About David Riordan Wood
Leadership Steward | CEO | Board Director | Builder Through Change
I am a long-tenured CEO and operator who has spent more than three decades leading consumer, retail, and wellness businesses through complexity, disruption, and reinvention.
My work has centered on stewardship of people, capital, culture, and long-term viability, particularly in moments where intuition alone is no longer sufficient and leaders must evolve how judgment is formed. I have led organizations through scale, restructuring, global supply chain shocks, technology shifts, and market disruptions often while absorbing uncertainty so teams could remain focused and functional.
In recent years, my focus has increasingly turned to how experienced leaders adapt in an AI-accelerated world. Not by abandoning instinct, but by refining it, augmenting judgment with systems, data, and new forms of decision support while remaining accountable for outcomes. I believe AI does not reduce leadership responsibility it can sharpen it.
I currently serve as CEO and Board Director of a multi-brand wellness company, overseeing both direct-to-consumer and franchise retail models, and I am actively engaged in leadership succession, board governance, and long-range organizational transition planning. Alongside this, I work with boards, executives, and leadership teams navigating inflection points where growth, technology, and human systems collide.
My perspective is shaped less by theory than by lived experience. I am particularly interested in the second- and third-order effects of leadership decisions, and in building organizations that can endure, not just perform.
I am currently developing a body of work focused on modern leadership judgment aimed at mid-career and senior leaders facing the most consequential transitions of their careers.
Leadership as Stewardship
Over time, I have come to believe that leadership is fundamentally an act of stewardship. Leaders do not merely direct activity; they hold responsibility for people, trust, incentives, culture, and the long-term viability of the systems they oversee.
This belief was not formed in classrooms or offsites. It emerged through lived experience with decisions made under pressure, and moments where speed or certainty would have been easier than restraint. I have learned that leaders are often called upon to absorb uncertainty so others can function, and that the cost of that absorption is rarely visible but always real.
Many leadership failures, in my experience, are not failures of intent. They are failures of alignment between incentives and outcomes, strategy and capacity, growth ambitions and human capability. Recognizing and correcting these misalignments has been a recurring theme throughout my work
Experience, Judgment, and Change
I began my career in consumer technology and premium brand environments where unique solutions, quality, and customer engagement mattered deeply. Those early years instilled a respect for craft and for the long arc of brand building. But as my roles expanded into broader operational leadership, I was confronted with a harder truth – past experience alone does not guarantee good judgment.
In fact, experience can become a liability if it calcifies.
I have seen intuition serve leaders well and I have seen it mislead them when conditions change faster than their mental models. One of the most important lessons of my career has been learning when instinct needs help, and how to build systems that refine judgment rather than replace it.
This lesson has become increasingly relevant in an AI-accelerated world.
Building Organizations That Endure
Across roles and industries, I have been drawn to organizations at inflection points. Moments where the old way of operating no longer scales, but the new way has not yet been fully formed. These moments reveal truths about culture, leadership, and structure that are easy to ignore during stable periods.
I have learned that micromanagement collapses under complexity, yet abdication of responsibility is equally destructive. The work of leadership lies in designing systems that allow people to operate with autonomy while remaining aligned to shared outcomes. That balance is fragile, and it must be actively tended.
I care deeply about the human side of leadership: the quiet weight leaders carry, the unintended impact of authority, and the difference between solo success and shared achievement. I have learned that leadership presence can intimidate without intent, and that acknowledging one’s own gravity is part of stewarding others well.
The longer I lead, the more convinced I am that leadership is not about certainty or charisma. It is about judgment, humility, and the willingness to own consequences, especially when outcomes are unclear.
I continue to lead, learn, and reflect with the belief that experience still matters, but only if experience itself keeps learning