The MASA Framework: Generating Leadership Alignment.

What I Do

At MASA Consulting, I partner with your organization to align its leadership team around a shared purpose and clear roles, so you can build the clarity, consistency, and trust that drive real results.

We begin with immersive workshops—either a one-day, in-person deep dive or a modular virtual series—where leaders work through the MASA Framework’s four pillars (Mindset, Accountability, Skills, Authority) to diagnose misalignments, set transparent performance metrics, hone only the most critical capabilities, and calibrate decision rights.

From there, our monthly consulting and executive coaching embeds these insights into your everyday operations: we troubleshoot emerging challenges, reinforce best practices, and ensure leaders hold one another accountable to agreed standards.

By solving problems like duplicated effort, unclear priorities, and uneven decision-making, we help your leadership team work together as one, making faster and more confident choices and earning the trust of their people.

The outcome is a cohesive leadership culture that consistently delivers on its commitments and accelerates sustainable performance across the organization.

The MASA Framework

The MASA Framework combines four interdependent pillars—Mindset, Accountability, Skills, and Authority—to cultivate trust, clarify roles, and drive consistent performance across your leadership team.

Mindset: Aligning purpose, time orientation, and role clarity

Accountability: Clear expectations and consistent measurement

Skills: Developing only what matters most

Authority: Matching decision power to responsibilities

The MASA Framework integrates Mindset, Accountability, Skills, and Authority to align leaders, build trust, and create a self-reinforcing organizational flywheel that accelerates sustainable growth.

Meet Rick

Hi, I’m Dr. Richard (Rick) Fearnbaugh—a Marine Corps veteran, leadership development expert, and creator of the MASA Framework. I hold a Doctorate in Strategic Leadership, a Master’s in Executive Leadership, and a Bachelor’s in Political Science. I’m also certified in Predictive Index behavioral assessments and hold a PHR credential from the HR Certification Institute (HRCI).

My leadership journey began in the Marine Corps, where I served two overseas deployments and graduated from multiple leadership academies before earning the rank of Sergeant. After transitioning to civilian life, I led operations in logistics before joining West Shore Home, where I helped scale the company from 600 to over 3,000 employees by building a unified, behavior-driven leadership development system.

Along the way, I saw a consistent challenge across industries: talented people were put into leadership roles without the clarity, authority, or support they needed to succeed. That gap led to misalignment, confusion, and stalled growth. I created the MASA Framework—Mindset, Accountability, Skills, Authority—as a practical system to solve this issue. It’s designed to align leadership at every level of an organization so that performance improves, trust deepens, and results follow. Today, I use MASA to help small and mid-sized businesses build leadership structures that scale.

Outside of work, you’ll usually find me reading, writing, running, or hiking with my wife and our dog. I’m a lifelong learner who believes in staying curious and always seeking new perspectives. Check out my email newsletter below to follow along!

The MASA Framework