Crossing the Chasm: Why Transformation Beats Information Every Time

Dr. Darline Wilkenson
Sep 16
3 min read

How today's leaders must learn to hear differently, think differently, and become different

The New Leadership Reality

The notification pings at 2:47 AM. A video goes viral. Your face, your voice, your words, only they aren’t yours. It’s a deepfake, spreading faster than wildfire across social media. Overnight, your reputation is questioned. Your allies hesitate. Your character is on trial in the court of public opinion.

Welcome to leadership in 2025. The battlefield is no longer just markets or policies. The battlefield is truth. And in this fight, the leaders who survive aren’t the ones with the most data or the biggest platforms. They’re the ones willing to transform, to fundamentally change how they hear, think, and respond in a world where information alone is no longer enough.

Every Leader's Chasm

Every leader faces what Eunos Laverdure, co-founder of the Breakthrough Leadership Transformation Academy (BLTA), calls crossing the chasm: the gap between who you are today and the leader you envision becoming. This isn't about climbing a career ladder or acquiring new skills. It's about crossing into uncharted territory that only you can navigate.

“Crossing the chasm is personal,” Laverdure explained during a recent episode of Saw Dwe Konnen (“What You Ought to Know”). “No one else has crossed it exactly the way you need to. That's why transformation, not information, is your bridge.”

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Why More Data Won't Save You

We live in the age of information overload. CEOs receive hundreds of reports. Politicians are briefed on countless polls. Managers track dozens of metrics. Yet decision making hasn’t improved, it has often gotten worse.

The problem isn't lack of information. It's lack of transformation. Information tells you what happened. Transformation helps you understand what it means.

The Art of Hearing Differently

True leadership requires developing what we might call transformational listening—the ability to hear what’s not being said, to detect the signal within the noise, and to understand context as deeply as content.

This means:

Confirming before reacting. Pause. Repeat back what you’ve heard. Ask clarifying questions.
Sitting with silence. Give space for meaning to emerge.
Distinguishing between noise and signal. Not every piece of information deserves the same weight.

When Everything Falls Apart

During our interview with Laverdure, we experienced this principle firsthand. A technical breakdown froze our screens, killed our audio, and threatened to end the session entirely. For several minutes, we sat in digital silence.

But instead of panicking, we found opportunity. We adapted our approach, found workarounds, and ultimately delivered one of our most authentic conversations.

As Laverdure teaches at BLTA: “Breakdowns and breakthroughs are inseparable. At the Academy, we show that breakdowns are not signs of failure but catalysts for transformation. Every breakthrough is born in the breakdown.”

The Transformation Imperative

In a world of artificial voices and manufactured authenticity, leadership cannot be performance art. It must be genuine transformation, visible, continuous, and real.

History’s most impactful leaders, Martin Luther-King, Gandhi, Mandela, did not start as the leaders they became. They became who they needed to be.

Your Leadership Moment

Every leader today stands at their own chasm. Some retreat to what’s comfortable. Some build elaborate bridges of strategy and planning. But the ones who change the world, the ones we remember, take the leap.

The question isn’t whether you’re ready to cross your chasm. The question is whether you’re ready to be changed by the crossing. That’s where real leadership begins.

Invitation to the Academy

If this conversation stirred something in you, consider this your personal invitation. The Breakthrough Leadership Transformation Academy is hosting an Introduction Session this Thursday. It’s a chance to experience firsthand the journey from breakdown to breakthrough, from information to transformation.