Wildcats Baseline Business: Ascension Leadership

Warren Kofoed has spent more than 25 years studying what allows individuals, teams and organisations to perform at their best.

Kofoed’s career has taken him through the Australian Army, Olympic programs, elite sport and senior corporate roles.

That includes 15 years at the West Coast Eagles, where he served as Strength and Conditioning Manager during the club’s 2018 premiership campaign, before moving into a senior management position at Fortescue.

In 2024, Kofoed founded Ascension Leadership, drawing on those experiences to support leaders and organisations across mining, engineering, corporate, education and sport.

His current portfolio includes work with organisations across a range of industries, including RSM and the Perth Wildcats.

Despite the differences between those environments, Kofoed believes one leadership principle has remained constant.

“Ownership,” Kofoed said.

“Whether it’s elite sport or business, the strongest environments are the ones with a culture of ownership, where people take responsibility for their role, their decisions and their impact.”

Kofoed’s own approach to leadership has evolved considerably, with experience teaching him the value of building a capable team, trusting the expertise of those around him and empowering people to make sound decisions.

“Across the course of my last decade in sport, I increasingly learned to lean on my team,” he said.

“More recently, given the diversity of the portfolios I have been exposed to over the past three years, I have learned the value of subject matter experts and of building the trust and capability for people to make good decisions.”

The challenge for leaders is creating an environment where people are encouraged to speak openly and their concerns are heard before they begin to affect results.

“Often, the people closest to the work can see those issues first,” Kofoed said.

“The leadership challenge is actively seeking out what’s really happening before it eventually shows up in the results.”

This becomes particularly important when an organisation is performing well, as strong outcomes can shift attention away from the processes and behaviours responsible for producing them.

“You can over index on outcomes, becoming overly focused on results and losing sight of what got you there in the first place, which is the process,” he said.

“James Clear puts it well: ‘You don’t rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.’

“Closing the gap means looking beneath the result. That includes how decisions are being made, whether people are speaking up, whether accountability is clear and whether leaders are hearing the important feedback people are often reluctant to give.”

Through Ascension Leadership, Kofoed helps organisations close the distance between what they say matters and how their people operate each day.

“The work ranges from executive alignment and leadership development through to coaching, behavioural profiling, team effectiveness and helping organisations turn their strategy and values into the way people actually operate day to day,” Kofoed said.

“A big part of it is helping leaders better understand themselves, understand the people around them and adapt the way they lead.”

After 25 years across high performance environments, Kofoed believes leadership is now less about directing every decision and more about enabling others to contribute.

“Good leadership has shifted from having the answers to creating the conditions for other people to perform, and then getting out of the way,” he said.

“That means listening to the people closest to the work, creating genuine buy in and being prepared to have the conversations that matter.”

There is also one longstanding piece of leadership advice he believes should be left behind.

“The advice I would ignore is ‘treat everyone the same’,” Kofoed said.

“Standards should be consistent, but people aren’t. Good leaders adapt how they lead while remaining consistent in what they stand for.

“Fairly, not equally.”

Kofoed is now applying those principles at the Perth Wildcats, where his work remains in its early stages.

“We’re still very new to the organisation and our work is just beginning,” he said.

“Our focus is on alignment, role clarity, creating the operating rhythms that support performance, and living and leading through the values.”

The partnership brings Kofoed’s experience in elite sport and business together, applying the same principles that have shaped his approach across both environments.

“A lesson learned from sport is that performance doesn’t just happen on game day,” Kofoed said.

“You get the environment, behaviours, preparation and feedback right first, and performance follows. The same is true in business.”

Whether it’s elite sport or business, it’s important to remember that strong results don’t always tell the full story.

“Performance can paper over cracks in the system. It’s a lagging indicator,” he said.

“A business can still be producing strong numbers while role clarity, accountability, communication or culture are starting to deteriorate underneath.”

Through Ascension Leadership, Kofoed helps businesses identify the gaps, develop their leaders, improve team alignment and turn strategy and values into everyday behaviours that support lasting performance.

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