Our Process

How We Build the Future of Equitable Work

DISCOVERY

Getting to know each other and building our relationship

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Organizational Strategy & Advisement

Creating a strategy and vision for organizational change, including priorities, timeline, and recommended approach, through one-on-one and group conversations.

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FOUNDATION

Making the invisible visible

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Human-Centered Practices

A professional and personal development process that increases interpersonal skills and is essential to any organization’s cultural change.

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Values Exploration and Excavation

Identifying the values and behaviors currently functioning within your organization, and how they impact your culture.

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TRANSFORMATION

Socializing and Operationalizing Your Values

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Comprehensive Human Resources Services

Committing to values and building values-aligned policies, practices, programs, and HR systems and structures for lasting impact on individuals, teams, and your organization’s entire ecosystem.

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ANCHOR Certification & Licensing

We train and certify your employees to facilitate  sessions on human-centered practices and accelerate transformation across your organization.

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Values-Aligned Leadership

Identifying and committing to the values-aligned behaviors that will support leaders’ vision for their role in the organization’s transformation.

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Values Evolution

Collaboratively revisiting and revising your organization’s values to reflect and support continued growth and transformation.

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Talent Advisement

We help develop values-aligned hiring processes to source candidates who are ready to innovate, lead, and meet challenges.

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Additional Offerings

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Workshop Development & Facilitation

Company retreats, professional development experiences, interactive presentations, and thought partnership.

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Speaking Engagements

Our team is experienced in presenting on panels, presenting keynotes, and participating in interviews and podcasts.

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Leadership Coaching

One-on-one values-aligned, strengths-based support for your personal and professional development.

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Articles on Identity, Power, and Emotions

Articles on Values

Articles on Workplace Culture

Power, Influence, and the Limits of Comfort

“Power is not influence. Power is when you have the ability to make change . . . Being speaker of the House, that’s real power.” -Nancy Pelosi We hear the word influence a lot these days. Celebrities on Instagram, CEOs lobbying in Washington, high-profile political...

The Distorted Mirror of Personality Tests

Cheerleader or Challenger I first took the Enneagram test over 20 years ago. For those of you who aren’t familiar, it’s a personality test that sorts you into one of nine personality types. When I first took the test, it told me I was a Number 7, sometimes called the...

Have You Relinquished Your Career?

What are you tolerating? My business coach asked this question the other day. While I am enjoying my business and have worked hard to have great clients, exciting work that continues to evolve, and time to invest in my health and my career, it took many years of...

It’s not about the flag

I know many people believe this is about NFL players against President Trump; or about disrespect toward the U.S. flag, Veterans, and the nation as a whole. Honestly, it runs much deeper than all that and I want to talk about the issue at the heart of all of it. I...

The Power of Shifting Power Dynamics

You’ve had to out think your colleagues to obtain the success you currently enjoy. But the truth is, the mental acrobatics it takes to stay one step ahead is anything but enjoyable. Contorting to stay ahead is stressful and it requires you to be on constant guard. As...

Relationship TO or Relationship WITH?

A few months ago, we wrote about how COVID-19 is revealing the depth of our interconnectedness, and how we’re refusing to acknowledge those connections. Today, we’re returning to the topic of relationships, which at this moment are complicated, to say the least. We’re...

Our Humanity at Work

For a long time, we thought we needed to be blind to differences in order to be fair or equal. If someone embodied anything other than white, able-bodied heteronormativity, their differences were “accepted” and “tolerated,” but never fully seen, let alone welcomed....

Seeing Our Humanity, Part 3

Seeing Our Humanity is a 3-part series on how real DEI work depends on being messy and vulnerable humans. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here. Two words we commonly use to describe our work at Leverage to Lead are human and messy. DEI work is always both, which can be...

Who We Say We Are

At Leverage to Lead, the complexity of identity is always on our minds.  In a recent meeting, we saw different identities and different realities clash. Three colleagues were reminiscing about living in the same city in southern California. Two Black women lamented...

Are We in DEI 2.0?

Lately, we’ve noticed a difference in organizations seeking DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) transformation. There’s been a shift, a different set of needs being presented. It’s something our team has been collaborating on because we want to show up for every...

The Six Tenets of a Safe Company Culture

This is the second in a series of four articles about taking steps to build audacity. Read my first article, The Unfiltered Life, in which I described how women of color filter out their difference in unsafe company cultures. High Achievement in Unsafe Spaces This is...

The Power of Shifting Power Dynamics

You’ve had to out think your colleagues to obtain the success you currently enjoy. But the truth is, the mental acrobatics it takes to stay one step ahead is anything but enjoyable. Contorting to stay ahead is stressful and it requires you to be on constant guard. As...

