Great Leaders Don’t Just Succeed — They Finish Well

Christy Rutherford, former U.S. Coast Guard Commander, Harvard Business School alumna, and Forbes-featured executive coach, helps executives, founders, and family office leaders redefine success through sustainable performance, spiritual alignment, and personal restoration.

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The Hardest Part of Leadership Isn’t Winning — It’s Finishing Well

In today’s world, achievement has become synonymous with exhaustion. Executives, founders, and family office leaders operate in a constant state of high-stakes performance—where chaos is normalized, rest is guilt-inducing, and resilience is expected without repair.

But the cost is staggering:

77% of executives report feeling burned out.
60% say they’ve lost motivation or joy in their work.
1 in 3 leaders admit their health or relationships are deteriorating due to stress.
Burnout is estimated to cost global organizations over $300 billion annually in turnover, healthcare, and lost productivity.

The question isn’t whether leaders can keep achieving—it’s whether they can keep doing so without losing themselves in the process.

That’s where I come in.

Meet Christy Rutherford

I’ve lived on both sides of leadership—the glory and the grind.

I’m a Harvard Business School alumna, Forbes-featured executive coach, and former U.S. Coast Guard Commander who spent over 16 years leading in some of the most complex, high-pressure environments imaginable.

I learned early that excellence without alignment is unsustainable. I rose quickly through the ranks, commanded teams through crises, and achieved milestones most only dream of. But behind the medals and titles was a truth I couldn’t ignore: I was burned out, disconnected, and losing myself in the very success I worked so hard to achieve.

After mentally collapsing from Stage 12 burnout twelve years ago, it took me four years to recover mentally and seven years to recover financially. That breakdown became my breakthrough.

After rebuilding my life and health, I devoted my career to helping other high achievers do the same—without waiting for collapse to make the change.

Over the past decade, I’ve helped over 300 leaders in 20 countries recover from advanced burnout through my frameworks. My clients generated over $421 million in salary raises and business growth, while restoring their wellbeing, marriages, and purpose. Countless organizations have reignited their cultures through my leadership programs.

Now, I’m taking that mission global—through keynotes, corporate training, and executive retreats designed to help Great Leaders Finish Well.

Most leadership models focus on performance. Mine focuses on preservation.

The Great Leaders Finish Well Framework

The Great Leaders Finish Well Framework is a holistic system built on the integration of strategy, science, and spirit—combining trauma recovery, neuroscience, leadership development, and metaphysical alignment.

Through this model, I help leaders:

Recover from burnout and decision fatigue
Restore clarity, energy, and creativity
Build emotionally intelligent, resilient teams
Reconnect with purpose and legacy beyond performance metrics

It’s a system that ensures leaders don’t just achieve—they endure.

Why Leaders Trust Me:

• Harvard Business School Alumna

• Featured in Forbes (4x) & Black Enterprise (2x), Harvard Business School, Business Insider and the Congressional Record

• Certified Executive Leadership Coach (Georgetown University)

• 13th African-American Woman to Achieve Commander Rank in US Coast Guard's 230-Year History

•Author of 12 Books, including "Trauma Default™"

•2018 Harvard Business School Launching New Ventures Pitch Competition Grand Master Champion

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Why It Matters Now

The world is shifting. Leadership can no longer be sustained on willpower alone. We are witnessing record levels of stress-related illness, disengagement, and emotional collapse in the very people charged with driving our institutions forward.

When leaders are unwell, organizations lose their heartbeat. Innovation slows. Culture fractures. Humanity fades.

Finishing well is no longer a luxury—it’s a leadership necessity.

Speaking & Training

Whether delivering a high-energy keynote or leading a full-day leadership intensive, Christy brings humor, candor, and deeply human insight to every engagement. She just inform—Christy transforms.

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What Christy's Clients Are Saying

What the Press is Saying (Forbes, Black Enterprise, etc)

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It's Possible to Recover From Burnout and Rediscover Your Passion

In 2012, being addicted to winning, I almost worked myself to death, and although I was highly successful in my career, the sacrifices to my mental and physical health and relationships were just too much.

I resigned with three years left to retire with a full pension and then proceeded to catastrophic Stage 12 burnout, where I mentally and physically collapsed. It then took me four years to recover mentally and seven years to recover financially.

I thought leaving my good-paying job and starting my own business was the secret to less stress and more pay, but that was the catalyst for a complete meltdown.

Looking back, the reality is that all of this was preventable – if I had just had the right system to help me understand the root of my insatiable desire for overachieving, which was rooted in the fear of failure. No matter how many awards, degrees, and promotions I accumulated, it was never enough. So, whether you decide to hire us to work with your team, attend one of our retreats, or just take advantage of our free resources, don’t expect your circumstances to change without first changing yourself.