About Constellary
Leadership isn’t an individual endeavor, it’s a shared experience.
Leaders are a node in a bigger constellation. This means rather than relying on our own effort, we must work as a collective. Leaders need to know how to lead an area as well as work organizationally. This is why Constellary focuses on helping leaders navigate the complexities of leadership and supports companies to build cohesive leadership teams.
Recognizing our responsibility to the collective is how we build resilient companies that meet their goals and, create environments where people want to come to work.
As former operators, we understand the complex landscape leaders navigate — uncertainty, ambiguity and change while operating within a system of many moving parts. Founded in 2019 by former Travis CI COO Suzan Bond, Constellary primarily works in the tech industry. Our work is steeped in our operator experience and a background in org development, leadership and facilitation.
Functional vs Organizational leadership
The word leadership is imprecise and can mean many things. To ensure leaders understand the contours of the role and what’s expected, we need more precise definitions. It also ensures you hire the right company to help you achieve your business goals.
Constellary makes a distinction between functional vs organizational leadership. Our work focuses on helping leadership teams with organizational leadership.
Functional leadership:
Activities of a business function: product, engineering, people, marketing
Often starts at the managerial level
First team is in the functional unit
Organizational leadership:
Generally starts at the head of/director level (may vary by size of org)
First team may be the exec team rather than inside a functional unit
Understands how to make decisions and take action in the face of complexity
To get the full list of distinctions between functional and organizational leadership, download the pdf. No email required.
Our guiding principles
Seek to Understand
We believe there isn’t one answer — there are many ways to a goal. Rather than lead with our experience or opinions, we seek first to understand by asking questions and gathering information. This context informs our strategy and plan to execute.
Relationships First
Relationships aren't a distraction to the work, they're an effective way to get results. We put relationships front and center, seeing our work as a partnership. We focus on creating trust and psychological safety. Our emphasis on relationship building allows us to deliver on your needs and build long-lasting trusted partnerships.
We’re better Together
There isn’t one right way to be a potent leader, there are many ways to lead. We seek to bring out the best in everyone, knowing that combining our strengths makes everyone better and we achieve more. We know that different styles can bring value and that diverse teams bring results.
Be real, not perfect
Being open about our humanity — our mistakes, our vulnerabilities — helps us connect with others. It’s also how we grow and improve so we and our company can be their best expression which leads to better performance. The best leaders know being open about their missteps and what they’ve learned creates a culture of learning.
TRust is everything
Trust is the foundation for all collaboration. We show up when we say we will. We deliver what we say we will. We welcome open conversation and believe in being direct but kind. We seek to understand and then to be understood. You can have confidence we’ll see you and your situation rather than rely on assumptions.
About our founder
Suzan Bond is trained facilitator, leadership consultant, certified executive coach, and former COO. As a former COO of a scaleup, Suzan understands the challenges leadership teams face. She’s spent more than 15 years in technology.
Her work includes experience in leader on-boarding, new leader training, organizational strategy, people operations, internal company communication and exec team facilitation.
Her favorite part of the organizational journey is when the company is undergoing change, especially the scaling kind. She cares deeply about creating companies that are both sustainable and support their people. She loves supporting the leaders who run these companies.
Suzan hosts the LeadDev Bookmarked, a monthly book club for engineering leaders where she’s interviewed renown authors like Marty Cagan, Camille Fournier, Lara Hogan, Scott Mautz, Kim Scott, and Liz Wiseman.
She’s a regular contributor to Fast Company where she writes for the Work Life section. One of her articles was named one of the Top 10 leadership stories of the year. She’s spoken at numerous events including RubyConf, LeadDev, Rocky Mountain Ruby, Kalamazoo X, Stretch Conferenc, enterJS and DeveloperWeek Global.
She has an educational background in social psychology, sociology, organizational development and leadership. She’s been a trained, certified executive coach for over a decade.
Suzan received training in leadership and facilitation from the Co-Active Leadership program and in organization & relationship systems coaching from CRR Global. A former consultant for Gallup, she is a trained Strengthsfinder coach.
Suzan completed her coach training and certification at the Co-Active Training Institute, one of the most rigorous programs in the industry.
Learn more about our work
Suzan Bond keynote at RubyConf 2022
Lost in the Wilderness: Why leader feel lost
Suzan Bond interviews Sarah Drasner on her book, Engineering Management for the Rest of Us