About GRITT Business Coaching

Built Inside a Business.
Proven in Practice.

Growth slows down when people, leadership, and execution are not aligned. Most organizations try to fix this with more strategy, more meetings, or new tools. But more input doesn't solve the problem. Alignment does. That's why GRITT exists.

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About the Firm

GRITT Business Coaching is a business coaching and leadership development firm based in Holts Summit, Missouri, founded by Shawn Burcham - entrepreneur, author of Keeping Score with GRITT (Forbes Books), and a business builder who has launched over a dozen companies and franchise brands, including a 100% employee-owned organization with 2,000+ locations across 40+ states.

✓ SHRM Recertification Provider

✓ NCEO Endorsed

✓ Certified Predictive Index Partner

2,000+

Locations Managed

12+

Businesses & Brands Launched

100%

Employee-Owned

Built in Practice

Built by Someone Who's Done It.

Shawn Burcham didn't develop GRITT in a classroom. He built it while doing the work - transforming a home-based startup into a 100% employee-owned company with 2,000+ locations across 40+ states, and launching over a dozen businesses and franchise brands along the way.

That journey required building real systems for hiring, leading, scaling, and sustaining performance - across multiple companies, industries, and stages of growth. GRITT is the distillation of what actually works.

While building, he experienced firsthand:

Alignment Gaps Moving from fragmented teams to unified direction.
Inconsistent Execution Moving from random effort to repeatable performance.
Scaling Friction Moving from struggle to structure that holds as you grow.

Everything GRITT brings to clients has been tested, refined, and proven across real organizations - not consulting theory.

See If GRITT Is the Right Fit →

Shawn Burcham, Founder and CEO of GRITT Business Coaching

Forbes
Books

From Experience to System

The principles behind GRITT are captured in Keeping Score with GRITT: Straight Talk Strategies for Success - a Forbes Books publication.

Get the Book →

What Makes GRITT Different

Most business coaching focuses on one piece of the problem.

Leadership. Strategy. Financials. Most firms pick one.

GRITT aligns the entire business.

We connect how leaders think, how teams operate, and how the business actually runs so execution becomes consistent and results become predictable.

Our Approach

People. Financials. Execution.

GRITT is not a one-time engagement. It's a system designed to change how your business operates. We work across three core areas:

People with GRITT

Align leadership, roles, and accountability so teams move together.

–Executive and leadership coaching
–Team alignment workshops
–Accountability frameworks
–Succession planning
–Culture by design

Financials with GRITT

Make financials visible, understood, and used to drive daily decisions across the organization.

–Financial literacy and fluency
–Profit and cash optimization
–Open-book management
–KPI scorecards and dashboards
–Financial planning and forecasting

Execution with GRITT

Turn strategy into consistent, measurable action across the organization.

–Strategic planning facilitation
–Execution frameworks
–Process improvement
–Meeting cadence and structure
–90-day sprints and scorecards

When these are aligned, clarity increases and performance follows.

View GRITT Solutions

Who We Work With

We Work With Leadership Teams

We work with leadership teams, not individuals. Typically:

→ Growth-stage businesses where complexity has outpaced structure

→ Organizations where execution is inconsistent despite strong strategy

→ Companies with established teams ready to build the next layer of leadership

→ Leadership teams ready to move from reactive to structured, predictable execution

What Clients Experience

The Results Show Up in the Business

"GRITT helped us implement efficiency Sprints that saved $1.4 million while significantly increasing employee engagement and communication across 1,700 employees."

Andrea Elrod

CFO, AlaTrade Foods

"GRITT provided clear, actionable insight that strengthened our leadership team and improved how we operate. The impact was immediate."

Tamara Kopp

Executive Director, Missouri Insurance Guaranty Associations

"We are making consistently stronger hiring decisions and finding the right fit for our team. The added insight has made a measurable difference."

Connie Ford

Missouri Public Utility Alliance

See Client Results →

The GRITT Team

Every Coach Has Done the Work

GRITT coaches don't come from consulting firms. They come from inside organizations - where they led teams, built systems, managed P&Ls, and navigated real growth. That experience is what makes the coaching different.

Entrepreneurship & Scale

Shawn Burcham - Founder & CEO

Built a home-based startup into a 100% employee-owned company with 2,000+ locations. Launched 12+ businesses. Author of Keeping Score with GRITT (Forbes Books). Brings the playbook of someone who actually scaled it.

Financial Literacy & ESOP

Patrick Carpenter - Senior Partner

20+ years with the ESOP Association and NCEO. Vistage CEO speaker. Board member at multiple organizations. Makes financial and business literacy practical and actionable for leadership teams at every stage.

Culture & People Systems

Jennifer Briggs - Founding Partner

Board Chair of the NCEO. CEO of The Synergy Company™. Nearly 13 years as VP of Organizational Development & HR at New Belgium Brewing - 7x Most Democratic Workplace. Rutgers Executive Fellow in Employee Ownership. Board member at PFSbrands, Brinkman Construction, Bivar, and others.

Financial Strategy & Clarity

Mark Gandy - Partner

Founder of G3CFO and creator of the Free Agent CFO™ model. Integrates marketing, sales strategy, and data analytics with financial acumen to help leaders see the business clearly and act decisively.

Open-Book & Ownership Culture

Trevor Monnig - Partner

Nearly 20 years as CFO across two high-growth companies. Led the ESOP transaction that made PFSbrands 100% employee-owned. Now serves as ESOP Trustee through Acumen Advisory Services. President of the Heart of America ESOP Association. Board member for multiple ESOP companies.

Leadership Science & Development

Tom Bagwell - VP Learning & Development

20+ years executive leadership including EVP at an international dealer. 3x Teacher of the Year at Cal State East Bay. Penn MAPP graduate. Kellogg Executive Scholar. Brings the science of leadership development into GRITT's coaching model.

Talent & Behavioral Alignment

Alexa Lott, SHRM-SCP - Executive Talent Strategist

30+ years in HR and talent strategy. Certified in Gallup CliftonStrengths, Predictive Index, and Kolbe. VP Communications, Heart of America ESOP Association. Uses behavioral data to align talent to business goals and build high-performing teams.

Operations & Execution

John McElroy - President

10+ years leading customer success, marketing, distribution, and operations inside a scaling company. Holds accountability for GRITT's financial results, operational execution, and client outcomes. The operator who keeps the system running.

Business Literacy & Sales

Michael Northrup - Director of Sales & Operations

Career spanning food & wine, construction, automation, property management, and professional consulting. NCEO speaker and ESOP advocate. Passionate about helping employees at every level understand how their work drives business performance.

Combined: 200+ years of experience in leadership, HR, operations, finance, organizational strategy, and behavioral science - all applied directly to what GRITT coaches every day.

Meet the Full Team

Built Inside a Business.Proven in Practice.