How it works: Serving Leaders

CEO at Series A start-up, Singapore 

• Challenge: You've expanded your team and lost some visibility and control. You need to tighten the ship, but wonder how to drive transparency and focus in the company without micromanaging. 

• We help you clearly articulate company directions and implement Objectives and Key Results that drive alignment without wasteful overheads. We bring the entire leadership team onboard and train a high potential team member to drive this alignment process quarterly. We help you draft effective strategic communications to your team. 

COO at Series B start-up, Silicon Valley

• Challenge: Your company has experienced leadership turnover from Series A to B. You need to align and catalyze trust in the new leadership team, quickly. 

• We help you unearth the core concerns of your leadership team through 1:1s. We design an executive retreat where each team member is prepared for an effective, psychologically safe discussion. We design effective communications to cascade directions to the rest of the company. 

CEO at Seed start-up moving from Australia to Singapore & CEO at Asian company establishing new venture in Silicon Valley

• Challenge: You want to start a venture or expand in Silicon Valley or Singapore. You are unfamiliar with the systems and networks, and want a thought partner who can navigate you through the start-up process. 

• We come alongside in helping you set priorities and understand market realities. We navigate you through systems and stakeholders in each locality, and connect you with trusted networks to support your next steps - from visa and incorporation matters, to product development and hiring. 

Chair of Board Search Committee, New Jersey

• Challenge: You've had a hard time finding a fit for a critical role in your organization - traditional recruiting hasn't worked. You're receiving feedback that it is might be something about the role or the organization. 

• We first understand and bridge the gap between your organization and ideal candidates. We then recast the role and scope with your team, and find the right candidate based on this. 

CEO at Series C start up, Silicon Valley 

• Challenge: Your leadership team needs to address elephants in the room but it feels to risky to tackle it alone. 

• We conduct 1:1s to help you and your team define elephants in the room and obstacles to collaboration. We help the leadership team establish common goals and mediate difficult conversations among leaders to achieve them. 

"Working with you is like Marie-Kondoing my mind - increasing the ratio of signal to noise, simplifying and clarifying the complexity, then focusing our team on the most important next steps." - Series A start-up CEO, Singapore

"I am thoroughly impressed by your ability to translate my ideas into compelling, authentic narratives." - Senior Cabinet Minister, Singapore

"We couldn't find the right candidate for two years. You found one in two months by deeply understanding candidates' concerns and partnering with us to redesign the role and hiring process." - Head of Board Search Committee, New Jersey 

“Karen is enterprising and has the strength in character to push things through amidst adversity and ambivalence in a traditional organization. Thank you for forging the path and laying down the good work for others to build on.” - CEO of Singapore Government agency who tapped on Karen to jump-start a new approach to technology talent in the Singapore Government 

“We activated Karen when our company was at an impasse. Our product, technology and clinical operations teams were struggling to align and pivot quickly. She conducted a listening tour across the functions and executives and quickly assembled a two day working session which set our company on the path we needed. 

Her listening skills allowed her to gain the trust of stakeholders and bring each voice. She had the ability to make everyone feel valued and get a diverse group to focus and solve together.  She has a sense of humor, which helps in our company when tensions rise very fast.

She effectively framed the objective for the session, keeps the team on track and focused on the business problem, recaps when needed and explains things well.  From high-level planning and preparation to real-time management of topics, she kept our group moving. Once conclusions were reached, she assisted us in developing effective strategic communications to the broader company.”  

- Synthesis of session feedback: COO, VP of FinOps, SVP Technology at Series B technology start-up