There are always possibilities to do more of what you love. Identify opportunities that align with your life priorities, the best of your skills, and an environment where you’ll thrive.
Business is all about the people. We’ll partner with you to enhance team engagement, develop interpersonal communications, and improve individual performance.
Great leaders, whatever their role, can inspire others and change lives. Whether you’re an established leader or a new leader, this is a powerful way to enhance your skills and drive day-to-day results.
Whether for a 30-minute keynote or an all-day workshop, we’re passionate about presenting dynamic and inspiring content. Our underlying message is always about leadership and its power to move individuals, teams, and organizations successfully forward.
"Stephanie is masterful at bringing clarity to things and helps me look at the big picture. She was instrumental in my decision to leave a long time job and open my own firm—the best career of my life."
Angie Galimanis, Owner/President @ Lawrence PR, Portland, OR
"Heather empowered me to look inside and see what it was I truly wanted out of work and life. We set out my priorities, my criteria for my next job, and I learned about the strengths I had as a person, not just a list of software acumen!"
Zöe Flanagan, Research Assistant @ Pacific Research & Evaluation, Portland, OR
"Linda’s Executive Coaching has helped me become a better leader. She coached me to not avoid difficult discussions, but to approach them in a non aggressive way. I feel like much more of a natural leader, and I’m having a lot more fun now."Jeff Fuchs, City Engineer for the City of Tualatin, OR
"Working with Heather changed my life in ways I didn't know were possible. This year I launched a business that has gone from nothing to flourishing in so many ways. I'm so grateful to Heather for her personal, heartfelt, and out-of-the-box style. I'm so grateful for all you do!"
Meghan French, Licensed OR Broker, Scout Realty, Portland, OR
"Working with Stephanie has been the single most transformative experience. Thanks to Stephanie’s advice and support, I entered and completed graduate school, have made it through many professional challenges, and have established my own business."
David Hanna, Couples, Family, and Individual Therapist @ David Hanna Counseling, Portland, OR
"Linda unlocked some doors inside me with some ready understanding of concerns that face me as a leader, a parent, and a partner with some very simple solutions and practices. Linda's been an integral part of my successful leadership role at work and home."Katy Patricelli, Former Sr VP @ Wells Fargo
"Stephanie has been an invaluable sounding board. My coaching sessions with Stephanie have provided me with a case study-like approach to work through current business challenges, a constructive unbiased listening center which provides immediate stress relief, and an actionable and useful “nugget” to put into immediate action from each session."
Kathryn Loescher, MBA, Sr. Director of Compensation, The Standard
"Heather brought order to my chaos and helped me pursue my goals in a more purposeful, fulfilling way. Now I feel less stressed, more in control and able to enjoy taking some big steps that I’ve been working towards for a long time."
Carolyn Cosgriff, Owner/Artist/Designer @ HissBuzzHum, Portland, OR
"I love working with Heather, she's not only my productivity coach, she’s my accountability partner. She helps me stay on track with my goals, my weekly tasks and I’ve been able to accomplish more in the past 3 months than I have all year.”Shannon M. McCaffery, Founder @ SoulfulVisionMarketing.com, Richmond, VA
"In my work, I found myself challenged to engage the physician leaders across the organization. With Carpenter Smith Consulting, we learned strategies that resulted in a dramatic growth in provider satisfaction from the 11th percentile to the 73rd percentile!"Sharon Crowell M.D. @ The Vancouver Clinic, Vancouver, WA
"Linda is a great listener and powerful observer. I rely on her wisdom and pragmatic advice around team dynamics, culture and leadership. Simply put, Linda makes me better."Katherine Durham, VP Individual Disability Insurance and Corporate Marketing & Communications @ The Standard, Portland, OR
"I found my sessions with Heather to be very insightful, practical, and useful, and focused on elements of employee behaviors which we normally don't pay attention to. Our discussions helped me grow in my new role at work as well as out of work."Kunal Dugal, QA Manager @ Logitech, Camas, WA
"Heather helped me see that work isn't just about the money. She took the big picture view of my life and gave me the tools I needed to commit to my pursuits. My stress is gone and both of my businesses are better than ever!Theresa Provitola, Founder/CEO @ Pixels & Ink Media, llc, Vancouver, WA
"I learned more about how to be a leader from Carpenter Smith Consulting than I did from my Master's program at Harvard."
