About Us

Anyone who has experienced an intensive already knows:  Authentic Leaders is not about one or two people but an entire troupe of actors and facilitators that create an immersive “production,” complete with twists, turns, and big reveals.  What makes our production different is that we don’t create it so that you can see and applaud us – it’s for us to see and honor you.  And in the end, the twists, turns, and reveals might be ones that you experience for yourself.  

We come to this work from wildly different backgrounds and paths.  But together, we’re creating an experience that allows people to feel: 

• Safe.  We want to create a space for personal growth that is completely confidential and totally voluntary, every step of the way; where leaders can take risks to explore what it feels like to be truly present and honest.

• Human.  We’ve provided hundreds of leaders - many of whom are experiencing significant pressure and strain - with a space where they can take off the mask and grow as humans, not just as “leaders.”

• Accepted.  Like an improv group, our job is to say “Yes, and” to whatever comes up for you, within a space of true non-judgment.  We’re not here to change you in some way, we’re here to give you space to connect to something you already have (but can sometimes feel quite distant or lost).

• Creative.  We’re creating a parallel universe for you to inhabit over several days - not so that we can “test” or evaluate you - but so that you can try things you’ve never done before, try things that won’t “work” - just to see what they feel like, and explore new ways of being in your leadership.

This work all started with school leaders in Brooklyn, and the realization that no piece of knowledge or technical skill can help leaders be truly present to the moment or honest with themselves (let alone others).  We saw that the busier, more urgent, more high stakes the work becomes, the easier it gets for leaders to go deeper in their heads, further away from the present moment, and more disconnected from their own hearts.  Disrupting those patterns takes real space, and that space seems impossible to find.

That’s the space we create.  One intensive at a time.  And over the last five years, we’ve seen that it doesn’t matter if you’re a first-time manager, Vice-President, or CEO.  If you can find a way to make the space for joining us, we can create the space for you.