ME

For most of my career I trusted my own judgment above everything else.

That was the right instinct.

What never once occurred to me, until it cost me, is that a single trusted conversation with the right person was a strategy I needed.

I spent more than two decades as a senior executive in financial services and health tech. I built and scaled commercial teams in environments where the business pressure was matched by the political complexity. I navigated founding CEO transitions, new CEO arrivals, and high turnover at the C-suite level. I worked for brilliant, creative leaders who couldn’t operationalize their own vision and learned how to maintain influence and effectiveness when the leadership above you is the source of the friction.

And I got it wrong more than once. There was a period in my career where I was delivering results and moving too fast to see what was forming around me. The story others were telling about me had already taken shape before I saw it coming. By the time I understood what was happening the window to influence it had closed. I’m not exaggerating. It happened and it cost me.

What I didn’t do during any of it was ask for a different perspective. Not because I was too proud. It genuinely never occurred to me because I was wired to solve things on my own. I didn’t consider that a choice, let alone a limitation.

Then my parents got sick.

I spent a decade caring for both of them through dementia while managing a demanding executive career. I stepped away at the peak of my earning potential.

That period gave me something I couldn’t have developed any other way. When the demands don’t pause and the stakes are personal, you get very precise about what action is needed right now. You also stop having any stake in how it all turns out for anyone but the person in front of you. I bring both of those things into every conversation. I know what you’re carrying. And my only job is to help you figure out what to do about it.

I work with a small number of senior executives each year. Engagements are private, confidential, and by referral. The people who call me aren’t looking for a program or a process. They’re looking for someone who already understands the terrain, will tell them what she actually thinks, and will help them act before the window closes.

If someone you trust sent you here, that’s exactly the conversation I’m ready to have.