Your Inner Board of Directors: Richard Schwartz’s IFS Model (and Why Smart Leaders Keep Arguing With Themselves)

If you’ve ever had a moment where you were 100% committed to a plan… and simultaneously building a legal case against it in your own head… welcome. You’re not inconsistent. You’re just hosting a busy internal board meeting.

Most executives don’t have a motivation problem. They have a governance problem.

Because inside a high-performing leader is often a full leadership team: a cautious analyst, a bold visionary, an operator who wants traction by lunch, a perfectionist who treats “good enough” like a personal insult, and a skeptic who has never met uncertainty they didn’t want to eliminate.

And they all want the mic.

This is where Internal Family Systems (IFS), created by Dr. Richard Schwartz, becomes unreasonably useful in executive coaching.

A quick origin story: who is Richard Schwartz and what is IFS?

Richard Schwartz was trained in systems thinking and family therapy. In the 1980s, he started noticing something consistent: clients naturally described their inner experience as a set of “parts” with different agendas, emotions, and protective strategies.

Instead of treating those inner voices as pathology, Schwartz treated them like a system, because that’s what they were behaving like.

He developed IFS as a structured way to:

IFS has since grown into a widely used framework in therapy and coaching circles. It also has a growing research base, particularly in areas like trauma-related symptoms and emotional regulation. For our purposes here, I want to keep this practical and leadership-focused.

The idea that changes everything: parts aren’t problems

IFS starts with a deceptively simple claim:

You are not one voice. You are a system.

In IFS language, we have parts, sub-personalities with specific roles. And beneath the parts is the Self. The wise leader of the system.

Here’s the leadership translation:

The goal is not to “delete” parts (good luck with that), but to stop letting any one part hijack the whole organization.

Because when a part takes over, it tends to go… extreme.

Not evil. Not broken. Just extreme.

Like a well-meaning CFO who tries to improve profitability by canceling all expenses, including electricity.

The executive-friendly model: your internal board of directors

In a recent coaching session, a leader described three distinct voices that were constantly wrestling for control:

That trio is common in leaders who are building something new while also being smart enough to predict every way it could go sideways.

And here’s the key: none of these voices are wrong.

They’re each trying to help. They’re each protecting something.

But when they polarize—when the Consultant and Entrepreneur get into a prolonged cage match—progress dies. And anxiety moves into the corner office.

The loop that kills momentum (and looks productive on paper)

High performers often get stuck in a pattern that feels like work but produces very little:

Optimize → delay → temporary comfort → more anxiety → optimize harder → delay more.

In plain language: you convince yourself you’re “getting ready,” when really you’re avoiding uncertainty.

One leader put it perfectly: “I’m trying to hyper-optimize before I get started… but I need to get started to optimize.”

Yes. Exactly.

This is where parts work becomes a lever. Because when you can name the part driving the behavior, you can stop confusing the part’s strategy with leadership.

Optimization is not leadership.
Avoiding waste is not leadership.
Endless analysis is not leadership.

They’re useful tools, until they become an identity.

The coaching move: externalize the parts, then lead them

When we don’t label our parts, we become them.

When we label them, we can lead them.

This is the executive coaching version of IFS:

It’s surprisingly effective. Also mildly humbling. Nothing quite exposes your internal chaos like realizing your “strategic thinking” is actually three people shouting over each other in your head.

A simple script you can use (no incense required)

When you feel stuck, try this:

Step 1: Identify who’s talking

Step 2: Ask what this part is protecting

Step 3: Offer reassurance + a boundary

Step 4: Ask the CEO question

And then—this is the important part—you do the step.

Not the perfect step. The next step.

You don’t need a 12-month plan. You need a Tuesday.

Three anonymized case studies (composites from real executive patterns)

Case Study 1: The ex-consultant founder who can’t ship

“Alex” is building a product in a competitive market. The Entrepreneur in Alex is electric: new tools, new angles, new energy. The Consultant is equally alive: “This market is saturated. Acquisition is expensive. Why didn’t we start earlier? What if we’re stuck with inventory? What if it fails?”

Alex isn’t lazy. Alex is smart—and that’s the problem. Smart people can generate a million reasons not to move.

Coaching move:
We named the parts: Consultant, Entrepreneur, CEO. Then we gave each a job:

Alex adopted a mantra that made the Consultant uncomfortable (which is how you know it’s working):
“We only learn through the process.”

Alex didn’t stop being strategic. Alex stopped demanding certainty as the price of entry.

Result: more movement, less internal warfare, better decisions. Also fewer late-night “I should optimize the homepage one more time” episodes.

Case Study 2: The VP with high standards and high friction

“Maya” is a senior leader with excellent taste. Which sounds nice, until you realize excellent taste can become a daily source of pain.

Maya lives in the gap between:

That gap creates frustration and anxiety. Not because she’s weak. Because she cares.

Coaching move:
We identified the “Quality Director” part—a Manager-style protector that believes: “If we do it right, we’ll be safe.”

We reframed the anxiety as information: “This matters.”
Then we translated the ideal into one daily executable step.

We also reinforced a sequence that leaders forget:
Creativity → Commitment → Courage → Competence → Confidence

Confidence is not step one. It’s step five.

Result: Maya became more consistent, less self-critical, and more effective with her team—because she wasn’t running an internal tribunal during the workday.

Case Study 3: The entrepreneur who can sell anything… except focus

“Jordan” generates ideas at an elite level. The Entrepreneur part is a gift: creativity, conviction, persuasion, speed.

The downside: too many parallel tracks. Focus becomes optional. Execution becomes chaotic. The Consultant tries to regain control and accidentally kills momentum. The CEO oscillates between impatience and shutdown.

Coaching move:
We gave the Entrepreneur a container: an “Idea Parking Lot” (because your best ideas don’t need to be acted on within 90 seconds).
We gave the CEO a weekly decision ritual: choose one priority, define “done.”
We gave the Consultant a healthier job: build process after the first 20% is real.

Result: Jordan didn’t lose creativity. Jordan gained governance. The business got calmer, and grew faster.

The punchline: you don’t need fewer parts, you need better leadership

Here’s what I want you to take away:

They’re trying to protect you.

But protection is not the same as leadership.

Leadership is the ability to hold uncertainty, tolerate discomfort, and take clear action anyway—without letting your inner committee run the company into the ground.

So the next time your Consultant starts a slide deck called “Reasons This Won’t Work,” and your Entrepreneur is pitching a brand-new pivot to an imaginary investor, and your CEO is ready to throw the laptop into the ocean…

Call the meeting to order.

Name the voices.
Thank them.
Assign roles.
Make a decision.
Do the next step.

And if you want a one-line mantra that tends to calm the room:

“Pilot beats perfection.”

Because the only way out is through.

And yes, your inner board will complain about that. Let them. You’re the chair.

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Adam Kreek and his team are on a mission to positively impact organizational cultures and leaders who make things happen.

He authored the bestselling business book, The Responsibility Ethic: 12 Strategies Exceptional People Use to Do the Work and Make Success Happen. 

Want to increase your leadership achievement? Learn more about Kreek’s coaching here.

Want to book a keynote that leaves a lasting impact? Learn more about Kreek’s live event service here.

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