Lead With Experience. Advise With Precision.

Executive Advising Built on Nearly a Century of Leadership Excellence.

Executive Advising is precision-focused, one-on-one engagement designed to sharpen vision, accelerate performance, and build the leadership capability your organization demands, delivered by leaders who have operated at the highest levels.

Nearly a Century of Leadership Experience

Harvard Advanced Management Program

Tangible, Real-World Organizational Results

What is Executive Advising?

Executive Advising is a structured, peer-to-peer engagement between a proven senior leader and a high-performing executive who is ready to operate at the next level. It delivers direct, experience-based counsel grounded in real-world leadership, not a facilitated exercise built around questions.

Executive coaching has become a broad term, applied to everything from entry-level career guidance to performance improvement plans. BROADSWORD Executive Advising is something more specific, more powerful. Our advisors have led organizations of tens of thousands, navigated complex geopolitical environments, and been accountable for decisions with irreversible consequences. That experience is the foundation of every engagement.

Executive Advising vs. Executive Coaching, and Why the Difference Matters

"AI doesn't inspire people. Leaders do. And the most powerful leadership tool any executive possesses is who he or she is." — LtGen George W. Smith Jr., USMC (Ret.), Founder, BROADSWORD Leadership

Who It’s For

Built for Leaders Who are Already Performing and Ready to Lead at a Higher Level

C-Suite

Executive Advising for CEOs, Presidents, and senior executives navigating organizational complexity, board dynamics, and strategic inflection points. When the decisions are irreversible, you need more than a coach. You need an advisor who has been there.

HR and Talent Leaders

Executive Advising designed for CHROs and L&D executives building enterprise leadership pipelines. BROADSWORD delivers a proven, high-impact advising model that your senior leaders will respect, and your organization will measure

Entrepreneurs

Executive Advising is for founders and growth-stage leaders, developing the leadership identity and organizational discipline to scale. Because the leadership skills that built your company are not always the ones that will grow it.

What We Address

Core Areas of Executive Advising Engagement

Strategic Vision and Clarity

Developing the clarity of purpose that enables confident, decisive leadership at every level of your organization.

Communication and Influence

Building the interpersonal and communication skills that earn trust, drive alignment, and inspire action across teams.

Organizational Change

Leading through complexity, ambiguity, and transformation without losing momentum or team cohesion.

Risk and Decision-Making

Developing the judgment and risk tolerance required to act decisively when the stakes are highest.

Authentic Leadership Identity

Grounding leadership in integrity and self-awareness, because secure leaders inspire enduring trust and performance.

Team Performance

Unlocking the discretionary effort of your team, the difference between people who have to perform and those who choose to.

Our Process

How BROADSWORD Executive Advising Works

Thorough Assessment

We begin by mapping the leader's strengths, gaps, organizational context, and performance goals. No generic templates; every engagement is built around your specific situation.

Strategic Alignment

We align advising objectives with your organizational priorities, ensuring that leadership development directly accelerates business outcomes.

Deliberate 1:1

Focused sessions with a senior BROADSWORD advisor, applying timeless fundamentals to your current challenges with candor, precision, and accountability.

Measured Outcomes

We work with you to define the outcomes that matter most to your organization, then build every engagement around delivering them.

Frequently Asked Questions About Executive Advising

  • Executive Advising is a structured, peer-to-peer engagement between a proven senior leader and a high-performing executive ready to operate at the next level. It delivers direct, experience-based counsel grounded in real-world leadership under pressure, not a facilitated exercise built around questions.

  • Executive coaching typically focuses on guided self-discovery through questioning. Executive Advising at BROADSWORD is different. BROADSWORD delivers direct, experience-based counsel from leaders who have held senior command and operated under real-world pressure. It is a peer-level relationship, not a facilitated exercise.

  • High-performing executives, CEOs, C-suite leaders, founders, and senior HR leaders who are navigating growth, transition, or complexity and want a trusted, experienced advisor rather than another consultant.

  • BROADSWORD's approach is grounded in nearly a century of combined military and government leadership experience at the highest levels, including combat command, strategic planning for U.S. Central Command, and advising three Secretaries of Defense. This is not theoretical leadership development; it is leadership proven under irreversible consequences.

  • Engagements are tailored to each leader's goals and organizational context. BROADSWORD begins every engagement with a free consultation to assess fit and define scope before recommending a program structure.

  • Yes. BROADSWORD partners with CHROs and L&D leaders to design and deliver advising programs at scale, from individual senior leaders to cohort-based executive development initiatives.

Your Competition Settles for Less. Your Team is Capable of More.

Lieutenant General George W. Smith, Jr., Ret. speaking at a podium during a memorial event. Behind him are two bronze statues of soldiers and an American flag flying on a flagpole.
Lieutenant General George W. Smith, Jr., in uniform, saluting another Marine during a ceremony, with more soldiers standing in formation in the background.
Lieutenant General George W. Smith, Jr., Ret, speaking at a podium on a stage in a wood-paneled auditorium with a screen showing information about the March 17, 2025, Next Mission Summit.
Lieutenant General George W. Smith, Jr. in dress uniform, giving a keynote speech at a ceremonial event.
Military personnel gathered in the hangar listening to Lieutenant General George W. Smith, Jr. speaking.
Lieutenant General George W. Smith, Jr. and President George W. Bush walking on a grassy lawn.
Lieutenant General George W. Smith, Jr., standing next to an American flag, smiling during a formal event.
Two Marine personnel are having a discussion in front of a helicopter on a gravel surface.
Lieutenant General George W. Smith, Jr., standing in front of a helicopter, holding a microphone, with flags of the United States and the U.S. Marine Corps displayed beside him, inside a museum with a curved wall and a quote above the helicopter.
Two men shaking hands, one in a suit and the other in a military uniform, in front of a Harvard Business School sign.
Lieutenant General George W. Smith, Jr., giving a speech at a Marine Corps League event, with a large Marine Corps emblem in the background, surrounded by a seated audience.
An Iwo Jima Marine Corps Veteran wearing a red military cap and beige jacket shakes hands with Lieutenant General George W. Smith, Jr.
A Marine officer giving a speech at a Marine Memorial event, standing on a stage with a blue backdrop displaying the Marine Memorial Association & Foundation logo.
Lieutenant General George W. Smith, Jr. in camouflage uniform, speaking into a microphone on an airfield with a large aircraft and soldiers in the background.
Lieutenant General George W. Smith, Jr., speaking at the I MEF Professional Leaders Conference.