About Excelsis Leadership Group
Excelsis Leadership Group is a strategic advisory firm that works with senior executives
navigating career transitions. We serve leaders moving between industries, stepping into larger roles, or positioning for opportunities that match the scope of what they’ve already done.Â
Our practice is built on a direct understanding of what it takes to operate at the highest levels ofcomplex organizations. We bring that perspective to how we advise clients on positioning, brand, and campaign strategy for their next move.
Meet Our Founder
Brian Harris spent 27 years as a Senior Foreign Service Officer, serving in roles that required strategic judgment under pressure and the ability to lead across organizational and political boundaries.
His career included service as a special assistant to Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, Chief of Staff at the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan during the Osama bin Laden raid, Director for North America on the National Security Council under President Obama, and a final overseas assignment in Colombia where he managed 440 personnel and a $250 million operational budget. Other assignments took him to Venezuela during the rise of Chávez, Iraq, and across Latin America.
He founded Excelsis Leadership Group to bring the strategic discipline of that career to a specific problem: senior leaders who have built significant track records but lack a deliberate strategy for what comes next. His advisory work draws on the same skills that defined his government career: assessing complex environments, building coalitions, and helping leaders see clearly when the path forward is not obvious.
Our Approach
Most career advice treats a job search as a marketing exercise. Write a better resume, optimize your LinkedIn, apply to more postings. That works at certain levels. It stops working when you’re a senior leader whose experience doesn’t fit neatly into a keyword search.
We take a different approach. We start with design: understanding where you’ve been, what you’re actually good at, what matters to you, and what kind of professional life you want to build. Before we touch a resume or identify a target company, we make sure the destination is right.
From there, we build the strategy — matching your identity and strengths to market opportunity. Then we create the brand assets and outward-facing professional narrative to position you appropriately in the marketplace. We help you run a focused campaign, targeting the right people at the right organizations. And we support you through the launch into your new role or venture.
Our five stages, Design, Strategy, Brand, Campaign, and Launch each build on the last. The goal is to land professionally where you want as quickly as possible, and also ensure you are positioned so the right opportunities find you, now and over the course of your career.
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What we Stand For:
Integrity:
We don't oversell and we don't tell clients what they want to hear. Trust is built by being honest and doing what you said you'd do. Every time.
Respect:
Our clients have led organizations, managed crises, and made consequential decisions. We engage them as peers. This is a strategic advisory relationship, not a classroom.Â
Commitment:
To delivering a cutting edge advisory experience and to mastering our craft so the quality and effectiveness of our advice keeps improving.Â
Curiosity:
We stay curious about our clients, their industries, and the markets they're entering. Good advice depends on asking the right questions and never assuming we already have the full picture.
 How We Work
Straight Talk — We tell clients what they need to hear, not what’s comfortable. Strategic clarity depends on honest assessment. If your positioning has a gap, we’ll name it and help you close it.
Rigor — We treat career strategy the way a good analyst treats a complex problem. Assumptions get tested. Recommendations are grounded in evidence and market reality, not motivational thinking.
Discretion — Many of our clients are navigating transitions that involve sensitive timing, organizational politics, or public visibility. We operate accordingly.
Precision — Every strategy, brand asset, and campaign we build is tailored to the individual client. We don’t use templates with a name swap. The work reflects who you are, where you’re going, and what makes you distinct.