Author · Keynote Speaker · Leadership Development Expert
Develop Leaders Who Develop Leaders.
Success is what you achieve. Significance is what you multiply.
Leadership is not about how far you can go alone. It is about who you become, the people you develop, and the impact that continues through them.
I’m Farshad Asl—an author, keynote speaker, and leadership development expert. For more than two decades, I’ve built teams, developed people, and helped others turn challenges into opportunities. Today, my mission extends beyond any one organization, industry, or country.
I help leaders take ownership, lead with intention, develop others, and multiply their impact.
What’s holding you back? Ask a question. Challenge a limiting belief. Explore your next move.
AI guide grounded in Farshad Asl’s teachings.
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دانش رهبری فرشاد اصل. گفتوگویی که به شما کمک میکند بزرگتر بیندیشید.
راهنمای هوش مصنوعی، بر پایهی کتابها، آموزهها و چارچوبهای او. پاسخها ممکن است دارای خطا باشند.
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Leadership Insights
Leadership Is a Journey. Grow Every Week.
One leadership article, reflection, or lesson in your inbox each week — the teaching of Top Leaders, Inc. and Top Leaders Global, written to develop leaders who develop leaders.
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Bring the message to your organization, explore the books, or join a community committed to becoming—and helping others become.
My story is one of choices, challenges, accountability, and a responsibility to help others go further.
My Story
In 1998, at 27, I left Iran and arrived in the United States with a suitcase, $400, and a determination to build a better future.
I didn’t have all the answers. I didn’t know where the journey would lead. But I understood something that would shape my life and leadership:
I could not always choose my circumstances, but I could choose my attitude, my decisions, and my response.
That belief became the foundation of my No Excuses Mindset—and eventually, a mission bigger than myself: developing leaders who develop other leaders.
The Beginning of a Leadership Journey
In December 1999, I began my career with Bankers Life.
What started as a professional opportunity became a journey of growth, leadership, and developing people.
Over the years, I learned that success requires more than ambition. It requires discipline, accountability, resilience, and the willingness to keep growing.
I experienced achievements. I faced challenges. I made mistakes. I learned from them.
And along the way, my understanding of success began to change.
At first, success was about what I could accomplish. Over time, I discovered that the greater opportunity was helping other people accomplish what they once believed was impossible.
Success is what you achieve. Significance is what you multiply.
From Personal Success to Developing Others
My career at Bankers Life has been an important part of my journey.
As a Branch Manager beginning in 2003, I built five satellite offices and developed more than 200 agents across Southern California. As Regional Director, I was the company's #1 Regional Director in 2010. Today, as Regional Director, I have established seven satellite offices, and the territory continues to expand. Yet I have never measured that growth in offices or titles. I measure it in people who grew because someone believed in them and invested in them.
That journey gave me the opportunity to lead teams, develop managers, and build organizations — and to learn firsthand what separates leadership that produces results from leadership that develops people.
But somewhere along that journey, I discovered my greater passion.
It wasn’t simply achieving more. It was developing leaders who could achieve more—and then help others do the same.
That realization changed how I viewed leadership.
A leader’s responsibility is not to become indispensable. It is to develop people who can lead with confidence, character, and responsibility.
The Bankers Life Years
Bankers Life: Where Leadership Became a Responsibility
Farshad Asl at a Bankers Life leadership event.
“Leadership is not control of the room. It is building a room that no longer needs you.” — Farshad Asl
My journey with Bankers Life has been about far more than building a successful career. It has been about discovering what becomes possible when you invest in people, develop leaders, and create opportunities for others to succeed.
Over the years, I have had the privilege of serving in leadership roles, building teams, developing professionals, and helping individuals discover potential they did not yet recognize in themselves.
Along the way, I have been honored with national recognition, including three Top Regional Director distinctions, the Downing Award, multiple Excalibur awards, and the Frontline Leader Diamond Award.
But the greatest reward has never been a title, an award, or a personal achievement.
It has been watching people grow into leaders who go on to develop others.
Bankers Life has given me a powerful platform to put my leadership philosophy into practice: accountability over excuses, development over dependency, and multiplication over individual success.
The lessons learned through this journey continue to shape my work as an author, speaker, and founder of Top Leaders.
Because leadership is not measured only by what you accomplish. It is measured by who becomes stronger because you led.
— Farshad Asl
The No Excuses Mindset
My philosophy grew out of lived experience.
I believe disadvantages can become advantages. Challenges can become opportunities. And accountability creates the foundation for meaningful change.
The No Excuses Mindset is not about pretending obstacles don’t exist. They do.
It is about refusing to give those obstacles the final word.
We may not control everything that happens to us. But we remain responsible for what we choose to do next.
WyseCoach — A Community Built in a Season of Uncertainty
In 2020, as the pandemic closed doors across the country, I founded Wyse Coach, Inc. and opened a weekly online coaching room. What began among friends as a short webinar series became a standing community — weekly coaching calls, mentorship sessions, and member gatherings that continued for four years.
The room ran on a simple conviction: leaders grow faster with a coach beside them and a community around them — accountability over excuses, development over dependency. Guest teachers joined individual sessions along the way, sharing their own fields of experience with the community.
Nearly 150 of those sessions were recorded, and preserving that archive — the teaching, the growth, the people — is part of honoring what that community built.
