Unlocking Sustainable Leadership Systems With Tony Thelen

Tony Thelen

Tony Thelen is a former John Deere executive with 35 years of leadership experience across engineering, marketing, operations, and finance. After retiring, he founded River Coaching & Consulting, where he now works as an executive coach helping leaders reach their full professional and personal potential. Tony is also the author of Things We Desire, a book inspired by the timeless poem Desiderata.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

[01:30] Why leadership needs systems just as much as operations.
[03:45] How Tony’s career at John Deere shaped his systems mindset.
[05:10] The inspiration behind Things We Desire and the Desiderata poem.
[11:00] Why timeless values still apply in today’s rapidly changing world.
[14:30] A four-quadrant framework for systematizing leadership and life.
[16:00] Why “work-life balance” falls short and what leaders should focus on instead.

In this episode:

Leadership isn’t sustainable without intention, structure, and reflection.

In this episode, Adi Klevit sits down with Tony Thelen to explore the often-overlooked concept of systematizing leadership. Drawing on decades of executive experience at John Deere, Tony explains why repeatable success depends on systems—not just in operations, but in how leaders manage themselves, their decisions, and their priorities.

The conversation also explores Tony’s book, Things We Desire, inspired by the 1927 poem Desiderata. Tony and Adi discuss how enduring values such as peace, purpose, and self-awareness can be translated into practical leadership systems. Tony introduces his four-quadrant framework, offering leaders a structured way to manage professional life, personal relationships, community involvement, and self-care with intention.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Quotable Moments:

“To do something consistently, you need a system behind it.”
“Leadership is not just about results—it’s about fulfillment.”
“Timeless values remain relevant no matter how much the world changes.”
“Work-life balance is too narrow; leadership requires a holistic system.”
“Show up with intention in every area of your life.”

Action Steps:

Assess whether your leadership approach is intentional or reactive.
Identify systems that support consistency in how you lead and make decisions.
Apply a holistic framework to balance professional goals, relationships, community, and self.
Reflect regularly on the values that guide your leadership style.
Build leadership systems that support both performance and fulfillment.

Sponsor for this episode:

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