Consulting Approach
Leading Transformation from the Inside Out
Today’s organizations aren’t struggling because they lack ideas or solutions — they’re stuck in the tension between old narratives and new realities.
I help leaders and teams move through those tensions — by addressing the emotional, cultural, and relational obstacles that are blocking human capabilities like presence, creativity, courage and insight.
This work reduces the friction of transformation. It frees up time, energy, and human capacity for change — helping organizations shift faster, and with greater coherence and authenticity.
What’s In the Way of Transformation
Understanding 7 Common Blockages to Sustained Change
Most organizations struggle with transformational inertia. They know they need to change, but moving from awareness to action is difficult. The real issue isn’t just strategy — it’s the internal blockages that prevent real change from happening.
These aren’t operational gaps — they’re often invisible narratives or habits that subtly drain energy and create misalignment.
Here are seven common patterns I help surface and shift:
Over-intellectualization
Staying in the head to avoid emotional depth and vulnerability. This leads to analysis paralysis and disconnects teams from the human side of change.Past-orientation
Relying on familiar narratives or outdated practices. This keeps organizations rooted in what worked before rather than what’s needed now.Human disconnection
Skipping the emotional and relational integration required to make change real. Change becomes a directive rather than a shared commitment.Over-reliance on data
Using data as a shield against uncertainty. While data helps us understand the past, it cannot predict futures that haven’t been imagined yet.Over-emphasis on performance
Prioritizing perfection and external success over vulnerability and learning. Leaders may demand change from others without undergoing it themselves.Fixation on past grievances
Repeating old stories of failure or injustice. Without healing or resolution, these narratives create emotional drag that slows progress.Misplaced conviction and grit
Clinging to predefined roadmaps in a dynamic environment. This reduces adaptability and discourages responsive, emergent leadership.
These blockages are not just hindrances; they are the hidden roots that prevent change from flowing freely. Identifying and clearing these obstacles is the first step in unlocking the flow of transformation.
The Role of Narrative in Transformation
Transformation is not only about strategy and frameworks; it’s about the narrative that drives the organization. Every team and leader has a story they tell about where they’ve been, where they are, and where they’re going. But often, those narratives become stuck. These outdated or fragmented stories hold blockages within them.
Here’s how narratives create and reinforce the seven core blockages:
Over-intellectualization: The story that everything must be rationalized or proven before moving forward. This shuts down emotional, intuitive, and creative responses.
Past-orientation: A story that keeps the team focused on what’s already been done rather than what’s possible in the future. Sunk cost fallacy.
Human disconnection: A narrative that prioritizes outcomes over the human relationships that enable them, leading to disengagement and misalignment.
Over-reliance on data: The belief that only measurable evidence is valid. This blocks leaders from imagining new futures that data alone can’t predict.
Over-emphasis on performance: The story that leadership must appear polished and in control at all times. This suppresses vulnerability and limits growth.
Fixation on past grievances: Stories that rehash failure or harm without resolution. These stories weigh down the present with unresolved emotion.
Commitment to the plan: The belief that success lies in sticking to a predetermined course. This blocks adaptability and creativity when conditions change.
When we rework the narrative, we don’t just tell a better story — we shift the emotional and relational architecture that shapes how people act. A new narrative reconnects the team to a shared, future-focused vision and unlocks the human capacity for meaningful change.
The Heart of Change: Transformational Intelligence
Leaders can unlock a new octave of transformational impact through Transformational Intelligence. Put simply, transformational intelligence is the human faculty that is employed — or not — whenever we face the reality of change.
Just as a high IQ improves analytical problem solving and a high EQ improves relational problem solving, a high TQ is the foundation behind so many of the buzzwords common in the change leadership space: agility, resilience, innovation, outside the box thinking, etc.
The secret is to see TQ as an intelligence, not simply one’s innate reactive response. TQ is generated through the synthesis of four underlying human intelligences — TQ can be seen as not just the combination but the elevation off these intelligences to another octave.
These intelligences aren’t abstract — they show up in how teams meet, make decisions, communicate, and adapt. My work applies these capacities through hands-on engagements designed to address your current challenges.