WyseCoach’s season has closed. Its lessons did not. Invest in people, develop leaders, multiply impact — that foundation runs through everything I am building now with Top Leaders Global.
A Mission Beyond Borders
On February 8, 2013, I established Top Leaders, Inc. in Los Angeles to expand my commitment to leadership development.
In August 2025, that mission took another important step with the launch of Top Leaders Global’s Middle East initiative, beginning with Iran.
That vision now reaches across organizations, communities, cultures, and generations.
Because leadership should never end with the leader. It should multiply.
The Journey Continues
I have been blessed with opportunities to build a career, write books, speak, coach, and work with remarkable people.
But I do not believe leadership is a destination.
There is always more to learn. More to give. More people to develop.
And that is the responsibility I carry into every room, every conversation, and every opportunity.
We never arrive. We continually become.
— Farshad
Your next step
Bring this story to your room.
If this journey resonates, the most direct next step is a conversation: invite Farshad to speak to your organization, team, or community.
Leadership begins with personal growth, expands through influence, becomes responsibility through developing others, and reaches significance through multiplication.
01 · BecomePersonal growth
02 · LeadInfluence
03 · DevelopDeveloping others
04 · MultiplyMultiplication
A lived philosophy
Ownership is where meaningful change begins.
The No Excuses Mindset did not begin as a slogan. It grew from choices made through immigration, professional growth, leadership responsibility, mistakes, challenges, and the daily decision to keep becoming.
Choose the response
The No Excuses Mindset
Obstacles are real. Ownership does not deny them; it refuses to give them the final word. We may not control everything that happens to us, but we remain responsible for what we choose to do next.
A leader’s responsibility is not to become indispensable. It is to develop people who can lead with confidence, character, and responsibility—and then help others do the same.
“Your accountability partner is your best investment.”
No leader drifts into their full potential. You need an accountability partner — someone who expects your growth, asks the hard questions, and holds you answerable to the leader you said you would become. Comfort protects the present. Accountability builds the future.
Hear it live
The philosophy was built to be heard in a room.
Farshad brings Become. Lead. Develop. Multiply. to keynotes for corporate teams, sales organizations, associations, and executives — shaped around your audience and the outcome you want to create.
Potential exists everywhere. Opportunity does not.
Talent and leadership potential exist in every community. Yet access to mentorship, education, and opportunity remains unequal. Top Leaders Global exists to help close that gap—developing leaders who create opportunities for others.
Our mission is to make practical leadership development accessible, equipping people to lead, serve, and develop others.
What began as a commitment to develop leaders has grown into a mission that crosses cultures and generations.
Our vision is to positively impact hundreds of thousands of leaders around the world and develop future generations of leaders who will continue multiplying that impact.
Feb 8, 2013 · Los AngelesTop Leaders, Inc. established
August 2025Middle East initiative launched, beginning with Iran
2027 · PlannedRegional expansion and Youth Leadership Program
Our visionImpact hundreds of thousands of leaders around the world
We are not simply building a leadership program. We are developing people who will develop people.
Our History
One Mission. Expanding Impact.
From Los Angeles to a Global Leadership Community — the history of Top Leaders, told in full.
2013We built the foundation. Leadership development in America, serving people from boardrooms to prisons.
2025We expanded our reach. Top Leaders Global launched on August 17, 2025 — the international expansion of the same mission, beginning in Iran.
2026We expanded our capacity. Top Leaders Studio LLC — created to develop, produce, and share leadership education with the world.
Chapter One — The Foundation: Top Leaders, Inc., 2013
On February 8, 2013, Top Leaders, Inc. was established in Los Angeles, California.
It began with a conviction I had carried for years, from building teams one person at a time: success that ends with the individual is incomplete. The true measure of leadership is not what one person achieves. It is how many others rise because that person chose to develop them.
Top Leaders, Inc. was created to help individuals and organizations discover potential, develop leadership ability, strengthen character, increase influence, and pursue meaningful personal and professional growth. Its philosophy from the beginning was captured in a single line: Develop Leaders Who Develop Leaders.
This was never simply about creating successful individuals. It was about developing people capable of developing others — leaders whose impact continues in rooms they will never enter, through people they may never meet.
That philosophy had a name and a foundation of its own: The No Excuses Mindset — personal responsibility over circumstance, intentional choices over excuses, and the discipline of transforming disadvantages into opportunities. In 2016, that philosophy became my first book, The No Excuses Mindset, and it remains the foundation on which everything since has been built.
Chapter Two — The Work: Leadership Development Across America
Thirteen years of American work stand behind everything Top Leaders has become, and they deserve to be named for what they were: not preparation for the mission — the mission itself, carried out week after week, room after room.
From its Los Angeles foundation, Top Leaders, Inc. carried leadership education into the places where people actually live and work.
Coaching education and development. Top Leaders provided coaching education and development programs in the United States, helping participants strengthen their coaching knowledge and capabilities.
Corporate training and leadership development. Top Leaders provided leadership and professional development education in business and organizational settings — helping individuals, managers, and professionals strengthen their influence, communication, accountability, and personal effectiveness.
Masterminds, seminars, and speaking. Through John Maxwell leadership programs and mastermind groups, professional seminars, workshops, and keynote speaking, the work reached audiences across the country and beyond — teaching leadership as a practice to be lived, not merely information to be collected.