Alfred Seekamp, M.D., Chief Medical Officer @ The Vancouver Clinic, Vancouver, WA
Linda is described as a powerful ally and skilled strategist in helping them develop their personal and professional leadership to move their businesses forward.
Stephanie is known for providing trusted advice and management techniques to people seeking personal and professional success.
Heather is unmatched in her ability to motivate clients, friends, and family members to take charge of their lives and to boldly step into their leadership.
Last week, we talked about how to handle a situation if you become labeled the problem. We heard from many of you that similar scenarios had played out in your lives and that you were hurt by the experience. So today, we’re expanding last week’s post to talk more about this issue. We know it doesn’t feel this way, but it’s important to remember that most of the time other people’s actions and reactions are not personal to you. Other…
As coaches for over 20 years, in businesses of all varieties, we’ve seen many examples of people who have concerns about someone else’s behavior; and yet, they themselves are seen and experienced as “the problem” in the office. How can that be? Let’s take a look at Janet. Janet is a confident and competent businesswoman who came to us on the brink of being let go. She was distressed and angry, and she was looking for an ally to figure…
“As humans, we know who we are by looking at the mirrors of others’ eyes. For that reason, it’s important that you choose your mirrors wisely.” ~ Dr. Linda Carpenter To be a successful, powerful leader, it’s critical that you regularly reflect on who you are, what matters to you, and how you want to engage others in your life and your work. It’s equally important that you’re willing to understand your impact on others, the way they…
This week, we want to share with you an article that we read recently. The article is written by Carl Richards and appeared in the New York Times. We’ve pasted the article in the body of the post, but you can also click to read the article here. As you’ll see, the article is about empathy, and understanding that all of us will–at some time–be dealing with something that rocks us to our core. The trouble is that for most…
If you toss a group a grenade…they will run for cover. Starting a conversation with accusations or anger is akin to tossing a grenade into a room and expecting people to want to play “catch.” No matter how valuable your insight or how accurate your concern, the act of grenade tossing will result in people not hearing you because they’re consumed with ducking for cover. In talking to a client about his accusatory behavior he stated, “But the grenade isn’t…
As coaches, we get hired because people – despite the best of intentions – are struggling to change the things that are getting in the way of their success. Our goal is to help you recognize and overcome those habitual reactions that keep the changes you’re working toward from taking hold. The key behind the work that we do is helping people manage their reactivity, and to do that we teach them something we designed called, the Fundamental PAUSE. The…
Motivation of self and others is a hot topic in business precisely because it can be quite a challenge. What motivates people over the years has changed in large part because how we work has changed. Never in the history of time have so many people held jobs where their contribution is based on their knowledge or building on the knowledge of others. Motivated employees are more successful, more committed, more upbeat, and more engaged—as are kids and community members. …
One of our clients recently had a difficult month, and a dear friend and mentor sent him this writing by John McQuiston called “Each Day”. We want to share it with you, as it is an important reminder when life feels dark and heavy. Each Day At the beginning of each day, after we open our eyes to receive the light of that day, as we listen to the voices and sounds that surround us, we must resolve to treat each…
Last week, we wrote about Growing Your Wisdom built on the quote by Mark Twain: “Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you would rather have talked.” At the end of that post, we promised that this week we would look at how to formulate questions that create meaningful conversations. Over the course of our careers we’ve discovered, time and again, that identifying a great question can dramatically change your interaction. We’ve talked about this…
“Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you would rather have talked.” ~ Mark Twain We love this quote from Mark Twain as it reminds us of a core truth – one must listen fully and completely to gain wisdom and perspective. And, wisdom and perspective can help us create more meaningful lives, more success in our service to others and to our work, and more impact in our worlds. Unfortunately, listening isn’t as natural…
