In this episode of the Full Throttle Leaders podcast, host Michael Falato interviews leadership coach and author Adam W. Barney. Adam explains the significance of his middle initial, tracing it to a family name and a pet named Wellington. He then outlines his coaching philosophy: rather than offering more motivation or tactics, he helps founders and executives upgrade their "operating system"—the underlying processes and structures that sustain growth. His ideal clients are leaders in transition, including founders scaling from a handful of employees to hundreds, executives stepping into larger leadership roles, and mission‑driven changemakers who need confidence and a clear path forward. Adam shares recent learnings from five years of building his practice, emphasizing the importance of iteration, the launch of his 2024 book Make Your Own Glass Half Full, and the danger of equating visible activity (more meetings, content, tools) with real progress. He warns that many leaders appear successful outwardly while feeling exhausted, and that growth can feel heavy when the internal operating system is not robust. The conversation touches on his pricing model, but the core of the episode centers on the shift from inspiration to sustainable systems for leaders in transition.
Chapters
Hello everybody, Michael Falato here again from Full Throttle Leaders and also the CEO of Full Throttle Falato Leads. I have Adam Barney here, a coach and author, a podcast host just like me a little bit, and very talented person that I've just got recently got to know. So Adam, tell me a little bit about what you do and why we're doing this podcast today. Sorry.
Yeah, yeah. No, Michael, it's great to be here. Thanks. We've intersected a couple times over the years. I will say I do go by Adam W. Barney. That W is important in the way that I present myself. So I just wanted to make sure that—
What does the W stand for?
Oh my gosh, you want to go back there? So the W and then Could get into what I'd love to do, talking about two truths and a lie in the world.
Okay.
But the W actually stands for Wellington, and that goes back 5 generations on my father's side. Not to go a little deeper into that fun fact, but I am the last male heir of the Barney clan, so it was important to bring that name forward. I have two young daughters who did not carry it forward. But we got our first dog just about 11 years ago, and he is a Basset Hound Poodle mix, and he looks like he's wearing a tuxedo. So his name is Wellington. He's the— he's where the name gets carried.
Awesome. Yeah. Tell me a little bit about your coaching approach.
Yeah. So the simplest way I'd frame what I do is I help founders and leaders when the old playbook stops working for them. You know, a lot of people think they need more motivation. They need more tactics, more accountability, especially now in the world, more hacks. And usually they don't. They, they usually just need a better operating system. And that's the core of my work, you know, working with founders, executives, and leaders in transition. They're carrying a lot, moving fast, but then they realize that what got them here to today is not going to get them where they need to go next. And I think that's where a lot of people get stuck because they keep trying to solve an operating problem with more inspiration. And inspiration is great for maybe, you know, 12 minutes, but installation is what actually holds when things get messy.
And what's, what's your ideal customer profile for your company?
Sure. So really, Michael, it's someone who, you know, I call myself a transition leader. A leadership coach. As a leader, when are you not going through change? When are you not going through transition? We go through just different seasons of what change looks like, but it can range anywhere from a founder or an executive who's scaling from— maybe they were the founder-operator, now they've got 50 employees, maybe they've even grown to 200 employees. It could also be an executive who Maybe they, maybe they've, they've just entered sort of what really an executive leadership role requires. And they realize that the tools that got them into the role before that were not the ones that are going to help serve them as they, they ladder up in terms of that, that, you know, responsibility set that they hold. You know, the third is, you know, there, there are a lot of people in the world who are trying to make the world a better place. A more just and equitable place. And, you know, they, they need a little bit of confidence. But I like to take myself and, you know, with people who maybe don't have a confidence or understand the path forward, be that, that person in their back pocket that can help them say, you can do this and you can get there.
And then what's, what's some things that you've learned in the last 6 to 12 months that you're like, wow, I'm glad I found that out because that was really, that really helped me, either tactic tip or strategy or something that is completely bombed that we can learn from your, from, from what you lost on?
Well, I mean, you know, one thing that happened, um, I've been trying to build this business for 5 years now. I've made some mistakes through that journey. Um, and you know, it's okay to make mistakes and to iterate. And I, I think iteration is important. You know, I've, I've, my first book was published in 2024. It kind of weaves into my philosophy as a coach. It's called Make Your Own Glass Half Full: The Empowered Path to Optimism and Autonomy. And it's that, that, you know, it's what I've learned through my corporate career. It's what I've learned through building my businesses. The other piece of it, though, that comes into play, Michael, and I think this matters even more right now because we live in a world that constantly rewards visible activity. You know, whether it's more outreach, more content, more meetings, more AI, more systems, more tools, that's really just more noise. And if you're not careful, and I've actually seen this myself through building my business, you can build a business that looks like it's moving while internally it's just getting heavier and heavier. And that's the thing I care most about, you know, and I've gone through this myself, which is why I love to help other people. Um, you know, in, in, because there are a lot of leaders out there who look successful, but they're quietly exhausted. And, you know, a lot of founders that I've seen actually are technically growing, but they hate how the growth feels.
Yeah.
And, you know, there are also a lot of operators who can still perform at a high level, but the cost of doing it is, is way too high. And that's where, where I come in.
