Why Walk With Karen?

Today is the best day to walk my path. The best day to share whatever resources, knowledge, and skills I have to elevate leaders. I believe that a leader is anyone who is being turned to, looked at, or asked to be interested. That means we don’t get to choose whether to be a leader, but we have control over how we show up. “How” changes over a career and a lifetime, but “who” should never be at risk.

My deep commitment to the radical idea that we perform better and achieve more when we can be our full selves is rooted in my own experience. My favorite box on demographic surveys is “check all that apply.” For most of my life I had to pick and choose what I reported, and it still left me with no control over what other people saw, believed, or assumed about me. My need to be seen sparked an equal need to see others, to appreciate how other people think and why.

What guides me is a big brain, a big heart, and a relentless curiosity that invites deep questions and honest observations. Every job is about relationships and problem-solving and we all need clarity and understanding to make it work, and to inhabit the places where our best and most vibrant selves live. That’s where we can discover our definitions of success and the ways to make them a reality for greater satisfaction.