About Becky
The Pattern I Learned to See
For most of my 30-year career leading teams at Microsoft, Nike, Starbucks, and Kaiser Permanente, I was good at what I did—shipped products, built teams, solved complex problems. But I struggled with a pattern I didn't yet have language for: I kept looking outside myself for validation, direction, and permission.
Early in my career, I helped ship Microsoft Outlook 1.0. But one comment that I wasn't "strategic enough" derailed my confidence for years. I second-guessed myself into an $80,000 grad school detour (more like $160,000 in today's dollars), changed companies, changed coasts—convinced the next external change would finally create internal clarity. The pattern was always the same: abandon myself to fix what someone else thought was wrong..
But here's what I also saw: I wasn't alone. Across every organization, I watched talented people get promoted into leadership with little support—then struggle, burn out, or leave. I saw managers wreak havoc on their teams because no one had taught them how to lead. I watched psychological safety erode, retention plummet, and results suffer—not because people lacked capability, but because organizations treated leadership development as an afterthought.
The cost was enormous: lost talent, broken trust, teams that couldn't execute, and leaders who derailed just when they should have been thriving.
The breakthrough came when I stopped asking "What's wrong with this situation?" and started asking "What am I not seeing about myself?" That shift—from external validation to internal trust—changed everything.
That's the work I do now—for individuals and for organizations. Because the pattern I lived isn't unique to me, and the organizational cost of ignoring it is too high.
Why This Matters for Leaders and Organizations
This pattern—looking outside for answers that can only come from within—isn't unique to me. It's epidemic among high-performing, analytical leaders, especially in STEM and tech.
And it shows up most acutely during critical moments of change—promotions, reorgs, new roles, mergers, leadership transitions. These catalytic events expose the patterns that were always there but could be managed in stable times.
Smart people get stuck in analysis paralysis, second-guessing decisions despite clear capability. They optimize for what they think they "should" want instead of what actually matters to them. They leave organizations not because of the work, but because they never learned to trust themselves during moments of uncertainty.
The cost isn't just personal—it's organizational. Research shows that 40-50% of leaders struggle or fail in their first 90 days, with only 35% feeling confident in their leadership abilities. Organizations lose talented leaders who derail during critical transitions, burn out from exhausted striving, or leave just when they should be hitting their stride—taking institutional knowledge and potential with them.
This directly impacts the urgent needs organizations face:
Talent retention: Leaders who trust themselves stay and grow instead of leaving when challenged
Re-engagement and resilience: Confident leaders weather change without burning out
Team execution: Leaders who've built psychological safety enable their teams to innovate and deliver results
Traditional leadership development treats these transitions like linear, predictable processes. But change doesn't work that way. Leaders need support that meets them in the complexity—helping them build trust in themselves and psychological safety with their teams so they can lead through uncertainty, not just competence in stability.
The work I do now.
I'm a Co-Active trained, ICF-credentialed coach (ACC) with a master's in design and business from Carnegie Mellon and advanced certifications in Agile coaching. I serve as an adjunct career advisor at MIT Sloan and have worked with hundreds of leaders navigating critical transitions.
But what matters more than credentials is this: I understand both sides. I know what it's like to be the leader struggling with self-doubt during a high-stakes transition. And I know what organizations need—leaders who can navigate complexity, build trust with their teams, and lead with grounded confidence during change.
For individuals: I help analytical leaders interrupt the patterns that keep them stuck—transforming self-doubt into self-trust and uncertainty into confident action.
For organizations: I partner with companies to develop resilient leaders who successfully navigate critical transitions—building the trust and psychological safety that drive retention, innovation, and high-performing teams.
Most people skip the first part. They ask their managers what they need, their organizations what they value, their industries what's "strategic" — and wonder why they feel empty despite doing everything "right."
You can't advocate for yourself if you don't know who you are. So start by asking yourself the questions you've been avoiding: What do I actually want? Where am I abandoning myself? What am I optimizing for that doesn't serve me?
Once you have those answers, then ask the world. Be audacious. Don't let fear of rejection stop you from going after what actually matters.
That's how leaders stop second-guessing and start leading. And that's how organizations build the confident, resilient leadership they need.
My philosophy will always be: