The Weight at the Top Is Real. Stop Carrying It Alone.
Peak is XCL's one-on-one coaching partnership for Christian leaders who carry a mission, a team, and the money — and have run out of people they can be honest with. Twelve months with an operator who has sat in your seat, worked on your real numbers.
Forty-five minutes. Bring the thing you haven't said out loud yet. Leave with one clear move — whether we work together or not.
Two Tracks. One Partnership.
Nonprofit leaders and business owners carry different problems, so Peak runs two tracks with different tools and different conversations — inside the same twelve-month container. Pick your door.
Mission Peak
You lead a mission, a staff, and a board — and the budget depends on money that hasn't been raised yet. The leadership problems and the revenue problems are the same problem, and nobody on your team can help you carry either one.
- Leadership: get out of the bottleneck seat and build a team that runs without you in every meeting
- Strategy: a twelve-month plan your board can read and your staff can execute
- Revenue: a fundraising system — donor pipeline, major gifts, retention — built and coached by someone who has raised it
Business Peak
The call is yours to make — on pricing, on cash, on the person you know you have to let go — and you're making it alone. Business Peak puts an operator who has made those calls in the seat next to you, with a toolkit built for the exact stage you're in.
- Buy: due diligence, valuation sanity, and a transition plan so you take the controls with confidence
- Fix: stabilize cash and margin, cut what's broken, rebuild off your real numbers
- Grow: pricing, positioning, and systems that scale past founder-only
The Weight Doesn't Get Lighter. It Gets Quieter.
Half of CEOs say they're lonely in the seat — and most of them say it's hurting their performance. Two-thirds of nonprofit executive directors plan to leave within five years, and a third are seriously worried about their own burnout. Business owners with a mentor beside them survive at twice the rate of owners who go it alone. The problem isn't that leaders can't handle pressure. It's that they handle it alone, for years, and call that strength.
You've built something real. You are also the only person who sees the whole board — the budget, the staff, the donors or the customers, the family waiting at home. Every hard call lands on you and stays there. You don't need more inspiration. You need one person in your corner who has made those calls, will tell you the truth, and won't let you carry the next twelve months by yourself.
Harvard Business Review / RHR, 2012 · CompassPoint & Meyer Foundation, Daring to Lead, 2011 · Center for Effective Philanthropy, State of Nonprofits, 2024 · UPS Store survey, cited by the U.S. Small Business Administration
"For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers."
I've Sat in Both Seats.
I've walked into a turnaround with the P&L bleeding red and every hard call landing on me, with no one to hand it to. Twelve months later it was in the black. I've also sat in the nonprofit seat, where the budget depended on gifts that hadn't come in yet.
Different seats. Same weight. Same lie: that carrying it alone is part of the job.
It isn't. I know what every one of those calls costs a leader, and the people who love that leader. You don't have to make the next one alone.
Twelve Months. Three Climbs. One Operator in Your Corner.
Every Peak partnership follows the three mountains in the XCL mark, in order. The leader gets restored first, because nothing you install in the organization holds while you're the one holding it up. Then the organization matures. Then growth gets disciplined. Your track decides the tools and the conversation; the climb is the same, and so is the goal: grow without breaking.
Restore the Leader
Diagnose where the weight is actually landing, hand back what the structure should be holding, rebuild your decision architecture, and put a sustainable rhythm under your leadership and your faith.
Mature the Organization
Right people, right seats, real accountability. Structure that carries growth instead of personality, a leadership bench that doesn't depend on you, and a culture built on purpose.
Discipline the Ascent
Vision turned into a twelve-month execution map, a weekly scorecard, financial visibility, and a revenue system — donated or earned — that you can see ninety days out.
Same Container. Different Tools for Different Seats.
Both tracks get two private 60-minute sessions a month, message access to your coach between calls, and a seat in the XCL online classroom with every tool below available any time, for the life of your partnership.
Mission Peak
- Where the weight is landing — the Leadership Capacity Audit™ shows what you're carrying that the structure should hold, and what to hand back first
- A rhythm that protects your faith, not just your calendar — built for a leader under real pressure
- A way to make the big calls without circling them for months
- Who decides what, written down — right people, right seats, and a bench that doesn't depend on you (the 9-Block Talent System™)
- A fundraising system your board helps run — donor pipeline, major gifts, retention — built with someone who has raised it
- A twelve-month plan and a five-number weekly scorecard you can defend to your board
Business Peak
- The full Buy · Fix · Grow toolkit — 100+ operator-built guides, templates, and checklists inside your classroom
- Buy: know what you're really buying before you sign, and take the controls with a plan
- Fix: stabilize cash and margin, cut what's broken, and see cash ninety days out
- Grow: pricing, positioning, and a way to find and close customers that doesn't depend on you
- A business that stops running on your memory — right people, right seats, decisions with owners
- A twelve-month plan and a five-number weekly scorecard you actually look at
Peak Is Selective. On Purpose.
Peak has a qualifying call. Roughly half the leaders we meet with, we don't take — because the fit is wrong, the timing is wrong, or the leader isn't ready to do the work.
Peak is for you if…
- You lead a nonprofit of $2M+ or own a business of $1M+
- You're the one every hard call runs through — and you're tired of it
- You want an operator, not a cheerleader
- You'll open the books and tell the truth about them
- You'll do the work between sessions
- You believe leadership is stewardship, and you want it to show
Peak is not for you if…
- You want affirmation more than traction
- You're looking for a shortcut or a done-for-you fix
- You won't share the real numbers with your coach
- You need a group, not a one-on-one — The Ascent is the better door
- You're not ready to commit twelve months to changing how you lead
Coaching From Operators Who've Done It.
Every Peak session is with Josh Chumley, Franklin Santagate, or Marc Burmich — the partners behind XCL, and operators who have started, scaled, led, and turned around real companies and real nonprofits. Real-world experience. No theory.
Josh Chumley
Josh has run a $30M P&L, led teams of 400+, and driven millions in revenue and fundraising. With a decade-plus in both for-profit and nonprofit leadership, he coaches leaders through the people, process, and performance problems that keep the mission from moving.
Franklin Santagate
Franklin has built and run growth strategy inside companies from startup to Fortune 500, and coaches leaders on pricing, positioning, and the systems that scale past the founder. He's taken a brand from 15% to 80% market share and delivered 10x marketing ROI at Microsoft — and he brings that discipline to a $2M nonprofit as readily as a $20M company.
Marc Burmich
Marc has built and advised 30+ organizations, led brand and go-to-market strategy through two CMO/CCO seats, and doubled revenue rebuilding one of Arizona's largest nonprofits from the ground up — 25+ years turning clarity into results that hold up under real numbers.
From Leaders Who've Done the Work.
From the business seat — owners who did the work with Josh and Franklin.
"Josh and Franklin are the best. Their insights helped me move from feeling overwhelmed to having a focused, strategic plan, giving me the clarity and accountability to confidently grow my business. I couldn't more highly recommend them!"
CEO/Co-Owner, Tints Polish
"Franklin and Josh build unique strategy tailored to your business and its desired outcomes. Empowering people with resources and applicable insight on how to execute is the key to breakthrough — XCL Group makes that happen!"
President, Trelevate Inc.
"Franklin combines strategic thinking, clear storytelling, and a collaborative approach. He brings structure to complex ideas, aligns teams around a shared vision, and is the kind of teammate every organization benefits from."
Founder & CEO, Clickstop Inc.
Mission Peak is coached by the operators who have done this work from the inside. Marc rebuilt one of Arizona's largest nonprofits from the ground up and doubled its revenue. Josh has led a nonprofit through the season where the budget depends on gifts that haven't come in yet, and has raised millions doing it. The first Mission Peak client's story will sit here, in their words, when it's earned.
Leaders who fully engage the twelve months consistently report 20%+ of their leadership capacity returned and up to 20% improvement in organizational margin. Results vary by organization and reflect fully engaged clients; they are not a guarantee.
Three Steps to the Climb.
No application packet. No pitch deck. One honest conversation, then a decision on both sides.
Book a qualifying call
Forty-five minutes with Josh, Franklin, or Marc. We find the real constraint, tell you the one move to make first, and decide together whether Peak is the right door.
Get your twelve-month map
Your first month is diagnosis: the Leadership Capacity Audit, your numbers, your team. You leave it with a twelve-month climb sequenced to your seat — not a template.
Climb with your coach
Two private sessions a month, your coach a message away in between, and every tool in the classroom. You never make the hard call alone again.
Twelve Months From Now.
Not a vague promise about "growth." Here's the specific difference between carrying it alone and having an operator in your corner.
- Every decision of consequence waits for you — and you're the bottleneck you keep trying to fix
- The numbers live in your head and keep you up at night
- Revenue — the next gift, the next quarter — is a hope, not a system
- Your best people are capable, but nothing moves unless you push it
- Your faith gets the minutes left over after the urgent
- Home absorbs what work doesn't resolve
- Decisions have owners, and most of them aren't you
- You can see cash — or the donor pipeline — ninety days out and defend the plan to your board
- Revenue runs on a mapped system with a weekly scorecard, not on your energy
- The right people are in the right seats and they own outcomes
- Your leadership runs on a rhythm that protects your walk with God, not one that squeezes it
- You bring the hard calls to someone who's made them — and go home on time
And if nothing changes? The next twelve months happen either way. You'll be a year older, a year more tired, and the weight will be a little quieter — which is worse, because you'll have gotten used to it. That's the real cost of carrying it alone, and you pay it in a year you don't get back.
One Partnership. One Price. Both Tracks.
Peak is a twelve-month commitment on both sides, with the option to extend. We'll walk through the investment on your qualifying call, once we both know it's the right fit.
- 2 × 60-minute private sessions every month with Josh, Franklin, or Marc
- Message access to your coach between sessions
- Month-one diagnostic and a twelve-month map built to your seat
- Every tool for your track, inside the XCL online classroom, any time
- Business Peak: the full Buy · Fix · Grow toolkit (100+ guides and templates)
- Mission Peak: the fundraising Revenue System Map and board tools
- Quarterly strategic reviews against your scorecard
- Leadership-team sessions where the work requires it
Not sure which track fits? Book the call — we'll tell you honestly, including if the answer is The Ascent or neither.
Before You Book.
How does the coaching actually work?
Two private 60-minute sessions a month with Josh, Franklin, or Marc for twelve months, plus message access in between for the decisions that can't wait. Month one is diagnosis; months two through twelve follow the three climbs — restore the leader, mature the organization, discipline the ascent — with the tools for your track.
What's the difference between Mission Peak and Business Peak?
The seat. Mission Peak is for nonprofit leaders ($2M+ organizations) and adds revenue generation — fundraising systems, donor pipeline, board engagement — to the leadership and strategy work. Business Peak is for business owners ($1M+) who are buying, plateaued, or in a turnaround, and adds the Buy · Fix · Grow toolkit. Same container, same investment, different tools and a different conversation.
Do I have to complete The Ascent first?
No. The Ascent is our twelve-week group program; Peak is one-on-one and you can enter it directly. If the qualifying call makes it clear that a cohort is the better door for you right now, we'll say so.
Why a qualifying call?
Because twelve months of one-on-one work only pays off for a leader who's ready for it. Roughly half the leaders we meet with, we don't take — wrong fit, wrong timing, or not ready to do the work. The call is forty-five minutes, it's free, and you'll leave with one clear move either way.
Who will I be working with?
Josh, Franklin, or Marc — the operators behind XCL. Your primary coach is matched on the qualifying call based on your seat and what you need most; the other two are pulled in where the work calls for it.
What's the investment?
One price for either track, billed monthly across the twelve months, with an option to extend. We share the exact number on the qualifying call, once we both know Peak is the right fit. No surprises.
What results can I expect?
Leaders who fully engage the twelve months consistently report 20%+ of their leadership capacity returned, up to 20% improvement in organizational margin, a leadership bench that doesn't depend on them, and a revenue system they can see ninety days out. Results vary by organization and depend on doing the work — which is exactly what your coach is there to hold you to.
Bring the Thing You Haven't Said Out Loud.
Forty-five minutes with Josh, Franklin, or Marc. No pitch — we map where the weight is actually landing, name the one move to make first, and decide together whether Peak is your next climb.
CompassPoint & Meyer Foundation, Daring to Lead, 2011 · UPS Store survey, cited by the U.S. Small Business Administration · Harvard Business Review / RHR, 2012
Free · 45 minutes · Straight to Josh, Franklin, or Marc — not a sales rep. Leave with one clear move, whether we work together or not.
Find Out If You're the Lid on Your Own Organization.
The Leader Lid Score is a free, two-minute assessment that shows where your leadership is capping the growth of the people and the mission under you. It's the same diagnostic we start every Peak partnership with — and it's free, whether you ever book a call or not.
Take the Leader Lid Score →The Weight at the Top Is Real. Stop Carrying It Alone.
The next year of your leadership is happening either way. You can spend it making every hard call by yourself, or spend it with an operator who's made them, a map built to your seat, and a rhythm that gives you back your evenings and your walk with God. Grow without breaking. If that's what you want, book the call.
Book a Qualifying Call →