I have been a consultant for over two decades. I love this work deeply, and it has been a calling since before I even knew what consulting was. I have greatly enjoyed the journey and the opportunity to work with so many organizations and individuals across disciplines, places, and time.
I recently evolved Open Rivers further to deliver more fully in the areas that are most important to me and to better serve my broad range of clients. Open Rivers has always evolved, but its most recent transformation came on the heels of a significant shift in my own life.
As I shifted, I changed how I applied my structured methodology and approach to strategy and transformation, learning to hold it more lightly and create greater space for adapting to and flowing with my clients and collaborators where they are. Over the last few years, I have seen this approach take off. I am able to bring structure in a thoughtful, rigorous, and human-centric way, with the adaptability to let it weave naturally into the process. We achieve more meaningful and impactful outcomes while truly creating space for people to come in and fully be.
Part of this is learning how to identify and respond to the full complexity of individuals and organizations. This requires curiosity, discernment, adaptability, and checking my ego. Part of it is acknowledging that I personally will never fully arrive but will remain in a continually evolving and expanding process with every interaction. Part of it rests in steadfastly practicing and living what I bring into my consulting and coaching work. Reflecting on my own consulting and coaching journey, I did not approach things this way in the past. I have gotten much stronger, especially in the last few years, in how I bring these capabilities together.
My strategy and transformation approach blends a deep sense of heart and compassion with a rigorous skill set, structure, and methodology. I combine this with an ability to really float and flow with my clients—finding their uniqueness and bringing that into the mix. This requires subject matter expertise, as well as fluidity and openness.
Consulting and coaching are not just roles for me, I truly believe in the value of both and have received consulting and coaching myself. For example, I have benefited over the years from coaching by diverse practitioners and appreciate the structure it brings.
A few years ago, I pursued my integral coaching certification with New Ventures West with the intention of becoming a better teammate, colleague, friend, and family member—and of living a more integrated life aligned with my values and goals. As I progressed through the certification, I saw how I could weave its principles into my consulting to strengthen that work. I also decided to expand Open Rivers’ services to include individual coaching, which I have found truly joyful. It is an honor to walk alongside my clients on their journeys.
My coaching philosophy is this: imagine we are standing in a forest, looking up at a mountain. You would like to reach the top, and I am coming along with you on the path. We both have our backpacks. My aim is to bring our expertise and knowledge together to find the best path up the mountain for you. I will bring as many tools and skills as I can. It is a journey we undertake together, where I will be right by your side, drawing upon our respective knowledge and backgrounds to support you in reaching your objective.
Personal reflections
After my own transformative journey, I reflected on the work of coaches, consultants, therapists, healers, and those providing support, guidance, or advice. I noticed the following about our community:
1. Recognizing our own projections and dogma
We can come in with a strong structure and hypothesis and bypass really listening and understanding what is happening in front of us, leaving little space for learning and openness. Bringing in our hypotheses, structures, and experiences is valuable and helpful in driving toward a robust solution. However, it is important to recognize when we are bringing in our own feelings, experiences, or beliefs.
It is human nature to project our experiences onto others and to interpret their circumstances through that lens. There is a fine balance between drawing upon our experiences and coloring a client’s situation with interpretations that may not be related to it at all. Without sufficient space and openness, it is easy to misread or misrepresent a situation.
2. Understanding that what initially shows up may not be what is actually happening
What is on the surface is often an outcome of something else or symptomatic. We are complex and multifaceted, yet we can put too much weight on the initial things that come up and miss the space to go below the surface and understand what is actually driving them. This can lead to ineffective outcomes or missed opportunities for true change and impact.
Taking time to dig deeper, explore, and move with clients through a state of inquiry produces critical insights. This may take longer and can also be uncomfortable; however, it is invaluable to our clients and critical to the outcomes.
3. Sitting in and owning our own discomfort
We are all human and working through our own things. This means we all have our own insecurities, issues, problems, guilt, traumas, and fears. The reality is that even the most highly skilled practitioners need to be aware of how these appear in our work.
