Therapy focuses on healing and mental health, typically working through the past to address present challenges. Consulting means an expert diagnoses a problem and prescribes a solution. Coaching is neither.
With Michelle, the work is forward-facing and collaborative. You bring what you are facing. She brings a methodology, a set of tools, and 30+ years of relevant corporate experience. Together, you develop your own clarity, direction, and capacity to lead from intention rather than habit. You leave with a different way of seeing your situation and a different way of responding to it.
Ontological coaching focuses on your way of being; specifically, the automatic patterns and responses driving your behavior in ways you are not always aware of.
In practice, sessions with Michelle won't focus only on tactics and goals. They focus on who you are being when you face challenges at work, and what opens up when you shift from reacting to choosing. Sessions involve real conversation, structured reflection, and specific work designed to produce a genuine shift in how you see your situation and what you do about it.
Clients frequently report a shift in perspective within the first few sessions. Deeper work, such as developing the habit of operating from Essence consistently rather than falling back on survival patterns, takes sustained engagement. Michelle works with clients for as long as the work calls for it. There is no fixed program length. The engagement is shaped around what you need and where you want to go.
Coaching is not a crisis intervention technique. The professionals who benefit most from working with Michelle are typically high performers functioning well by most external measures who sense there is a gap between where they are and where their full capacity would take them. If you are doing well and ready to do better on your own terms, this work is directly relevant.
Most coaches come to this work from psychology, human resources, or organizational development. Michelle comes from decades as a corporate executive in demanding global roles. She has led multi-hundred-million-dollar business segments, managed global teams, and operated at the senior leadership level in major organizations.
She also brings a perspective few coaches offer: she built a career and earned power and influence as a woman in demanding corporate environments. She understands the full complexity of organizational life - from the technical, to the political, to the deeply personal - from experience. She doesn't need you to explain how a large organization operates. She has lived it.
Yes. Michelle designs and delivers customized workshops for organizations looking to support professional development, leadership clarity, and team engagement. In addition, her “From Autopilot to Essence” workshop is available in virtual and in-person formats. Contact Michelle directly to discuss what your organization needs.
The first conversation is a 45-minute introductory conversation. No preparation required. No commitment expected. Michelle wants to understand where you are, what you're facing, and whether this work is the right fit for you. You will leave with a clear sense of what working together would involve and whether moving forward makes sense.