Analytical Intelligence
The foundation of evidence-based decision-making, analytical intelligence enables organizations to:
Leverage data to identify patterns and opportunities
Apply systems thinking to understand complex interdependencies
Assess risks and rewards with precision
Create testable hypotheses for continuous improvement
Social Intelligence
The architecture of collaborative networks, social intelligence helps organizations to:
Connect, communicate, and collaborate across diverse stakeholders
Build trust across organizational boundaries
Create shared meaning through compelling narratives
Strengthen collective creativity and resilience
Emotional Intelligence
The catalyst for human engagement and resilience, emotional intelligence allows organizations to:
Regulate reactions to uncertainty and ambiguity
Foster psychological safety during periods of disruption
Identify blockages to Analytical Intelligence
Re-ignite motivation, create belonging, and allow creativity to flourish
Creative Intelligence
The engine of innovation and geniues, creative intelligence enables organizations to:
Challenge established assumptions and mental models
Envision alternative futures and possibilities
Synthesize diverse perspectives into novel solutions
Experiment with emerging planning and creative leadership approaches
The Practical Impacts of Transformational Intelligence
Improve Creativity in Strategic Planning
Develop the capability to envision unprecdented future states — and align your team to use Backcasting to create transformation pathways that connect the present to that desired future.
Implement Adaptive Systems and Mindsets
Shift beyond risk mitigation to embrace complexity, ambiguity, and continuous learning as opportunities rather than threats — and embed this perspective into real business systems.
Transformational Capability Building
Improve agility, resilience, and cognitive flexibility by systematically develop the four TI intelligence domains through experiential learning, coaching, and practice communities.
Business Systems Redesign
Reimagine organizational structures, processes, incentives, and cultures to enable rather than constrain the expression of Transformational Intelligence.
How This Work Shows Up in Practice
I provide narrative strategy and transformational leadership support for leaders and organizations finding new paths & embracing change
My consulting work focuses on helping organizations build the internal alignment, clarity, and leadership necessary for sustainable transformation. The key methods I use are designed to integrate Transformational Intelligence and address the blockages that slow progress.
Consulting: Strategic Leadership Conversations
For executive teams navigating growth, reinvention, or cultural shifts.
I guide strategic conversations that clarify vision, reframe resistance, and realign leadership around a shared story. I use tools like Transformational Backcasting to help your leadership team envision a future state and map the path backward with intention and alignment.
Workshops: Building Skills for Leadership and Change
For teams navigating change or new initiatives.
These high-impact, participatory sessions develop practical skills in leadership presence, communication, and collaboration. Grounded in emotional intelligence and storytelling, they help teams align, engage, and move forward with purpose.
Coaching: Personal Growth and Leadership Development
For founders, executives, and emerging leaders.
Coaching supports personal clarity and relational growth. We work on live challenges — from identity and visibility to difficult conversations — to help leaders show up with more honesty, courage, and influence.
Why This Approach Works
I provide narrative strategy and transformational leadership support for leaders and organizations finding new paths & embracing change
The key difference in my approach is that I focus on human transformation rather than applying generic frameworks. I help you remove the emotional, cultural, and relational barriers to change so your team can lead from a place of authenticity, clarity, and coherence.
This approach helps you:
Accelerate change with less resistance and more clarity
Strengthen leadership alignment at the emotional and strategic level
Unlock creativity, trust, and insight across the organization
Whether through consulting, workshops, or coaching, the goal is the same: unlock the human intelligence your organization already has and put it to work for the future.
TRANSFORMATIONAL INTELLIGENCE™ IN PRACTICE
Strategic Backcasting™:
A Cornerstone Methodology
At the heart of the Transformational Intelligence™ approach lies Strategic Backcasting — a powerful planning methodology that fundamentally differs from conventional strategic planning.
From Forecasting to Backcasting
Traditional strategic planning typically relies on forecasting—projecting current trends forward to predict likely futures. This approach works well in stable environments but falls short in times of rapid change and disruption.
Strategic Backcasting reverses this process. By beginning with a clear vision of success — one that goes beyond goal-setting to get to the heart and soul of what you’re trying to accomplish — leaders can better understand and assess the functional, emotional, social, and creative shifts required to actualize that future state. You can set different priorities and design a different level of strategic narrative coherence.
Lead transformation from the inside out.
Ready to kickstart your organization's change journey?
I'd love to collaborate!