About

Xavier Lederer

Where I started

I help CEOs of founder-led and family-owned companies break through their growth ceiling. But to understand why I do this – and why I am good at it – you need to know where I came from.

Growing up in Belgium, I had one ambition: to start a company. I joined Bain & Company straight out of university – a good apprenticeship before striking out on my own. Four years later I joined a startup. Over the next eight years, we grew from zero to 300 people – and I watched the same pattern repeat itself: strong growth, then inexplicable stagnation, then a painful recovery. Over and over.

The central question

I kept asking myself: why are we not growing in a straight line? There must be a smarter way. So after eight years I went to Stanford Graduate School of Business and Silicon Valley to find one – and to finally pursue my entrepreneurial dream. I tried, failed, learned, and tried again, and failed again.

What I discovered was uncomfortable: my brain is not wired for zero to one. As I found out years later, growing from 1 to 10 is what truly energizes me. But in the moment it crushed me.

Where it clicked

After four years in California, I moved to the North-East of the US – taking on strategy and growth roles where the challenge was not starting, but scaling.

Then I was asked by the founder of one of New York’s most celebrated high-end handcrafted chocolate companies to run his business. What I found was not so different from what I see with my clients today: a founder fighting fires, feeling lonely at the helm, frustrated that so little seemed to change despite his best efforts. The company had grown to 80 people – and like every successful growing business, it had outgrown the management approach that had worked so well at an earlier stage.

I tried to fix it. Clumsily at first. Reinventing the wheel, working brutal hours, figuring things out the hard way. Six months later we went from declining sales to double-digit growth – but the cost on me was enormous. And I could not shake the feeling that someone, somewhere, must have already figured this out.

That experience taught me two things:

  • When you are stuck as a CEO, real help is remarkably hard to find.
  • I love my job – and what I loved most was not chocolate: it was the process of upgrading our management approach.

That is when I decided to become a business and leadership coach: someone who hands CEOs the right tools before they need them, so they don’t have to reinvent the wheel to grow faster and with less pain.

Why business and leadership coaching?

I founded Ambrose Growth with a clear core purpose:

To help grow businesses so they can grow leaders who can grow stronger communities.

That is not a marketing line. It is why I do this. A company that grows well can invest in its people – in their development, their careers, their future. And people who grow make their company stronger. One feeds the other. And stronger companies build stronger communities. That is the cycle I am in the business of accelerating.

Why Ambrose?

Saint Ambrose is the patron saint of beekeepers. I kept honeybees for several years. And I have always been amazed by the fascinating role that these small insects play in growing things much larger than themselves.

Bees do not grow fruit. Yet they are the catalyst that makes it possible. They create the conditions for growth that could not happen without them.

That is exactly what I aspire to be for my clients. Not the one who builds their business for them – but the catalyst who helps them grow faster and further than they could on their own.

How I work

I am a curious explorer by nature – someone who tries to resist the comfort of coloring inside the lines. I ask the questions others avoid. I hold up the mirror even when the reflection is uncomfortable. And I stay with you through the hard work of actually changing – not just seeing what needs to change.

My core belief: no company can grow faster, in the long run, than the pace of personal development of its leaders. Business growth and leadership growth are not parallel tracks. They are the same track.

Credentials

Business and operator background

  • President of an 80-people high-end handcrafted chocolate company in New York City.
  • Senior growth strategy roles in scaling companies – helping them expand beyond their traditional core business (US, for 6 years).
  • Growing a start-up to 300 people in various commercial and strategy leadership positions (Belgium, 8 years).
  • Strategy consultant, Bain & Company (Belgium, 4 years).

Coaching credentials

  • Certified Business coach – 7 Attributes of Agile Growth Certified Business Coach (Gravitas Impact Premium Coaches)
  • Certified Executive Coach – Professional Certified Coach (ICF PCC)
  • Leadership Circle Profile Certified Coach (advanced 360-degree leadership assessment)
  • Certified Positive Intelligence Coach (Saboteurs)
  • Multipliers Certified Coach – Gravitas Impact Premium Coaches
  • Certified Professional Behavior & Values Analyst (CPBA) – DISC
  • Certified Exit Guide – STS Capital Partners

Education

  • MS in Management, Stanford Graduate School of Business (MSx / Sloan Program)
  • Executive Certificate in Leadership Coaching, Georgetown University
  • Executive Certification in Facilitation, Georgetown University
  • Management Acceleration Program, INSEAD
  • MS and BS in Business, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Brussels University (Belgium).

Chocolatier

Classically trained at SYNTRA Brussels – a two-year professional program.

Author

From Firefighting to Firepower – a 30-minute guide for busy CEOs who want growth that lasts.

Beyond the office

Helping people grow is not something I leave at the office.

 

I served as President of Cheshire Soccer Club – a youth soccer organization serving more than 1,000 children aged 3 to 18 in Cheshire, Connecticut. I was involved for 11 years: first as a volunteer coach, then for 9 years as a board member, including 5 years as President. The club’s core purpose – to develop players, coaches, and referees while helping them learn life lessons and create friendships in the process – resonates with everything I believe about growth.

 

I have also volunteered as a Ranger at Mount Southington Ski Area since 2017 – helping keep the mountain safe and welcoming for skiers of all ages and levels, from first-timers to seasoned regulars. I was honored to be named Ranger of the Year in 2025.

 

These are not resume entries. They reflect something I believe genuinely: that the investment you make in helping people and teams become an even better version of themselves is just as important on a soccer field or a ski slope as it is with a leadership team.

 

I work with clients across the US and Europe, and I am based in Cheshire, Connecticut.

Ready to find out
what is holding your growth back?

I would love to learn about your growth challenges. Our conversation will help you clarify your main growth roadblocks – and give both of us a chance to see whether we are a good fit and whether I can help you get where you want to go.