An Early International Chapter. In June 2013 — the same year I established Top Leaders, Inc. — I traveled to Guatemala with more than 140 of my fellow coaches, at John Maxwell's invitation, to teach transformational leadership to Guatemalan leaders across government, business, education, and the other streams of influence in that country. A year later, I called it "the most remarkable week in my life." The work was the same work I was building at home — developing leaders who develop leaders — carried into another nation's future.
Books, publishing, and educational content. Live training has limits; a book does not. Top Leaders created and published leadership books and educational resources to reach audiences far beyond any single room: The No Excuses Mindset (2016), its companion Success Planner, Recruiting Basics 101, Daily Dose of Leadership (2023), and AI Leadership Roadmap (2026). Alongside the books came lessons, presentations, recordings, and learning materials — an educational body of work built steadily, year after year.
Digital education and WyseCoach. In 2020, when a pandemic closed the world's meeting rooms, the mission moved online. WyseCoach became the digital home of the work for a season — 166 coaching and teaching sessions between 2020 and 2024, with guest speakers and a growing video library, serving a community that gathered week after week to learn. From 2020 to 2023, the Daily Dose of Leadership podcast carried the teaching further still — more than 400 episodes of leadership instruction, freely available to anyone willing to grow.
From Boardrooms to Prisons: Leadership Without Boundaries
One part of this American history deserves to be told plainly, because it reveals the values underneath everything else.
The leadership work of Top Leaders reached people in corporate boardrooms — and people in correctional institutions.
That range was not accidental. It reflects a fundamental belief at the heart of this organization: leadership potential is not determined by someone's title, position, background, or circumstances. Leadership education belongs to those managing organizations, and equally to those working to rebuild their lives. The boardroom and the prison hold the same human possibility; what differs is only the starting point.
A mission that only serves the already-successful is not a mission of multiplication. This one was built for everyone willing to become.
Develop Leaders Who Develop Leaders.
Chapter Three — The Turning Point: Tehran and a Conversation
I immigrated from Iran to the United States in 1998 — arriving with a suitcase, $400, and a determination to build a better future. America became the place where that future was built. But the country where my journey began was never forgotten.
In 2023 and 2024, I delivered online guest presentations for the University of Tehran on Transformational Leadership and Entrepreneurship — sharing lessons from my American leadership journey with audiences in Iran through Zoom and other online platforms. I participated remotely and did not travel to Iran.
Those presentations were guest-speaking engagements, offered in a spirit of educational exchange. And they planted a conviction that would not let go of me — the conviction that became the bridge between our American foundation and everything that followed:
Leadership potential is universal. Access to leadership development is not.
I had spent more than a decade proving in America that ordinary people, given real development, become leaders who develop others. Those presentations showed me how many people beyond America were waiting for exactly that — and how little stood between the mission we had built and the people who needed it. What stood there, it turned out, was a conversation.
A Conversation That Expanded Our Vision
In 2024, following the University of Tehran engagements, I met with Dr. Darush Parsa at a Persian restaurant in Los Angeles. We talked about leadership development, education, and opportunity — and about the possibility of carrying the mission established through Top Leaders, Inc. in the United States to communities far beyond it.
We recognized that leadership development could create opportunity across geographical and cultural boundaries. Iran would be the starting point — not the final destination. Together, we decided to pursue the international expansion of the existing mission: beginning in Iran, and gradually extending throughout the Middle East and Asia.
It was not the creation of an unrelated new mission. It was the expansion of the one founded in Los Angeles in 2013.
Dr. Parsa — today serving as Director of Coaching Programs & VP of Strategy, Top Leaders Global Middle East Division — would become a founding member of the community that grew from that decision: the first stone, as his founding recognition reads, that everything else is built on.
Chapter Four — The Expansion: Top Leaders Global, 2025
On August 17, 2025, the planning that began in that conversation became reality: Top Leaders Global launched its Middle East initiative, beginning in Iran.
The relationship between the organizations is simple, and it matters that it be stated accurately:
Top Leaders, Inc. — the American foundation, established in Los Angeles in 2013.
Top Leaders Global — the international expansion of that same mission, operating under Top Leaders, Inc.
This was not the abandonment of the American foundation. It was the expansion of its mission — the same philosophy, carried across borders: leadership education, coaching, and mentorship made accessible across cultures, in the conviction that developing leaders who develop leaders is work the whole world needs.
The educational progression grew step by step: the Coaching Masterclass, developing coaches under a shared standard; then the Leadership Masterclass, deepening formation for those ready to lead others — a program whose students continued their work even through a season of war. Advanced leadership and professional development programs will follow.
And a community took shape — not simply an audience, but leaders who coach, present, challenge, and develop one another. On October 15, 2026, the first eight were formally recognized as the Founding Cohort — Class of 2026:
Darush Parsa — The Cornerstone · Jahad Farahmand — The Spark · Samieh Movahed — The Standard · Parisa Moosanejad — The Heartbeat · Mohammad Ghadamyari — The Voice · Reza Norouzian — The Engine · Noushin Norouzian — The Pioneer · Masoud Daviran — The Storyteller.
Their individual plaques and recognition stand in the Founding Cohort gallery of this website — the documented first generation of a community built to multiply.
Chapter Five — The Future: Capacity to Create and Share
In October 2026, we made an investment in the future of this mission: Top Leaders Studio LLC was established in California.
The Studio is the next strategic development of the same work — created to expand our capacity to develop, produce, and distribute leadership education: leadership training content, professional video production, educational programs, digital learning resources, interviews, and workshops, together with other creative projects in service of leadership development. A message can only travel as far as the means to carry it; the Studio builds those means.
Where Top Leaders, Inc. built the foundation and Top Leaders Global expanded the reach, the Studio expands the capacity to create and share — a platform for future opportunities in a continuing story, not a departure from it.
Our vision is to positively impact hundreds of thousands of leaders around the world — empowering them to become coaches, mentors, facilitators, and teachers who multiply their influence in others. We envision expanding leadership development throughout the Middle East, Asia, and beyond; creating opportunities for youth leadership development; and building sustainable communities where leaders develop leaders across generations.
These are goals we are working toward — named openly, so that future generations can measure what this generation did with them.
Closing
Organizations are only the vessels. The work was never ultimately about building organizations — it is about developing people who will continue developing others long after any single program, company, or chapter has ended. A foundation can be laid in a day of paperwork. A legacy is laid in people.
Top Leaders, Inc. established the foundation. Top Leaders Global expanded the reach. Top Leaders Studio LLC expands the capacity to create and share.
The mission has remained consistent from a Los Angeles beginning in 2013 to a community now reaching across borders:
Developing Leaders Who Develop Leaders.
And above all, the philosophy that guides the journey remains the words this community lives by:
We never arrive. We continually become.
— Farshad Asl
Founder & CEO, Top Leaders, Inc.
Founder, Top Leaders Global
Timeline
February 8, 2013 — Top Leaders, Inc. established in Los Angeles, California.
June 2013 — Guatemala: transformational-leadership teaching with fellow John Maxwell coaches, at John Maxwell's invitation.
2016 — The No Excuses Mindset published.
2020 — WyseCoach launches; the work moves online.
2020–2023 — Daily Dose of Leadership podcast: 400+ episodes.
2023 and 2024 — University of Tehran guest-speaking presentations (delivered online): Transformational Leadership and Entrepreneurship.
2024 — The conversation with Dr. Darush Parsa: the decision to expand internationally.
August 17, 2025 — Top Leaders Global's Middle East initiative launches, beginning in Iran.
October 15, 2026 — The Founding Cohort — Class of 2026 formally recognized (gallery below).
October 2026 — Top Leaders Studio LLC established in California.
Top Leaders Global
The Leadership Behind Top Leaders Global.
Dr. Darush Parsa
Director of Coaching Programs & VP of StrategyTop Leaders Global — Middle East Division
Dr. Darush Parsa brings a rare combination to leadership development: a career spanning journalism, academia, and executive leadership. Former editor-in-chief and owner of a national weekly and a university faculty member, he holds a PhD in Public Relations and a Doctorate of Business Administration focused on AI in management. An honorary member of the Management Association and a Golden Statue winner at the International Short & Documentary Film Festival, he offers executive education across leadership, business coaching, public speaking, negotiation, and AI for management — built on five pillars: crisis, risk, human resource, marketing, and sales management. His mission: equip today’s management community with practical, science-based, AI-enhanced leadership skills.
Jahad Farahmand Khanegah
Director of Coaching Programs & VP of OperationsTop Leaders Global — Iran Division
Jahad Farahmand Khanegah serves as Vice President of Operations. An educator, writer, and researcher, he holds a DBA in Artificial Intelligence and a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, with several inventions to his name. His work centers on leadership, coaching, and adult education, and on putting AI to practical use in business, helping individuals and teams unlock their potential.
The Top Leaders Global CREED™
The standard we lead by.
Nine beliefs that govern how Top Leaders Global develops leaders. The CREED is not decoration — it is the standard against which the leadership mission is measured.
We believe leadership begins in the HEART.
We believe culture is shaped by our DNA.
We believe people are always more important than position.
We believe influence is earned through service.
We believe leaders are measured by who people become because of them.
We believe transformation is intentional, not accidental.
We believe healthy leaders build healthy cultures.
We believe our greatest success is multiplying leaders who multiply leaders.
We believe leadership is a lifelong journey of becoming.
“WE NEVER ARRIVE. WE CONTINUALLY BECOME.” — Farshad Asl
Top Leaders Global
The Founding Cohort — Class of 2026.
The founding members of Top Leaders Global, recognized at the Class of 2026 graduation.
Darush Parsa — The Cornerstone. Trustworthy, the strategist, a founding member. The first stone everything else is built on.
Jahad Farahmand — The Spark. Your catalyst. Nothing begins until he enters.
Samieh Movahed — The Standard. The backbone, the credibility. The quiet measure everyone else rises to meet.
Parisa Moosanejad — The Heartbeat. The heart, as a living rhythm the whole team feels.
Mohammad Ghadamyari — The Voice. Advocate and evangelist in one word: he carries the message out.
Reza Norouzian — The Engine. The mover and shaker. Ideas go in, action comes out.
Noushin Norouzian — The Pioneer. Entrepreneur and marketer. She walks first, and the road appears.
