The Room That Taught Me Something Was Missing

By Chris Green

When I stepped into the EO Accelerator program as an Accountability Coach, I thought I was taking on a leadership role to help others grow.

I didn’t realise it would change me just as much.

I’ve been in business a long time, long enough to see friends my age begin to “slow down” and drift into the retirement mindset. But I’ve always known that wasn’t my path. I don’t want to retire from life. I want to stay curious, stretched, connected and moving forward.

What I didn’t expect was that this EO Accelerator role would give me exactly that.

When I first joined the group, the energy was low. The meetings felt flat and mechanical and I remember thinking,

This isn’t the EO I know and this isn’t the kind of leader I want to be.

That moment was a mirror.

It showed me that I had been holding myself back too, showing up out of duty, not inspiration.

I didn’t want to “run meetings”, I wanted to ignite people and that realisation was the start of my own transformation.

I realised that entrepreneurs don’t thrive on instructions, they thrive on energy, environment and experience.

So I changed everything.

I took our Accelerator group out of the stale conference room and into the boardrooms of real EO members.

• Places with life.
• Places with stories.
• Places where entrepreneurs built things big enough that you could feel the ambition in the walls.
• And something remarkable happened.
• The room woke up.

I woke up.

• The conversations deepened.
• The note-taking became frantic.
• The spark returned in them and in me.

It reminded me of a truth I’d forgotten:

Leadership isn’t about guiding others. It’s about growing alongside them.

After one of our first “on the road” sessions, I received a message from a member who had been struggling with direction:

“I’m ready to commit again.
$1 million used to feel impossible.
Now I can see the path.
Thank you.”

That message hit me deeply, because I wasn’t just witnessing their transformation, I was rediscovering my own purpose within EO.

It reminded me why I joined in the first place: to help those coming behind me, to stay connected and to keep myself in momentum instead of drifting into cruise-control living.

Being an Accelerator coach gave me much more than I expected:

• Fresh energy and momentum — the kind that lingers for days
• Deep reconnection with EO members across our chapter
• A renewed sense of purpose and contribution
• The spark that only comes from helping others rise
• Clarity about how much I still want to grow and explore

And perhaps the biggest gift: it reminded me how much possibility we unlock when we place ourselves in rooms that inspire us.

I stepped in thinking I was giving my time. But what I actually gained was momentum, connection and meaning.