The video commemorates the 20th anniversary of Meritage Leadership, founded by Susan Drumm in 2006 with the core belief that leadership stems from deep self‑knowledge rather than having all the answers. Susan opens by recounting this founding vision and the recurring question of "What pattern is quietly running the show?" The remainder of the video consists of brief testimonials from a range of senior leaders who have worked with Meritage. Adam Perugi, CEO of AppLovin, describes how coaching helped him manage stress during a public‑offering transition, improve delegation, and achieve better physical and mental health. Representatives from KPMG praise Meritage’s fresh perspective that enriched their market‑leading leadership program and produced lasting leader development. Another executive highlights how Enneagram‑based insights clarified team dynamics, accelerated performance, and aligned strengths with organizational goals. A CHRO lauds the coaching team’s business sense, integrity, and ability to enhance communication, collaboration, and strategy execution. Additional speakers note the ripple effect of individual insight on whole teams, the boost to talent density at Bonsai, and personal growth that extends beyond professional capability. Susan concludes by affirming Meritage’s two‑decade mission of transforming the future of leadership and looking forward to the next 20 years.
Chapters
It was the year 2006, and I had one belief: that leadership isn't about having all the answers; it's about knowing yourself well enough to bring out the best in everyone around you. I started Meritage Leadership with a handful of clients, and one question I kept coming back to: What pattern is Quietly running the show. That question became the work year after year, leader after leader.
My name is Adam Perugi, and I'm CEO of a company called AppLovin Corporation. Going public from being private was a really stressful moment. Over the last couple of years, we spent a bunch of sessions talking about the pressures of the role that I do, the impact on my life, both professionally and personally, and then tying it back to goals that I do have for myself. She's been immensely valuable in processing these things. Has gotten me back to a place where I've been able to delegate a lot more tasks to my team. I've been able to free myself up mentally. I've gotten to a much more relaxed state physically. I've gotten to better health than I think I've ever been, and I can attribute it back to these types of sessions. And so anyone who feels alone, has a lot of stress, is going through these types of career changes that, that magnify that stress, taking these types of sessions can be very impactful.
Hey Susan, congratulations on 20 years. That's really exciting. As you know, the work we did at KPMG in our leadership program, we really developed a market-leading program and we needed a big strong influence from the outside to give us a fresh perspective. And you and your team added that and really left some lasting memories and really developed a ton of great leaders at KPMG. Thanks for all your help and congratulations on 20 years.
Well, happy 20th. It's an unbelievable thing in today's time. You've just been consistent, and then AI, like, you've been able to continue to hone business model and continue to build credibility. Your client list is stellar. We were a bunch of pirates. Everybody had run their own ship. Everybody had been a captain somewhere else. And one of the things that you did was you really helped define what leadership is, and then you really helped us understand The team dynamic, like what's the team made up of and how do these different characters and personalities mix together in the Enneagram in a way that can be most productive? But I think probably the ultimate thing is we snapped the line on performance faster because of the work we did with you, because we understood where everybody had strengths and weaknesses and where we were going to be able to most effectively align the organization to hit the result. And cheers to the next 20 years, for sure.
Congratulations, Meredith. Leadership on 20 years. It's been a pleasure working with you. As a CHRO, working with a coaching team that has such a keen business sense, unshakable integrity, and a deep understanding of what leaders need to succeed has been really reassuring. You have helped our leaders communicate, collaborate, and drive strategy together. Thank you for 2 decades of incredible work, and here's to many more.
So one thing it did was give me great insight. The second thing it did is it gave all of the leadership members of my team great insight into each other and into me. And the third, it allowed our integrator, our Chief Operating Officer, to run a project that she ran to continue to further establish her bona fides in our company. You know, it's, you know, I always say it's never about the splash, it's about the ripple.
You know, when I met Susan, we started, looked at over the years a handful of different ways of helping team members understand each other, communicate more effectively. And I think that was ultimately very personally impactful for those individuals. And it also helped The rest of the team understand them a little bit better. It was really important for us, just, it was a good, good investment for us to make in terms of just continuing to turn the crank up on talent density at Bonsai. And I think that we'll probably look at how we can roll this out more broadly in the company over time. And Susan's approach seemed like a really interesting approach, so that's why we decided to give it a try.
Susan, you've been a key contributor to various leadership development programs that I've run. Your insights have helped develop develop our talent and accelerate their growth through better self-awareness and their leadership capabilities. I'm not only a better leader today because of you, but I'm also a better person. So for that, I'm forever grateful. Your energy and enthusiasm is palpable, and you're one of the most genuine people that I know. Susan, I wish you nothing but the best with this. The message you're sharing is one that we can all learn and grow from individually and professionally. So thank you and congratulations.
That's the work. That's Meritage. 20 years of transforming the future of leadership. Here's to 20 more.
