About Karen Lam, Principal Consultant
Ever since I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by how people discover their own voice. It’s true that you teach what you need to learn. To me there’s nothing more compelling than authenticity and freedom.
As a communications strategist and executive coach, that ultimately is what I hope to enable for you. As a coach I'm perceptive, savvy, honest. I’m gently and ruthlessly committed to your power and effectiveness. As a speaker I'm engaging and provocative. My trainings are based both on cutting-edge research and the wisdom of our common humanity. See what clients say.
Here's how I've learned to become a masterful coach and trainer.
Over 25 years I've coached CEOs and presidents, Nobel Laureates, Olympic medalists, television celebrities, physicians, rocket scientists, university chancellors and the chief of a Native American tribe. I've conducted trainings on Wall Street, in a semiconductor plant, in the Tsing Tao Beer factory and a Napa Valley winery. My clients have ranged from Apple to Disney to the venture capital arm of the CIA.
In short, I’ve worked with companies and spokespeople in almost every conceivable communication situation – new product launches, layoffs, celebrations, initial public offerings, venture presentations, crises. I’m intimately familiar with the audiences you most likely are addressing – media, analysts, investors, employees, partners, customers.
Having lived and worked in Asia, Africa, Europe, Canada and the US, I bring a global perspective to my work. I grew up speaking English and three dialects of Chinese. I’m a student of French, German and Spanish.
Before I started my own practice, I led the communications training division for Burson-Marsteller, one of the world’s largest PR firms, in the Greater China region. I also worked in HR at American Express International. I began my career teaching in universities.
What does this mean for you? You will emerge from our work with greater self-awareness and tangible improvement in your communication and leadership behavior. I enter each session with a clear learning goal -- to facilitate a breakthrough for you. The kind of breakthrough you achieve and how and when it happens is up to you. (Breakthroughs can be invited but not forced, I’ve learned). My job is to create a learning space, to see your greatness, and to ask the hard questions that will empower your full potential.
As a lifelong learner, I believe in the power of a multidisciplinary approach. I've studied extensively the fields of leadership, neurolinguistic programming, Jungian archetypes, somatic coaching, metaphysics and movement forms such as Nia. I trained as a coach with the Coaches Training Institute and have a master's degree in Linguistics.
My particular passion is working with women leaders. In addition to the pressures of getting the job done, women executives grapple with additional layers of complexity in how they are perceived and what is expected of them. The “rules” are slippery. This is a challenge for which I can provide concrete solutions.
More importantly, I believe women are the change agents of the future. The old masculine paradigm (which men and women have co-created and perpetuated equally) no longer works. Women leaders have the opportunity -- and perhaps even the responsibility -- to develop healthier and more effective ways of leading. My new program, Power, Success and Femininity offers a pathway to this new paradigm.