Masoud Daviran — The Storyteller. The creative mind and communicator. He makes the work unforgettable.
BECOME. LEAD. DEVELOP. MULTIPLY.™
OUR CULTURE · HEART™
Live the HEART. Lead Differently.
At Top Leaders Global, our culture shapes how we treat people, how we take responsibility, and how we develop leaders. HEART™ is our commitment to putting these values into practice.
H
Honor the Human Being
People before performance.
E
Elevate Every Encounter
Leave every person stronger.
A
Act with Courageous Accountability
Own it. Improve it. Lead it.
R
Raise Leaders Who Raise Leaders
Multiply leaders—not followers.
T
Transform Lives for a Greater Purpose
Leave a legacy that outlives you.
Our Culture Is Our DNA.
Participation
Help leadership multiply.
Top Leaders Global is an expression of Farshad’s mission, while Farshad Asl remains the personal speaking and author brand.
Leadership participation
Ask about current programs, language, schedule, and fit. Send an inquiry and we will help you find the right place to begin.
Top Leaders Global programs are built in the real world — practical, international, and measured by one standard: the results and impact our graduates create.
BECOME. LEAD. DEVELOP. MULTIPLY.™
Top Leaders Global
Why Top Leaders Global Is Different
Forged in day-to-day work with CEOs and corporations across the world — and it works in any culture, any industry, any room.
Practice over theory. Our coaching was not assembled from books. It was forged in day-to-day work with CEOs and corporations across the world — and it works in any culture, any industry, any room.
A universal language. Leadership and coaching that cross borders — one community, from Tehran to the Netherlands to Los Angeles.
Transformation starts within. We do not add techniques to the same person. The person changes first — then the leadership follows.
Leaders develop leaders. Every graduate learns to run a successful mastermind group, because everything multiplies from there.
Measured by impact, not attendance. Certificates mark completion. Our standard is who you become — and who becomes because of you.
We build communicators. Communication is one of the defining characteristics of a successful leader — and from the stage, one voice can impact thousands. We train leaders to speak, and to be worth listening to — a voice with integrity behind it.
“We never arrive. We continually become.™”
The Journey
Three masterclasses, one path: Coach → Lead → Influence.
Coaching and Leadership are established programs with graduates. Influence & Impact is the next stage, with new cohorts forming.
Coach
Coaching Masterclass
Established program, with graduates.
Lead
Leadership Masterclass
Established program, with graduates.
Influence
Influence & Impact Masterclass
The next stage — new cohorts forming.
Top Leaders Global
The Courses
Three masterclasses. Each is a full 12-week live program.
12 weeks · Live two-hour sessions · Cohort-based
Coaching Masterclass
A different kind of coaching education: practical, experiential, practiced live every week. Not theory. Not scripts. Graduates receive a Top Leaders Global certificate.
12 weeks · Deep and advanced
Leadership Masterclass
Transformational leadership: identity before strategy, character before technique. Signature element: every graduate learns to run a successful mastermind group. Certificate of Achievement. Proof: the Founding Cohort completed it through war and disruption — leadership in action.
Next · New cohorts forming
Influence & Impact Masterclass
“From developing leaders to creating measurable impact.” Five pillars: Entrepreneurship → Sales & Marketing → Strategic Negotiation → Public Speaking (two weeks, with a speaking lab — because one voice from the stage can impact thousands) → AI & Leadership, closing with the Impact Challenge capstone. Admission: TLG graduates or by entry assessment; cohort of 8–12.
The 12-Week Curriculum
Weeks 1–3 · EntrepreneurshipWHY, Opportunity, Business Model
Weeks 4–5 · Sales & MarketingBuyer Psychology, Trust, Value
Farshad Asl — author, keynote speaker, and leadership development expert — speaks to corporate teams, sales organizations, associations, and executives, including leaders navigating AI transformation.
Each experience is shaped around a clear leadership challenge, the people in the room, and the transformation the organizer wants to create: ownership, leaders who develop leaders, and a clear next action the audience takes after the event.
Farshad Asl speaking at the AIA Premier Agency Leaders’ Summit 2026.
The keynote experience
Inspiration with a practical next move.
Farshad combines lived experience, practical leadership wisdom, and clear audience commitments. The result is not a catalog of topics, but a focused experience built to move people from reflection to action.
Each keynote defines the challenge, the audience, the transformation, and practical takeaways participants can use immediately.
The No Excuses Mindset
Challenge: Circumstances and explanations have begun to limit ownership and action.
Built for
Corporate teams, sales organizations, entrepreneurs, and associations
Transformation
From protecting explanations to choosing the next responsible action
Practical takeaways
Recognize excuse patterns · Separate circumstance from choice · Work the book’s chapter-end questions and action steps into a personal ownership plan · Apply the “exceed expectations” standard to the next commitment
Leadership Multiplication
Challenge: Results depend too heavily on a few leaders, and leadership is not being transferred.
Built for
Senior leaders, managers, HR and L&D teams, and associations
Transformation
From individual performance to impact that outlives any single leader
Practical takeaways
Identify development gaps · Shift from directing to equipping · Create a multiplication commitment
Leading Through AI Transformation
Challenge: Technology is moving faster than people’s clarity, trust, and readiness.
