Discover how Calgary’s Leaders Circle has been instrumental in the development of local companies, including Earls Kitchen + Bar.
Mo Jessa says the key to building a successful company is growing the people within it. And, you can take his word for it — Jessa, the former president of Earls Kitchen + Bar, who retired in 2024 and now serves as President Emeritus, held various management positions at Earls for many years before ultimately leading the organization for over a decade.
Under his guidance, Earls expanded to more than 70 restaurants across North America. The key to his success? A commitment to developing leaders internally. When Jessa first stepped into senior operational leadership, he participated in a leadership program that he found transformational.
He believed a similar approach could benefit the whole company. Soon after, he discovered The Leaders Circle, a Calgary-based leadership consultancy led by founder Brian Lanier, who brings deep expertise in leadership development and corporate training. The Leaders Circle offered something Earls needed: the ability to scale transformational leadership training across large groups. Jessa felt an instant partnership with Lanier and the program he offered.
“The breakthrough for Earls and me was that leaders are not born; they are made,” Jessa says. “The will, the motivation, how to work with resilience and even creativity, building trusting relationships and empowered teamwork — all of that can be taught, and that’s where The Leaders Circle came in. Its transformational learning broke open a whole new way of getting people trained to become master leaders.
”Earls’ management teams began participating in recurring leadership sessions through The Leaders Circle’s Being a Leader program, learning the skills and practices required to build lasting and trusting relationships across the organization. Frontline staff increasingly felt heard, supported and empowered to bring issues forward, knowing leaders were committing to working on solutions. Jessa began to see the culture shift.
“People start believing that they can bring concerns up and that we can solve problems together,” says Jessa. “The company started to grow differently. There’s a lot of momentum from small wins turning into big wins, and that momentum then just has a velocity of its own. ”As results continued to build, Earls maintained its partnership with The Leaders Circle over two years.
“People think training is episodic, but when you want to be fit mentally or physically, would it work if you went to the gym once? ” asks Jessa.
“It’s a practice that needs to be maintained. ” Through consistent leadership development sessions, Earls strengthened a culture of learning, accountability and empowerment — an environment intentionally designed to elevate its people.
“Without an incredibly articulate, well-thought-out system, it limits your growth,” affirms Jessa. “And The Leaders Circle helped create the systems that took Earls to the next level. ”Illuminate blind spots that limit results and learn how to interrupt unspoken assumptions, hidden commitments and the performance-blocking patterns that are holding you back from achieving results.where people discover how to be a leader instead of doing outdated tips and tricks.
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