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.
There’s something exciting about the beginning of the school year, even when you’re no longer a student. The fresh supplies – new pencils, new pens and paper that seem to say, “At this moment my future’s wide open and anything can happen!” Of course, for many of us that feeling didn’t last beyond the first few weeks of school, but the excitement at the beginning of the year was real. There were new possibilities. We meet adults…
As you may know, at Carpenter Smith Consulting, we believe that leadership is the willingness to influence your world and the willingness to be influenced by your world. Recently, we had someone write and ask us this: “You talk a lot about influence. I’m just not sure it’s all that important. What’s made it so central to your model of leadership? What about power and authority?” We love these questions! We know that people often believe that leadership is about…
Good morning, Living in Portland, Oregon, means that we’re within 30 miles of “the path of totality” – the path where one can see the total eclipse of the sun later this morning. In our office, we’ve had lots of discussions about whether it’s really necessary to seek out a viewing spot that will be in the path of totality; we wonder, “how much better could 100% be than 99%?” Well, after doing some reading, the difference between…
Last week in Two Powerful Tools from One Powerful Leader, we described how visionary leader Kathy Broadwater utilized virtual departments to get work done at the Maryland Port Authority. This week, we’re sharing her approach to solidifying those virtual departments by creating a specific charter or compact to ensure that everyone is clear about the goals and deliverables, how the work will be done and who will do it, and to formalize the commitment to being a part of this…
On June 14, 2017, Linda had the privilege of presenting to the American Association of Port Authorities on Promoting and Celebrating Internal Communications – or what we describe as creating cultures of leadership and engagement. For the presentation, Linda was on a panel with Kathy Broadwater, a Principal at EcoLogix Group, Inc., in Parkton, Maryland. Kathy had spent 16 years as the Deputy Executive Director at the Maryland Port Administration and shared two tools she found powerfully effective in…
In last week’s post, we talked about what it means to step in as a leader while not “doing it all.” This week we’d like to follow that up with some tips on how you can start to set healthy boundaries. We all know that we should have healthy boundaries, but for many of us we think we’re being mean or lazy when we set limits that take care of our own needs. Having healthy boundaries isn’t about being mean.…
Last week we talked about our definition of leadership and some ways that different people brought that definition to life in a wide range of settings. It was great to hear from so many of you that these examples helped you see some ways to bring stronger leadership into your world. At the same time, a number of you said that you found the idea of being a leader a burden. Barb summed up her concerns this way: …
As some of you know, at Carpenter Smith Consulting we define leadership in this way: Leadership is the willingness to influence your world and be influenced by your world, regardless of role or title. We’ve brought this definition to leaders of large organizations, leaders in school, leaders in communities, and leaders in life… and based on their positive feedback, we’re more dedicated to this definition than ever. This definition represents a powerful shift in your behavior and supports…
Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action. ~ Peter Drucker One of the key behaviors of successful people—in life and in work—is the ability to self reflect. Often when we ask the question, “As you reflect on this experience, what have you learned?” we find that people don’t really know what we mean when we ask them to reflect on their experiences. Their response makes a lot of sense…
As surprising as it is, we’re once again heading in to summer. In the Pacific NW, it’s actually been warm and dry. Summer!!! And, while many of us associate summer with summer vacation, not many people really take a break to refuel. We’re here to remind you… if you’re going to create a life you love, where you’re successful, connected, and satisfied, then you need to refuel. So, what do we mean by refuel? The simple online definition is…