Network for Success

Opportunity doesn’t come from hard work, going to the right school or having a great resume. Opportunity comes from other people. That’s right. You might have resources or skills that make you qualified for a great job or client but the only way to truly access that...

Give Voice to Your Value

“I don’t know what to say.” That is the biggest challenge when it comes to articulating your value and speaking your truth. One of the reasons its so hard to know what to say is that we listen to the opinions of other people. Whether they are friends or colleague,...

Relationship TO or Relationship WITH?

A few months ago, we wrote about how COVID-19 is revealing the depth of our interconnectedness, and how we’re refusing to acknowledge those connections. Today, we’re returning to the topic of relationships, which at this moment are complicated, to say the least. We’re...

Walking the Walk: Inside Our Team’s Values Excavation

This is the first in a 2-part series on the Leverage to Lead team undergoing our own values excavation. Read about why we needed to do it, how it went, and what’s changed for us since. Since 2020, Leverage to Lead has tripled in size. Our team now includes Jennifer...

Walking the Walk: Inside Our Team’s Values Excavation – Part 2 of 2

This is the second in a 2-part series on what happened when the Leverage to Lead team underwent our own values excavation. Read about why we needed to do it, how it went, and what's changed for us since. Between Sessions Our first values excavation meeting with Alison...

Breaking the Rules of DEI

In any culture, the rules of behavior get coded into daily life via reward or punishment. We’ve been learning the unwritten rules of life this way ever since we figured out the “rule” about what the cool kids wear. We’re still learning them when we discover that our...

Is Your Organization Ready to Support Employee Resource Groups?

There may be a group of exhausted employees within your organization.  They may have begun gathering on their own time to offer each other support, networking, and a space for their shared identity. We’ve seen these groups form because employees need a space to be...

Reframing Boundaries

Read more from our Reframing Series: Reframing Burnout, Reframing Nice, Reframing Uncertainty In our Reframing Series, we examine commonplaces that, upon closer look, reveal a toxic belief or harmful behavior. In this newsletter, we’re taking on boundaries. There’s...

The Disruption of Storytelling

The act of disrupting bias comes in many forms. Most often, we tend to think of the vocal ones—speaking out in a meeting or verbally challenging a stereotype. The articles in this series explore the many and various ways we can all participate in disrupting bias, with...

The Disruption of Listening

The act of disrupting bias comes in many forms. Most often, we tend to think of the vocal ones—speaking out in a meeting or verbally challenging a stereotype. The articles in this series explore the many and various ways we can all participate in disrupting bias, with...

The Disruption of Refusal

The act of disrupting bias comes in many forms. Most often, we tend to think of the vocal ones—speaking out in a meeting or verbally challenging a stereotype. The articles in this series explore the many and various ways we can all participate in disrupting bias, with...

What Companies and Candidates Need to Know about Hiring for Diversity

With more than twenty years of experience in Human Resources, I’ve seen just about every kind of hiring practice, including ones that truly help a company hire for diversity and those that undermine a company’s best intentions. Recently, my Diversity, Equity, &...

The Personal and Professional Work of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

In addition to individual and group coaching, I often work onsite with an organization, facilitating company-wide conversations, workshops, and planning sessions on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). While I write a lot about individual experiences for women and...

Serena Williams is Working in Your Company. Can You See Her?

More than a Tennis Match When the story broke about Serena Williams’ US Open loss to Naomi Osaka, I experienced a visceral reaction that I didn’t have words for at the time. After reading the coverage, I was still reaching to understand why Serena’s experience felt so...

The Six Tenets of a Safe Company Culture

This is the second in a series of four articles about taking steps to build audacity. Read my first article, The Unfiltered Life, in which I described how women of color filter out their difference in unsafe company cultures. High Achievement in Unsafe Spaces This is...

The Cycle of Liberation

It’s affirming to see our Leverage to Lead’s values held by others who are working in DEI and social and racial justice spheres. We feel gratified when we see work that is similarly steeped in humanity, and interpersonal growth. When we hear Adam Grant say that our...

Don’t Mistake Comfort for Safety

Comfort is a tricky term in DEI work. We don’t simply mean feeling comfortable enough to speak openly and honestly about culture, values, and goals. When we talk about comfort, we’re really talking about a kind of resistance, because comfort means the security of...

Walking the Walk: Inside Our Team’s Values Excavation

This is the first in a 2-part series on the Leverage to Lead team undergoing our own values excavation. Read about why we needed to do it, how it went, and what’s changed for us since. Since 2020, Leverage to Lead has tripled in size. Our team now includes Jennifer...