Carolyn Coughlin

I am currently working with a group of 10 senior leaders in a large global organization where we have created a deeply developmental bespoke experience whose purpose is to support them to grow into next level leaders in large part by cultivating their capacity for deep connection with themselves, their peers, and their mission. The experience includes one-to-one coaching, action learning, and using the dynamics of the group to challenge and stretch one another.

My clients range from sole practitioners to CEO’s to senior teams to talent development professionals who engage me to help them design bespoke leadership development experiences for their clients.

Way back in my corporate and consulting firm days, I could see that people were the most important asset an organization had, and yet, developing people and particularly cultivating relationships among people seemed to receive relatively little attention and even fewer resources. It seemed to be treated as something separate from the “real” business.

People skills were, after all, “soft” skills. My work has been shaped by the knowing that if organizations are to thrive, people—individuals and collectives–must also thrive. You can’t have one without the other. Over the last 25 years, my work has been shaped to some degree by the theories (like Adult Development, Complexity, Somatic Awareness) and ideas I’ve learned and adopted, but much more so by the people themselves. I have learned from and been shaped by every person I have encountered along the way.

I am a co-founder of Cultivating Leadership, served on the leadership team for 10 years and now serve as US Director and Board co-chair. Those are my formal roles. I see my informal role as being someone who is constantly scanning our system, noticing the ways we are living into our values and sometimes falling short, keeping an eye on how we are using power. And when necessary, asking the hard questions and having the challenging conversations that build trust and keep us on course.

When I’m not working, I tend to be engaged in experiences of movement and connection of one sort or another. And I like to do my moving and connecting while also engaging in natural beauty when possible. I grew up in the mountains of Western Wyoming and have spent the last 30 years spending summers and weekends in our family’s little cabin on a lake in the Catskills, so being an active participant in the outdoors has always felt like an essential part of my being.

When I’m not working, I’m often hanging out with my friends and family, cycling, sailing, swimming, hiking, or whatever outdoor activity I can do that involves movement. Being in community is also a core part of who I am, having raised our three children on the campus of a boarding school, living in a very tight community in the summers, and now participating in an intentional community with friends and colleagues in France. I serve on two boards and am one of the founders of a community organization that keeps an eye on over-development in my local community.