About Me

My life includes two kind-hearted, wildly smart, and good-humoured adult sons, a beautiful and loving husband, and a variety of cats and dogs that give me daily reminders that walks, play, paying attention to the little things, and just sitting doing nothing are part of the good life.

Some of my details include that I have been a successful public sector senior manager and not-for-profit executive director. I have an MLIS and an MBA. The MLIS makes me a librarian and information seeker — I can’t help but seek out, make sense of, and share information relevant to my work. The MBA experience honed my skills and smarts for forging creative and innovative paths for healthy, wise, and successful leadership and work dynamics. In addition to coaching and facilitation, I have pursued training and certification in skills and knowledge areas that bring depth and meaning to my work.

I’m always exploring and learning, and I share my thoughts on what I encounter at the Courageous Leaders Project newsletter.

Brené Brown. Brené’s gift of the words “strong backs, soft fronts and wild hearts” and her compendium of emotions and experiences in Atlas of the Heart re-energized my work in personal and leadership development. Work with me, and you will most likely hear me giving a nod to Brené as I ask, “what is the story we are telling ourselves?”.

Christina Feldman. Christina’s teachings at Bodhi College on recognizing patterns and the suffering they cause has led me to evaluate and better understand my own life and have provided an additional generous and kind lens for supporting others.

Edgar Schein. Edgar’s works, particularly Organizational Culture and Leadership and Humble Inquiry were among my first leadership and organizational development reads and and laid the foundation for how I ask questions, see artifacts, poke at espoused values, and listen for underlying assumptions.

Simon Sinek. Thanks to Simon and his The Optimism Company, my work always starts with “why?”.

Margaret Wheatley. Margaret first caught my interest in the early 2000s when a colleague recommended her work on complex problems and deep inquiry. I don’t know exactly when or where I encountered her wisdom on giving preference to curiosity over certitude, but it is now one of my guiding principles.