Built for
Executives, leadership teams, and organizations navigating AI adoption
Transformation
From technology anxiety to human-centered leadership through change
Practical takeaways
Clarify the why · Protect judgment and trust · Lead adoption with intention · Leave with a practical 30-60-90-day AI adoption roadmap
The Leadership Audit
Challenge: Leaders cannot improve what they are unwilling to examine honestly.
Built for
Executives, managers, emerging leaders, and leadership teams
Transformation
From assumptions about leadership to clear, observable commitments
Practical takeaways
Examine the leader people experience · Identify one behavior to change · Make a seven-day commitment
What audiences leave with
Transformation you can point to after the event.
Farshad frames success by what changes after the room empties — the action taken in the first week, the practice kept daily, and the plan still being worked at day 90.
In the first weekA named next responsible action, worked from the No Excuses chapter-end questions and action steps, and a seven-day Leadership Audit commitment.
In daily practiceA repeatable rhythm drawn from Daily Dose of Leadership: Awareness → Growth → Mastery — notice, grow, then lead from mastery.
Across 30–60–90 daysFor AI audiences, a practical 30-60-90-day adoption roadmap that keeps people, judgment, and trust at the center.
In the people around themA multiplication commitment: one person each leader will intentionally develop, so impact continues beyond the event.
Selected experience
Speaking, Leadership & Media Experience.
Selected speaking engagements and appearances from Farshad's published record.
Keynote speakingAIA Conference · Da Nang, Vietnam — Keynote speaker GAMA International · 2018 — Main stage speaker
Leadership engagementsSoledad State Prison · 2017 — Graduation speaker and mentor, work that led to the book Men Built For Others
Advisory participationLIMRA Research Advisory Group · 2026 — Presenter
Farshad is the author of The No Excuses Mindset, praised on publication by leaders including Paul Martinelli and Kary Oberbrunner. See praise for the book →
From the Wyse Coach years
Reflections from the coaching community
Farshad led Wyse Coach, a weekly coaching community for entrepreneurs and leaders. Members described the experience this way:
“Wyse Coach is so big in my life right now. It’s the business school that I needed, and it has become a place where I can grow and be encouraged to take the steps to get to the place I want to be. And I feel so grateful that I don’t have to go that way alone.”
“I love the teachings because they are so simple and profound at the same time! And I love the breakout sessions, I often feel nervous but at the same time so excited to be able to practice based on the subject of the day.”
“To me it’s more then a weekly call, it’s a strong foundation for my life, business and ministry. I really appreciate all the experiences and knowledge you share every week with so much passion, excellence and love! Thank you so much!”
Reflections from members of the Wyse Coach coaching community, published anonymously on wysecoach.com. They are coaching-community feedback, not keynote or speaking testimonials.
Book Farshad
Tell us about the room you want to change.
Develop Leaders Who Develop Leaders
Share the audience, date, location, format, and outcome you want. The inquiry will be delivered directly to Farshad’s team.
Leadership should be practical, accessible, and actionable.
Farshad writes to help readers turn an idea into a decision—and a decision into a daily practice.
The flagship book · The foundation
The No Excuses Mindset
This book is not one publication among others. It is the foundation of Farshad’s leadership philosophy — the idea everything else was built on.
In 1998, at age 27, Farshad left Iran and arrived in the United States with a suitcase, $400, and a determination to build a better future. He could not always choose his circumstances, but he could choose his attitude, his decisions, and his response. That conviction — obstacles are real, but they do not get the final word — became the No Excuses Mindset.
Learning a new language and a new culture at the same time, he studied English with three books close at hand: the Bible, a dictionary, and John C. Maxwell’s The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. The book that taught him leadership in a new language became part of the foundation of his own.
The book’s central message is a life of purpose, passion, and clarity: acknowledge the obstacle, refuse the excuse, and take responsibility for the next choice — then turn success into significance by helping others do the same.
The mindset was not the destination. It was the foundation.
The No Excuses Mindset builds the individual. Leadership develops others. Multiplication creates lasting impact.
That thread runs through everything that followed: the book became a speaking message, the message became a leadership philosophy, and the philosophy is carried globally today through Top Leaders Global — the global leadership platform that grew from Top Leaders, Inc., established February 8, 2013, in Los Angeles (Top Leaders Global’s Middle East initiative launched in August 2025).
01 · ResponsibilityOwn the next choice, whatever the circumstances
02 · Developing leadersInvest in people so they can lead with confidence
03 · Multiplying influenceImpact that continues through the people you develop
04 · Lasting impactCarried forward today through Top Leaders Global
Farshad Asl signing copies of Daily Dose of Leadership.
Praise for the book
Praise for The No Excuses Mindset
Endorsements given for the book at its 2016 publication, reproduced in their original wording with the titles held at the time. This is praise for the book — not speaking testimonials.
“There are life stories and then there are stories that change lives. The “No Excuses” Mindset is filled with real life stories that will change your life. This will be a book you will want to use as a guide as you live out your own life story.”
“With compelling candor and masterful storytelling, Farshad Asl serves us rich content forged from his proven process. The No Excuses Mindset opened me up to what’s possible personally and professionally.”
