KONG CATALYST
Strategic Leadership for the Pre-IPO Journey

In a fast-scaling organization, what got us here won’t get us there. As Kong moves toward its next horizon, the role of a senior leader must evolve from tactical execution to transformational leadership. True agility requires the ability to step back, make high-quality decisions under pressure, and lead through complexity with a unified executive voice.  Kong Catalyst is an elite, intensive journey designed for Directors and the OLT. This program pushes the Kong Leadership Principles to their highest expression, utilizing the Attunement Model to help you lead through strategic change. Catalyst certifies you as a strategic "multiplier"—equipping you with the vision to Zoom Out, the precision to Make the Right Calls, and the courage to drive unified execution across the entire organization.

This program is designed to help you:

1

Lead Through Strategic Change: 
Identify the behavioral shifts required to navigate Kong’s pre-IPO landscape and align your team with our high-growth vision.

2

Elevate Decision Quality & Speed: 
Utilize advanced frameworks to make timely, high-stakes decisions that balance regional nuances with the broader good of the organization.

3

Cultivate Organizational Resilience: 
​Master the "Coach-Like" leadership style to unlock problem-solving intelligence at scale, freeing you to focus on strategic high-level priorities.
PARTICIPANTS
Senior Directors, VPs, and OLT members selected to drive Kong's strategic future
DURATION
four months (A high-impact 2-day in-person intensive, followed by three monthly virtual peer-coaching circles)
TIME
pre-work (45min), two day intensive (twelve hours), and three follow-up group coaching modules (6 hrs)
​COHORT SIZE 
​12-15

Program Curriculum

THE PRE-WORK: SETTING THE STRATEGIC BASELINE
To ensure the intensive is grounded in real-world strategy, participants complete the following prior to the Kick-off:
  • Leadership Principles Survey: A digital assessment anchored in the 9 Leadership Principles to identify your strategic leadership baseline.
  • Psychometric Profile: Completion of the Workplace Big Five to understand how your natural defaults influence team velocity.
  • The Performance Gap: Identify one specific "Performance Obstacle" within your current team to solve throughout the series.
INTENSIVE DAY 1: Strategy, Reality & Notice/Sensemaking
​Tue, Jun 23rd - 9:00am - 4:00pm PT
Focus: Leading Self & Navigating Change

We begin by identifying the specific strategic shifts happening at Kong and defining why leadership behaviors must adjust to meet the IPO vision. You will debrief your Workplace Big Five data to identify personal leadership shifts and examine benchmarking success stories from other hyper-growth orgs. We introduce the first two pillars of the Attunement model: Notice (gathering data beyond the silo) and Sensemaking (interpreting what the data means for Kong).
INTENSIVE DAY 2: Deciding, Acting & The Skill of Coaching
Wed, Jun 24th - 9:00am - 4:00pm PT
Focus: Leading Change & The Management OS

Master the final two pillars of the model: Deciding (making high-quality, timely calls) and Acting (executing with unity and driving the "Disagree and Support" principle). The afternoon is a deep dive into the "Coach-Like Leader," shifting you from technical "Fixer" to strategic "Multiplier." Using the GROW model, you will practice the high-level inquiry skills needed to build organizational capacity and independence within your teams.
FOLLOW-UP: Peer Coaching Circles
​9:00am - 11:00am PT
​Focus: Sustained Strategic Pull-Through 
​
Following the intensive, you will participate in three monthly virtual coaching groups. These sessions provide a dedicated, elite forum for cross-functional networking and peer-to-peer coaching on real-time business obstacles. Leaders rotate through coaching roles to solve ongoing challenges and ensure the Catalyst principles are applied in daily execution.

Program
Outcomes
By the end of this four-month journey, you will be a Certified Strategic Leader with the following outcomes:

  • Executive Strategic Attunement: You will possess the "balcony view" (Heifetz Model) necessary to lead through hyper-growth. You will move from being reactive to proactive—mastering the ability to Notice emerging shifts, Sensemake the implications for Kong, and drive the organization forward with strategic intent.

  • High-Stakes Decision Mastery: You will have installed a repeatable framework to Make the Right Calls. By utilizing advanced decision-making matrices, you will be equipped to make clear, timely, and data-backed calls that balance regional nuances with the broader organizational good, significantly reducing "re-work" and stalled momentum.

  • The Power of Unified Execution: You will master the executive application of Disagree and Support. You will gain the skills to navigate high-level conflict and "Creative Friction" across functions, ensuring that once a decision is reached, the entire leadership team acts with one voice, eliminating the cross-functional drag caused by passive resistance.

  • Scaled Organizational Impact: You will transition from being the technical "Lead Fixer" to a strategic "Multiplier." By mastering the GROW coaching model, you will unlock problem-solving intelligence at scale within your teams, freeing up your own bandwidth to focus on the strategic high-level priorities