Just as we ask our clients to sit in their own discomfort, we also need to sit in ours. When we reach those moments with one another, we need to create space to understand what is causing the discomfort and explore it in a way that is meaningful and supportive of our clients. Too often, I have witnessed discomfort arise and a consultant or coach quickly move away from the situation or limit the client’s progress.
Recognizing and living with our discomfort as it appears in our work with clients requires courage and vulnerability. When we do this well, it can truly change the outcomes for our clients and ourselves.
4. Truly understanding that different people are different people
There are over eight billion people living on Earth today. I believe most of us agree that while our shared humanity creates an incredible interconnectedness, we are also uniquely different. There is a difference between recognizing that we are actually different and behaving in a way that takes those differences into account in the work we do.
Different people need different approaches and modalities. We each come with our own experiences, needs, and ways of moving through change. Many practitioners are so beholden to one approach that there is not space for difference. This also means holding space for the fact that working with different people can lead to the discomfort described in the previous point.
5. Fully supporting transformation requires patience
To acknowledge, process, heal, change, metabolize, and translate that into action takes time. There is often a tendency to say, “Here is the solution. Now go do it,” without recognizing that it does not work that way. No system—human or otherwise—works that way.
On the systems side, we understand this. For example, in soil health, farmers using cover crops will say it takes at least three years to see change—often five to seven. They are not judging biology; they are working with it.
Humans are no different. We are complex biological systems. Recognizing that change takes time is critical. Yet, in over twenty years, I have seen very little attention paid to this.
After I was rear-ended on the 405 in Los Angeles, I found myself working with a brilliant neurologist, Dr. Jennings at the Inova Concussion Clinic, who openly acknowledged this and incorporated it into my plan for healing and recovery. It is not pessimistic—it is realistic. It reduces pressure and guilt and sets appropriate expectations. Now, a full year later, I see significant recovery thanks to this approach and support.
When this is not acknowledged, it often creates judgment: if change does not happen quickly, something must be wrong with the individual. Not only is this inaccurate, but it can catalyze feelings of guilt, apprehension, fear, and a host of other issues that, in turn, stymie or slow growth.
6. Recognizing when we may not be the right person—or the only person—needed
It is important for us as consultants and coaches to articulate when we are not the best fit and then work with a current or prospective client to find the right person. It takes security and groundedness to do that, and it can run counter to business models and incentive structures. I understand the financial pull; however, a poor fit can produce mediocre or disappointing outcomes.
When we can recognize that we are not the right person—or the only person needed—and help find the best fit, it is better for everyone.
7. Empowering choice
A critical element of consulting and coaching is empowering individuals and organizations to choose whether they want support. If someone does not want advice or does not want to undergo transformation, it rarely works well when change is imposed upon them. Individual coaching, for example, only works when someone genuinely wants to engage in it. I have witnessed organizations require people to have coaches and then describe the resulting outcomes as mediocre.
I now have a personal rule, whether the work is paid or voluntary: I will show up fully and for as long as needed when someone truly wants my help and asks for it. Historically, I would show up and offer, but I have come to understand that this does not always support empowerment. One of the most important first steps in transformation is identifying the desire to change and then seeking support. Over twenty years of observation have shown me that those who transform successfully begin from this point. As I tell many people, “You only have to ask.”
Closing Reflection
Over the past twenty years, I have been building and evolving myself, my practices, and my business, aiming for a boutique, niche firm that allows me to show up fully for my clients. I have become increasingly intentional about whom I work with, helping to ensure strong alignment and giving me confidence that I can deliver fully on what they need. That alignment allows me to address the observations above in a way that supports real outcomes.
What I am describing is not easy. It takes a lot of work. I invest a tremendous amount of time with my clients, and my relationships tend to be long because this kind of understanding and transformation does not happen quickly.
That said, I have worked with consulting and coaching clients who have achieved meaningful results within a short period. This is possible because the individual or organization is moving at its own pace and setting that cadence.
The key is not imposing my movements on my clients. I am moving with them. We are moving and building together.
If this feels like the right fit, or if you are curious to learn more, I am always excited to chat. You just need to ask.