An Interview with Leadership Coach Betsy Kauffman
Betsy Kauffman is a globally recognized Leadership and Organizational Agility Coach with more than 20 years of experience working in Fortune 500 companies. Her company, Cross Impact Coaching, helps leaders create innovative, aligned, and disruptive agile organizations. Betsy has observed and worked with hundreds of CxO leaders. She has seen just about every variation of how Leadership Teams operate and execute (both successfully and not so successfully). She deeply understands and has experienced firsthand that when the team of individuals charged with leading the organization aren't aligned, focused, and working as one, the rest of the organization suffers. She is a published author, providing thought leadership to agile and project management communities and speaks internationally on leadership, corporate culture, and organizational agility.
Who is Betsy Kauffman?
I am a leadership coach and organizational agility consultant. I live in Charlotte, North Carolina, with my husband, two teenage sons, and two Labrador retrievers. For fun, we love to travel internationally (the past year has definitely been hard not being able to do that), enjoy boating and swimming in the lake near our home, hiking, cooking, and playing with our dogs.
The mission of my work is for people to wake up each morning feeling motivated and inspired by their work so they feel fulfilled and valued.
This work mantra was one of the things that inspired my TED Talk, which was released in January 2021. The Ted Talk was titled: 4 tips to Kickstarting Honest Conversations at Work. It is centered around equipping people with the tools to speak up and bring up the tough conversations when needed instead of holding back or having side conversations with their peers. By doing this, they are one step closer to achieving that ultimate fulfillment and value personally and professionally.
What is it that you do for your clients?
I support and coach leadership teams to become aligned and resolve the big issues that impede their organization’s agility. This work also includes coaching individuals (leaders, mid-level managers, and individual contributors) in a one-on-one setting to navigate and lead with greater awareness, clarity, and confidence. I am passionate about naming and discussing the “elephants in the room” so that conversations and work are productive and focused on solving the right problems and delivering valuable products and services to their customers.
The services I offer include Courage and Confidence Workshops on a number of topics to support individuals personally and professionally, Align and Execute Planning Workshops for Leadership Teams, 1:1 Coaching to support individuals to lead powerfully.
Who should hire/work with you?
Leaders of mid-and large-sized organizations who need support on how to get their teams aligned and who are serious about executing their quarterly and annual goals, company transformations, and/or product roadmaps. Additionally, any individuals who want 1:1 support understanding their blind spots and leveraging their strengths so they can navigate and lead with clarity and confidence.
What is your big goal? Where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?
My big goal is to be a household name, globally recognized as a thought leader for the work I do with organizations and individuals to make work fun, engaging, psychologically safe, and fulfilling. Ideally, these organizations will be able to leverage my books (still on the “to do” list to get the first one written), my talks, podcasts, blogs, etc., and have me support them in their efforts at their organizations. I would also love to spend 4-6 weeks a year (if not more) living like a local in various countries, immersing myself in their cultures and daily lives.
Betsy completed her first TED talk - “4 Tips to Kickstart Honest Conversations at Work” in September 2020 in conjunction with the TED@PMI partnership and was selected by the TED editors to have her talk brought to the mainstage– check it out at TED.com!
Betsy completed her first TED talk - “4 Tips to Kickstart Honest Conversations at Work” in September 2020 in conjunction with the TED@PMI partnership and was selected by the TED editors to have her talk brought to the mainstage– check it out at TED.com!