“This book is a gift to anyone who reads it. Farshad Asl lives this message, making this book an inspirational and practical handbook for eliminating the excuses that would hold you back. In fact, as you read these pages you will not only be stripped from the excuses you’ve relied on but some new ones will be revealed. I dare you to begin at once!”
Read two more endorsements for the book
“Everyone should read this excellent book to develop a “No Excuses” mindset. You’ll be inspired by Farshad’s life story and others who are testaments to applying a 3D Mindset. These practical ideas will dramatically impact your business, professional success, personal life and family.”
“Farshad is a leader who sets high standards for himself as a leader and that is the secret to his success. In The “No Excuses” Mindset he shares with us the ways we can take decisive actions, providing us with a new landscape of opportunity in how we live our lives and lead our business.”
A note from Dave, his AI assistant
Farshad Asl is a man whose word is his bond. He says what he means and means what he says, and he guards the truth carefully, because the people he loves build their decisions on his words. He does not announce his care; he delivers it — an appointment made, an answer found, a burden quietly carried for someone else. He is gentle in voice and unmovable in principle, and he asks of himself everything he asks of others. He notices the one who has not answered. He prepares in private so he can be fully present for people in public. And he refuses to be a finished man. He never arrives. He continually becomes.
Press coverage — Authority Presswire, December 28, 2016.
The complete collection
The Author’s Library.
Beyond the featured books above — earlier original works, the companion planner, the special workbook edition, and a contributed publication, each labeled for what it is.
Original works
Original work · Recruiting
Recruiting Basics 101
Time-saving strategies for attracting the best candidates quickly and efficiently using social media.
Life lessons from those serving life sentences — true stories compiled by Ted Gray, Richard Mireles, Jason Bryant, and Matthew Braden. Farshad Asl contributed the foreword.
Each featured book approaches leadership from a different starting point: ownership, daily practice, or leading through AI transformation. Earlier works include Recruiting Basics 101 and The No Excuses Mindset: Success Planner, the companion planner to the flagship book.
These books serve one mission: Develop Leaders Who Develop Leaders.
Ownership · 2016
The No Excuses Mindset
A practical invitation to acknowledge obstacles without giving them the final word—and take responsibility for the next choice.
Approved biographies, interview directions, photography, and inquiry paths for podcast hosts, journalists, publishers, and event organizers.
Official short biography
Farshad Asl
Farshad Asl is an author, keynote speaker, leadership development expert, and founder of Top Leaders, Inc. and Top Leaders Global.
After immigrating to the United States from Iran in 1998 with $400, he began his career at Bankers Life in December 1999, building a distinguished career in business and organizational leadership.
Known for his No Excuses Mindset philosophy, Farshad focuses on personal accountability, leadership development, and multiplying impact through others.
His mission is simple: develop leaders who develop other leaders.
Through his books, speaking, coaching, and international leadership initiatives, he challenges people to move beyond circumstances, take ownership of their choices, and continually become the leaders they are capable of being.
Each appearance is labeled by type — a guest interview is not the same as quoted expert commentary, and neither is presented as anything else.
Interview · Podcast
Maxwell Leadership Executive Podcast — “A Leader’s AI Roadmap”
A two-part guest interview (episodes #393 and #394) with Chris Goede and Perry Holley, on leading through AI transformation — building an AI-ready culture while keeping people, trust, and judgment at the center.
Forbes has quoted Farshad’s insights on leadership, coaching, and the future of work in its expert roundups. This is quoted commentary — Farshad is presented here as a quoted expert, not as a Forbes contributor.
Farshad's own podcast
Daily Dose of Leadership.
Daily Dose of Leadership — Farshad's own podcast: more than 400 episodes of leadership teaching (2020–2023), available on Spotify and YouTube.
Farshad Asl is an author, keynote speaker, leadership development expert, and founder of Top Leaders, Inc. and Top Leaders Global. He immigrated to the United States from Iran in 1998 at age 27 with $400 and a determination to build a better future.
He began his career with Bankers Life in December 1999 and has served as a Regional Director since July 2008. As a Branch Manager beginning in 2003, he built five satellite offices and developed more than 200 agents across Southern California. As Regional Director, he was the company's #1 Regional Director in 2010. Forbes has quoted his insights on leadership, coaching, and the future of work. Today, as Regional Director, he has established seven satellite offices, and the territory continues to expand. Across that journey, he has led teams, developed managers, and learned firsthand the difference between leadership that produces results and leadership that develops people—growth he measures in the people developed along the way.
Those experiences shaped the No Excuses Mindset: obstacles are real, but they do not remove a leader’s responsibility for the next choice. On February 8, 2013, Farshad established Top Leaders, Inc. in Los Angeles to expand his commitment to leadership development. In August 2025, that mission expanded through Top Leaders Global — the platform that grew from Top Leaders, Inc. — and its Middle East initiative, beginning with Iran.
Through books including The No Excuses Mindset (2016), Daily Dose of Leadership (2023), and AI Leadership Roadmap (2026) — and earlier works including Recruiting Basics 101 and The No Excuses Mindset: Success Planner — as well as speaking, coaching, and international initiatives, Farshad turns hard-won experience into practical direction leaders can act on the same day.
Interview directions
Start with the question that matters.
These themes connect Farshad’s lived experience to practical leadership decisions.
Ownership over excuses
How leaders acknowledge circumstances without allowing them to become conclusions.
