About

Two decades. One question.

Why do brilliant people get promoted into leadership, and then quietly drown? We’ve been chasing that answer since our early twenties.

Garland and Dorothy Vance
Founders Garland & Dorothy

Our journey · from learners to leaders

We knew very little about leadership.
What we lacked in expertise, we made up for in curiosity.

Our story started in our early twenties. We were handed the job of building a leadership development program, with almost no qualifications for it. So we did the only thing we knew how to do: we got curious.

We devoured every leadership book we could find. We interviewed every operator who’d give us an hour. We embedded inside organizations and asked the boring questions other people wouldn’t. That insatiable interest became the foundation of everything that came next.

Garland eventually added a doctorate in leadership. Dorothy earned coaching certifications in Leadership Growth and Gallup’s CliftonStrengths. But the real education was the next two decades: being mentored by phenomenal leaders and being sabotaged by incompetent ones.

What we kept seeing was the same glaring truth: most leaders get promoted without formal training. They inherit unhealthy cultures. They struggle to delegate. They lack the clarity to guide their teams. And nobody hands them the tools.

That’s the seat we built AdVance for.

What we believe

Four values that decide everything else.

01

Results & Relationships

Leadership is never one or the other. It’s both, at the same time, with the same intensity. We help you develop the trust necessary to actually achieve the goals.

02

Ridiculous Practicality

Leaders aren’t transformed by ideas. They’re transformed by new actions. Our methods are easily implementable tools and habits, not jargon.

03

Intentional Margin

Leaders flourish when they have time to think, and time to think together. We build the space that lets leaders learn from and help each other.

04

Transformation

We’re invested in your outcome, not your attendance. What changes isn’t just how you lead. It’s who you are. People come out better at work and better at home. Every part of life carries less and breathes more.

Meet the founders

Two paths. One table.

Garland Vance

Co-founder · Leadership Expert

Garland Vance

The visionary. Doctorate in leadership. A knack for turning complex challenges into simple, ridiculously practical solutions.

Garland has spent his career leading teams and researching what actually works. He’s the one in the room who can listen to forty minutes of confusion and hand you back a clean sentence. He doesn’t simplify by leaving things out. He simplifies by getting to the actual thing.

Dorothy Vance

Co-founder · Teaming Specialist

Dorothy Vance

Two decades of leadership development. Certified coach in Leadership Growth and Gallup’s CliftonStrengths. The teaming brain of the partnership.

Dorothy has spent a career helping leaders leverage their actual strengths to build teams that perform. She’s the one who notices the dynamic in the room before anyone else does, and quietly knows what to do about it.

Our purpose

Great leaders are the key to everything that matters downstream.

Achieving company results
Developing a bench
Building exceptional employee experience
Creating customers who rave

82% of people promoted into leadership never get adequate training for the role. We exist to close that gap with practical tools, tailored programs, and the kind of sustained guidance that turns workshops into change.

Begin

Find the one pattern that’s holding you back.

Take the Leashed Leader Scorecard. Ten questions, three minutes. A clear read on which of the seven weights is the one you’re carrying, and what to do next.