Crenshaw Cameo | Bill Glenn

Leading Through Disruption: Bill Glenn on Experiential Leadership in a Complex World

In an era defined by disruption, leadership demands experience, adaptability, and the ability to guide people through uncertainty. In our latest Crenshaw Cameo conversation, Bill Glenn, Executive Chairman of Crenshaw Associates, discusses how experiential leadership and trust-based cultures drive performance in today’s complex business environment.

In this video, we will explore the following key leadership themes:

Leadership as a Journey of Experience

For Bill, leadership is learned through doing. “You can’t coach what you don’t know,” he recalls from an early lesson. His career, spanning Procter & Gamble, Pepsi, and American Express, reinforced that leadership is not an academic concept but a lifelong journey. At Procter & Gamble, promotion depended on developing others. That principle shaped Bill's belief that growth for leaders stems from growing their people.

Executives today face similar imperatives. Whether leading transformation, managing hybrid teams, or navigating global disruption, the essential work of leadership lies in experience, reflection, and continual learning.

Navigating Disruption with Clarity and Focus

Disruption has been a defining feature of Bill's career, from the dot-com bubble and 9/11 to the financial crisis and COVID-19. The executives who thrive, he says, do three things consistently: define winning, set clear priorities, and stay close to their people.

In a hybrid world, those skills are more critical than ever. “Leaders must create connection and feedback intentionally,” Bill explains. “You can’t assume culture will form through a screen.” At Crenshaw, this philosophy underpins much of the firm’s executive coaching work; helping leaders lead effectively across digital, hybrid, and global contexts.

Building Trust Through Collaborative Conflict

A hallmark of high-performing teams is collaborative conflict: the ability to debate ideas with trust and respect. Too often, organizations mistake collaboration for consensus, which can lead to watered-down decisions. True leadership requires creating an environment where people challenge one another constructively, knowing the goal is collective excellence, not comfort.

This theme aligns closely with Crenshaw’s executive development model, which emphasizes trust, candor, and courage as the foundations of organizational performance.

Keeping Leadership Human in the Age of AI

While AI can analyze data and support decision-making, authentic feedback that drives real growth must come from human interaction. As Bill explains, “You can feed all the data you want into AI, but it cannot replicate the experience of a leader who has been there.”

Crenshaw Associates has been proactive in building an ethical AI framework that serves as a compass, guiding us to use new technology in ways that enhance human leadership and strengthen judgment without losing the empathy and trust that define effective leaders.

Leading with Values Through Transformation

Reflecting on his own leadership journey, Bill emphasizes the importance of consistency in values during major organizational change. “Culture may evolve, but values stay the same." That principle continues to guide his work at Crenshaw, where the focus remains on helping leaders define success, develop talent, and deliver results the right way.