I’m Kimberley. I’m an executive coach and strategist with a career that spans over 20 years and almost 2 dozen Fortune 100 companies as well as many smaller businesses and NGOs. I’ve worked with notoriously inaccessible c-suite and senior level leaders who’ve all played a part in creating the practical (and lively and irreverent) consultant I am today. They’ve all taught me a great deal about the concerns and pressures they must manage…and each has trusted me enough to experiment with me as we worked to lessen those pressures and concerns. I am so grateful to each of them…even the very tough ones. As they grew…so did I. Honestly, it has been a great honor to work with these powerful leaders and grow alongside them, each of us becoming stronger and more confident as we worked together…and, incidentally, enjoying our jobs more as a result.
I’m making this website and blog a priority for two reasons. The first is that I believe the only value information truly has is in the sharing of it. I’m industrious and hard-working, but I realize that much of the opportunity I’ve had have been the result of my privilege. I recognize how privileged it was to be raised in large cities to optimistic and entrepreneurial parents who taught me how to make my life what I wanted. I’ve had unbelievable access to great minds at the highest levels of leadership and I've absorbed everything like a sponge. I’d like to start sharing everything that I've picked up along the way.
The second reason I'm doing this is that one of my clients told me to. Sincerely. He asked me to send him my website and my socials so that he could send them to someone he was referring to me…and I didn’t have anything to send him. I’ve never needed anything. So, after he gave me a (well-deserved) lecture about not following my own communication advice…even forwarding some emails I’d sent to him years ago…he suggested I get on it. So, this website and blog are for Gary (Hey, Gary) and anyone else who is interested in getting to know me a little better…and maybe sometime down the road, you’d like to work with someone like me and you’ll already know me!
One of the pieces of my own advice that my friend forwarded back to me (yes, many have become long-term friends of mine) was to write informally…not in the stentorian tones of most business writing. To that end, I’m making a concerted effort to write in my conversational voice…as much as that’s possible in a format like this.
There is no “one right way” to do anything in business. And, as John Lennon sang, “There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known.” So, you will not find the definitive answer on "How to Lead" here…because there isn’t one. But you will find food for thought…actionable ideas…methods that might challenge the way you are doing things today. And if the great leaders I’ve worked with have one thing in common, it’s that they aren’t afraid of change…and they appreciate a challenge. (I guess that’s actually two things, isn’t it…)
All thoughts and opinions expressed in this blog are mine alone…informed by years of trial, error and observation. I would advise that you take my counsel here the way you would any advice…take what serves you and leave the rest. Truly leading, particularly in the mutable world of business today, looks different for every leader.
Read with an open mind…reach out if you have questions, through the comment section or email, and let me know if there is anything you’d like to see covered here. If I don’t have a proper response, I have a rich network to reach out to and I will not hesitate to do so.
One more thing…I’ll be using real world examples throughout my writing…sort of. I’ll be thoroughly disguising the identity of any of my clients (past or present) by changing their names, their exact titles, project descriptions (if applicable) and the details of who they are. Even so, if I fly too close to the truth, I will be asking that client to edit my work so that they’re comfortable. I’ve enjoyed working with every leader I’ve ever worked with (okay, there may have been one or two that have made me cry in my car in the early days, but that’s a story for another day…) and I take my promise of discretion very seriously. You will find that my LinkedIn profile only mentions a small number of clients and projects. This is intentional. I have almost always had multiple clients and projects going on at the same time and they value that I’m discreet. That’s the nature of my work.
You ready for what's next?
