Recently, I was working with a director at an international non-profit who’s navigating the challenge of leading an organization that’s grown from 80 to 320 people. She was feeling overwhelmed by the constant stream of emails, the pushback she experiences regularly, and the difficulty of bringing everyone along as the culture shifts under new leadership.
When we started digging into her leadership values—responsibility and connectedness—she realized that the very things that were exhausting her (feeling responsible for everything, wanting to stay connected to all the moving pieces) were her natural strengths showing up in an unsustainable way. Now we’re working together to find ways she can honor those values without burning herself out.
Hello! As a number of you are new to my newsletter, I thought I would use this edition of The Tune-In to reintroduce myself and my executive coaching practice.
Connecting to My Strengths
For 20 years as a school leader, I worked to help children and adults realize their potential. I am proud to say I was effective and respected, and I also found the work to be deeply meaningful. In the last few years, I also became exhausted.
As a middle school head during Covid, in particular, I started to feel that this type of meaningful work required sacrifice—that stress was just part of the job. When I finally hit a wall with a challenging person, I didn’t have enough reserves to continue leading at my best. I realized that I hadn’t been applying the strengths-based approaches that were cornerstones of my leadership to my own situation. I realized I needed to find a better way to lead that honored both my gifts and my own well-being.
I realized that the strengths that I used regularly in schools—strategic thinking, nurturing relationships, and celebrating individual gifts—translate directly to executive coaching. Now I use those skills to help accomplished leaders across industries discover what makes them exceptional, and then use that as their foundation for even greater impact.
When people ask about my transition from educational leadership to executive coaching, I don’t see it as a pivot. It’s an expansion, a natural evolution of the work I’ve always done. The heart of what I do remains unchanged: helping individuals and teams discover their strengths to realize even greater possibilities. ✨
How We Work Together
I work with accomplished leaders to amplify their strengths for greater success and fulfillment. Together, we cultivate leadership solutions for a life well-lived.
- Formal study and practice, including my master’s degree, advanced certificates, and decades of experience leading teams and organizations
- Dual executive coaching certifications from UC Berkeley and Gallup
- Decades of mindfulness practice, including yoga, meditation, and neuroscience-based approaches to addressing your inner critic
- Track our goals and capture session insights
- Provide tailored resources specific to their situation
- Document progress between our meetings
Ready to Lead at Your Best?
Right now, I’m coaching more than two dozen employees at a financial firm on their strengths. Almost no one has worked with a coach before. At the end of their first session, one person said: “The coaching session was absolutely critical to getting value out of the CliftonStrengths assessment. It made my results much more meaningful as we were able to discuss ways my strengths can improve my work both individually and within my team.”
If you’re sensing there’s a more sustainable way to lead—one that builds on your natural strengths and helps you reach your potential—let’s talk about what’s possible.
I’m adding some new slots to my calendar for individual coaching and team development. Whether you’re curious about discovering your own strengths, interested in building a stronger team, or wondering how to bring more energy to your leadership, I’d love to explore how we might partner together.
You can schedule a complimentary discovery call at katierocker.com/contact. We’ll talk about where you are, what you’re working toward, and whether my coaching approach makes sense for your situation.
What I’ve discovered is that most accomplished leaders already have what they need to lead well. Sometimes we need to learn to pay more attention to what’s already there. ✨
