Leadership Development

As a person living with ADHD, Karen’s coaching has been pivotal for achieving success in the world of real estate. Real estate work requires structure and attention to detail, but also demands extreme flexibility. When I put things aside to attend to an emergent issue, I often lose track of the task I delayed. When too many things pile up my ADHD mind starts predicting failure and I can go into a downward spiral of anxiety and/ or depression. Karen’s total acceptance of me, and her genuine interest in understanding the way I work allowed me to finally address my struggles. She met me where I was and helped me to build and maintain a solid self- care practice which anchors me throughout the day. In our collaboration on executive function challenges, she listened deeply before helping me to identify my best practices. Our work always seemed very organic. Karen was quick to notice my strengths, and always displayed total confidence in my ability to master my life. I finally began to believe her when we moved into expanding my business and I discovered my creative self. I can honestly say that my days now have structure and flexibility, my business has grown, and I have created a much healthier relationship with myself. Never in my wildest dreams…

I highly recommend leadership coaching with Karen. Karen has a way of asking questions and using the energy between us that helps me gain significant insights and feel good about myself no matter what the insights are. From the beginning of our collaboration, she showed her genuine desire to understand me and what I care about, and she created pathways for growth that I never could have imagined or created on my own. Because of our work I know how to connect to my inner wisdom and have achieved a higher level of confidence in addressing upcoming situations and circumstances.

I highly recommend Karen for people who are small town business owners. She is knowledgeable about what it takes to start and operate successful businesses in small towns, and how to get the most out of small-town life. She has a wry sense of humor that helped me more than once to take a healthier perspective on my challenges. In our work together Karen amazed me by asking the right questions to help me develop leadership strategies that addressed not only the situation I presented, but several others simultaneously. She keeps her eye on the big picture as well as on the present moment. Her questions are thought-provoking and always open the door to new perspectives. I leave every session feeling more self-aware, confident, and creative.

I was a young adult who left my college art program because I didn’t want to “draw within the lines”. I felt constricted by the way they taught us that we should “do art”. I reached out to Karen when I was full of self-doubt but also sure I had done the right thing, which made me feel crazy. From the beginning she had such a genuine curiosity about my inner wisdom and my relationship with it. Her questions helped me to understand my inner struggle and to trust my inner wisdom. When I noted I was finally “free to draw outside the lines” Karen invited me to explore that metaphor. From that deep dive I gained such meaning and clarity about my next action. I began creating new forms of art, then moved tentatively into Facebook marketing, and finally into online sales. Karen ensured each move was in alignment with my full self, and that I had the skills or external resources to navigate the process. A year later I began looking for a physical space with two other artists and Karen partnered with me to create a vision and plan for expanding into the space. I was surprised to discover how empowered I felt. Karen’s intuitive nature and her trust in mine played a significant role in my early success as an artist. She modeled what I needed most and changed my life.

I’m not the easiest person to work for (and that’s what my friends say). I get testy and say things that put people off. I can be stubborn. I can brush people off. It’s how I was raised, and I always justified it that way until it almost cost me my business. When I first reached out to Karen, I had a near mutiny going on. I didn’t realize how much negative energy I gave off. Even when I tried to compliment my employees, they told me I sounded like I was telling them how to do it better. The work I have done with Karen to become more self-aware and improve my communication style has been difficult (as in hard to swallow), but it has saved my business. I have learned to LISTEN, and that is causing change at work and at home. The distrust I created at work has changed to cautious communication. After Karen worked with our team to help us strengthen our relationship and align our goals, I realized I never put any thought into building a team. I’m now exploring that area. I just didn’t know that was part of a business. I have a way to go yet, but I’m committed to seeing this through. I’m using my stubbornness in new and improved ways! Thank-you Karen for your humor, patience, and amazing skills.