VIP: The Leadership System that Works
Co-written by Danielle Pickens and Katie Singh
Here is a problem almost every leader we talk to is living right now.
You are remote, or hybrid, or just stretched thin. So you default to the only lever that feels obvious: go to more meetings. Say yes to more things. Be in more rooms. But it is noisy out there, and being busy is not the same as being known. You end up visible everywhere and remembered nowhere.
Underneath that is a quieter problem. You are not entirely sure what you want to be known for anymore. The ground keeps shifting. A new role, a merger, a reorg, a return from leave, a season where the work that used to define you no longer fits. So you hedge. You stay a little vague, a little flexible, a little less known in the ways that feel good to you.
A few years ago, when Danielle was coaching solopreneurs, she kept being asked the same question: 'how do I get clients?' So she built a framework to help them think about it - VIP. What neither of us expected was how far it would travel. Katie loved it and brought it into her work with women breadwinners, using it to help them think more strategically about how they owned their value. Same framework, completely different context and it resonated just as much. That is part of what makes it worth writing about together.
What VIP is, and when to use it
VIP is not a one-time exercise. It is a check-in practice you return to whenever something shifts: a new job, a new role, a return from leave, a change at the top of your organization, or simply a stretch where you feel off-balance and cannot name why.
What we’ve learned together is that what started as a way to answer a more narrow question - 'how do I get clients' was something much bigger and useful. VIP helps you be more intentional in how you show up to move your career and your work forward, especially when things feel uncertain.
Three letters. Three questions.
Visibility: Where am I showing up, is that where the right people are paying attention, and how am I showing up there?
Identity: What do I want to be known for, and is that still true?
Partnering to problem-solve: Who am I partnering with, and how am I showing up?
Here is one of Danielle's favorite things about building a framework and then sharing it: you get to watch other smart people find uses you never imagined. Danielle developed VIP for solopreneurs. Katie saw it and brought it into her work with women breadwinners to help them get clearer on how to own their value. Same framework, a completely different audience, and it held. So throughout this piece, you will hear from both of us about what working our own VIP looks like right now because we are each in a transition moment ourselves and how we’ve seen it support others
People ask us whether it is sequential. Honestly, it is more of a flywheel. Some people start with Identity, get clear on what they want to be known for, then build the visibility to match. Others start by getting in the right rooms and let identity sharpen from there. There is no wrong door. What matters is that you keep moving around the loop.
V is for Visibility
Visibility is not about being everywhere. It is about showing up consistently where the people you want to reach are actually paying attention, in service of something, not just to be seen. And it is not only about where and with whom. It is also about how.
Danielle: For years I positioned myself as someone who helps leaders make an impact without burning out, so I showed up in communities of mission-driven leaders, mostly as a support and a collaborator. Now, as CEO of USHCA, the national community where K-12 talent and HR leaders come to modernize how districts recruit, develop, and retain great educators, where and to whom I am visible has changed. I am spending more time at education conferences, with funders, and with school system leaders thinking hard about HR and talent. But the bigger shift is in the how. I am learning to lead out front and show people the way, rather than from beside them as the operator or the great number two. That is a different kind of visible, and it is the harder one for me.
Katie: My shift is toward becoming a convener — creating the room rather than just being in it. This year I launched Strategic Leadership for Women Breadwinners, a group coaching community for women carrying the financial weight of their families. This summer I'm launching Both/And Dinners in Seattle — quarterly gatherings for women navigating ambitious careers and motherhood who are done having those conversations alone.
Both of us have different focus areas, but that is the point. Visibility is yours to define.
Where are you currently visible, and is that where the people you most want to reach are paying attention? And how do you want to show up in those spaces, not just whether you show up?
I is for Identity
Identity is a clear, specific answer to what you want to be known for. It answers the question...'here is how I can help you.'
Danielle: Identity is the hardest letter for me right now, and I think that is worth saying out loud. I have always been known as the person who gets things done, the great number two. Stepping into the CEO seat at USHCA means renegotiating that, both internally with my team and externally in the field. What do I want to be known for when I am leading out front, and what do I want to be leading out front around? My answer is getting clearer: I want to be the person K-12 talent and HR leaders think of when they need to rebuild systems that were designed for a different era, and a thought leader and generous collaborator who builds useful things and shares them. This article is me practicing exactly that. I am still working the rest of it, and I think a lot of leaders in transition feel that.
Katie: I used to say 'call me if you're a working mom.' I'm rethinking that — and not just the language. For a long time I coached individuals. I'm in the middle of a shift toward something bigger: building the rooms that don't exist yet but should. I still do deep 1:1 work and always will. But I want to be known as the coach who convenes — who builds the table and fills it with the right people. Women Breadwinners is one expression of that. Both/And Dinners is another.
What do you want to be known for, and is that still what you want to be known for? Could a colleague repeat it back accurately to someone who needs you?
P is for Partnering to Problem-Solve
If Visibility and Identity is where you build relationships, partnering is where you deepen them into trust. The most common mistake leaders make is making it all about themselves. Partnering to problem-solve means leading with the problem and showing up as someone who solves it with other people, with clients, with peer organizations, and across your broader network. This also means giving visibility to others.
Danielle: This one feels different to me now too, because leading out front changes what partnership looks like. It used to mean rolling up my sleeves alongside someone. Now it is more about helping people see a path, connecting the dots between what they are wrestling with and what is possible, and being the person who comes to mind when something hard lands on their desk. The instinct I keep returning to, whether I am talking to a funder or a superintendent, is to ask how this connects back to kids and to great teaching. That is the problem I am actually here to help solve. Sharing VIP with Katie is itself a small example: I did not lose anything by giving the framework away, and we both got sharper for it.
Katie: Danielle built VIP for solopreneurs. I saw it and brought it into my Women Breadwinners program — because these women needed exactly that: a way to think strategically about how they show up and own their value at work. What I learned from that context fed back to Danielle. That's the whole spirit of P. Real partnership isn't transactional. It's combining perspectives in a way that makes both of you more useful to the people you serve.
Think about your last three conversations with potential clients or collaborators. Did they leave feeling like you could solve a problem together, or just more aware of your expertise?
A practice, not a one-time exercise
That is VIP. A system to help you think about your visibility and identity - especially when things shift internally or externally. Three questions:
Where am I visible, and is that where the right people are paying attention?
What am I known for, and is that still what I want to be known for?
Who am I partnering with, and am I showing up as a problem-solver?
We are both working our own VIP in real time right now, which is exactly the point. The framework is not for the version of you who has it all figured out. It is for the messy middle of a transition, when you need a map to get somewhere on purpose instead of just ending up in more meetings.
So, where are you in yours right now?
If you want to think through your own VIP, we would love to talk.
Danielle is the CEO of USHCA, the national community where K-12 education Talent and HR leaders come to modernize how their districts recruit, develop, and retain great educators. She also works with mission-driven leaders on building impactful careers without burnout through her own consultancy,LumiTalent. You can reach her at dpickens@theushca.org.
Katie Singh is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and founder of Katie Singh Coaching. She partners with executives - men and women - through 1:1 coaching, group and team coaching, and in-person workshops. She is currently enrolling primary earners for the next cohort of Strategic Leadership for Women Breadwinners, launching September 2026. Reach her at katie@katiesinghcoaching.com
