Masterclass
Most change programs fail not because the strategy is wrong but because the change is poorly architected. This masterclass covers the structural and human disciplines that determine whether a programme lands or drifts: change architecture and sequencing, stakeholder influence planning, the difference between informing and enrolling, and measuring real adoption rather than activity.
Half-day or full day · Senior leaders · Private organisational delivery
E
Custom workshop
Not every challenge fits an existing topic. Cindy designs custom workshops for organisations with specific leadership challenges, cohort needs, or development priorities — drawing on the full EXCEED curriculum and EEG advisory experience.
Half-day or full day · Contact us to discuss
— Why Cindy
Programs built from lived experience — not theory.
Every EXCEED program is built on frameworks developed by Cindy Schwartz — who has navigated over two decades of senior leadership at Microsoft, Gartner, and Amazon Web Services, and spent fifteen years mentoring female leaders through the specific challenges of leading in environments that were not built for them. Programs are led by Cindy and delivered by EXCEED facilitators who share the same philosophy and standards.
She understands what it costs to lead at the highest level — the pressure, the self-doubt, the moments of wondering if you belong — because she has lived it. Her approach combines strategic rigour, emotional intelligence, and the hard-won wisdom of what actually works. Not what should work in theory.
The programs she wished existed when she was navigating her own career.
