"I started ListenForward to help CEOs, executive leaders and teams strengthen their performance, deliver sustained results, and make positive impact with and for the people they lead, the organizations they represent, and the customers and communities they serve."
Leaders and teams who "ListenForward" are ethical, inclusive, and values-driven. They create cultures of shared purpose, trust, accountability, curiosity, and agency. They take an outside-in approach and balance a discipline for continuous improvement with divergent thinking. They explore pathways for growth and change. They are adaptive, decisive, and committed to a better future.
A modern business leader, accomplished chief people officer, graduate faculty member, and certified executive and team coach, I chose a new path and opened this practice in early 2020. I spent over three and a half decades building, growing and transforming premier and high-growth global organizations across technology and Al; non-profit services and sports, digital media and publishing, and financial services. As a graduate professor, I designed and taught classes intersecting HR, strategy, technology, and the digital workplace. The foundation of my success is the ability to select, develop, and coach C-level leaders and help executive- and senior-level teams strengthen and sustain collective performance as they lead the organization forward.
In addition to this practice, I serve as an Operating Partner and Head, Leadership Center of Excellence with Edison Partners, a premier growth-equity firm targeting high-growth financial technology, healthcare IT, and vertical SaaS and marketplace companies located outside Silicon Valley. I assess, coach and advise portfolio CEOs, executive teams, and help their chief people officers as they build, grow, and transform their companies and the markets they serve. I am a member of the Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches Agency. I share and apply my knowledge and experience as a guest lecturer and conference speaker. I coach social entrepreneurs and mentor leaders across the globe. I draw inspiration and gain a wider context from a love of history, photographing people and places, modern art, my always growing and eclectic music collection, urban architecture and design, the innovative local business owner, and the personal stories of people I meet.
The ListenForward name honors my parents, who as young adult refugees came to the U.S. with a suitcase and hope for a better life. They prevailed with a passion for exploration, purpose, and service. They inspired students and teachers around the world with stories of endurance, luck, and resilience. They asked future generations to learn from the past, listen to each other, and look forward with a sense of possibility.
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