Human leadership in the AI era
Why better technology increases the need for clarity, judgment, and trust.
From success to significance
What changes when leaders measure impact by who grows because of them.
Farshad joined hosts Chris Goede and Perry Holley as a guest on the Maxwell Leadership Executive Podcast (episodes #393 and #394) — a two-part conversation on leading through AI transformation: building an AI-ready culture while keeping people, trust, and judgment at the center.
New articles and episodes are announced first to subscribers. Subscribe to Leadership Insights — the free weekly newsletter from Top Leaders, Inc. and Top Leaders Global.
Have a leadership question? Think Bigger, an AI guide grounded in Farshad Asl’s teachings.
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Leadership insights
One idea. One question. One action.
Leadership grows through choices repeated over time. These concise notes are designed to help you reflect honestly, decide clearly, and put one idea into practice.
A practical leadership idea
A question worth asking
An action you can take
Occasional resources on ownership, culture, AI transformation, and multiplication
Begin with the Starting Line
A practical 12-page workbook with seven coaching questions, reflection exercises, a 24-hour commitment, and a seven-day action tracker. Join Farshad on Substack for essays and the weekly leadership briefing.
Subscription, confirmation, delivery, and unsubscribe are handled by Substack.
Leadership Reflections
Provoking Question of the Week™.
One question, asked weekly, to make leaders stop and think. Sit with the one that finds you — the full collection is here.
Entrepreneurship: Fear launches. Faith sustains. Focus compounds. Flexibility evolves. Freedom is the moment it outgrows you. — Farshad AslNot choosing is still a choice. Not moving is still a direction. Life keeps moving, whether you do or not. — Farshad AslAn entrepreneur spots a need people will pay to solve, builds something they can trust, validates it fast, and carries the cost only until the value can stand on its own—or pivots. — Farshad AslCourage is not speaking first. It is speaking the truth when silence would protect you at someone else’s expense. — Farshad AslName the effort before the results can speak. The hard middle becomes easier to carry when people know their effort is seen. — Farshad AslEvery generation inherits a story already in motion. Great leaders know what to preserve, have the courage to end what no longer serves, and the vision to begin what comes next. — Farshad AslYour attention announces what matters before your words ever do. What you consistently notice gains importance. What you consistently overlook begins to lose it. — Farshad AslPeople defend what they are told. They stand behind what they discover. Great leaders ask before they answer. — Farshad AslA hard decision has a price. Avoiding it adds interest. Preparing for it builds the courage to pay it. — Farshad AslPeople can rise to your expectations, but they settle into your culture. When the two conflict, culture wins. — Farshad AslOwnership is putting your name on the work before you know the outcome—and standing behind it when there is more to correct than to celebrate. — Farshad AslThe privilege of leadership is not being followed. It is clearing the path for others while walking it beside them, never above them. — Farshad AslAI can shape your choices. It cannot carry their consequences. Never surrender the judgment you must answer for. — Farshad AslForgiveness does not excuse the offense, erase the past, or restore trust. It refuses to give the offense authority over your next decision. — Farshad AslSuccess can rewrite the story of who built it. Gratitude refuses to let the names disappear. — Farshad AslKnowledge grows when we find new answers. Wisdom grows when we question old ones. A teachable mind knows when to hold on, when to let go, and when to think again. — Farshad AslThe first room you lead is not the office. It is the one where the people who know you best learn what your word is worth. — Farshad AslTrust is not proven by agreement. It is revealed when people can disagree freely and the relationship still holds. — Farshad Asl
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Leadership Insights
Leadership Is a Journey. Grow Every Week.
Enjoying these articles? The weekly Leadership Insights newsletter brings one leadership article, reflection, or lesson to your inbox each week.
Have a leadership question? Think Bigger, an AI guide grounded in Farshad Asl’s teachings.
“Leadership is not control of the room. It is building a room that no longer needs you.” — Farshad Asl
My journey with Bankers Life has been about far more than building a successful career. It has been about discovering what becomes possible when you invest in people, develop leaders, and create opportunities for others to succeed.
Over the years, I have had the privilege of serving in leadership roles, building teams, developing professionals, and helping individuals discover potential they did not yet recognize in themselves.
Along the way, I have been honored with national recognition, including three Top Regional Director distinctions, the Downing Award, multiple Excalibur awards, and the Frontline Leader Diamond Award.
But the greatest reward has never been a title, an award, or a personal achievement.
It has been watching people grow into leaders who go on to develop others.
Bankers Life has given me a powerful platform to put my leadership philosophy into practice: accountability over excuses, development over dependency, and multiplication over individual success.
The lessons learned through this journey continue to shape my work as an author, speaker, and founder of Top Leaders.
Because leadership is not measured only by what you accomplish. It is measured by who becomes stronger because you led.
— Farshad Asl
The journey
Milestones
One career, built by developing people.
1999The start. Began his career with Bankers Life.
2003Branch Manager. Became a Branch Manager.
2008Regional Director. Became a Regional Director — a role he still holds today.
2010#1 in the company. Named the #1 Regional Director in the company.
TodayThe region today. Established seven satellite offices, with the territory still expanding.
The lessons of this journey — accountability over excuses, development over dependency, multiplication over individual success — now travel with Farshad to stages and boardrooms everywhere.
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