About me
I am a seasoned consultant/catalyst who has spent my professional career connecting across the intersection of leadership and change.
As the Founder of Changeworks Lab, I offer 40 years of experience as a consultant, author, and social entrepreneur. I have honed my ability to identify, simplify and apply the core capabilities that values-drive leaders use to sustain meaning and energy during change and transition.
I have served as a leadership professor, organizational psychologist, board member, executive and change catalyst, building capacity for change and transformation in individuals, teams, and organizations. My compass has been a deep curiosity about what conditions helps people thrive, regenerate, and transform, and a conviction that this capacity could be built in individuals and organizations. This sparked my research and writing about burnout prevention, personal and organizational resilience, and development of agile and change capable leaders.
I’ve helped individuals, teams and whole organizations see and unwind patterns to release creativity and innovation. I have coached leaders at all levels, led product and strategy development teams and designed global leadership development initiatives. My work with purpose driven leaders crosses a broad range of organizations, startups, government, and non-profits. As a core faculty at Presidio Graduate School for 10 years, I designed and taught the Core Leadership courses, mentoring over 850 MBA and MPA sustainability entrepreneurs and change agents.
Some of my recent projects include Design and facilitation of Personal Sustainability Programs for Walmart, Design and implementation of personal values conversations at McDonalds, Design of a Social Innovation Forum for Emzingo and Creation of Coaching Practices for Leaders for Lee Hecht. Over the years she has designed innovative programs for organizations such as IDEO, Google, PG&E, AT&T, Capital One, Charles Schwab, Kaiser Permanente, Deloitte, Estee Lauder, National Semiconductor, and IBM.
I am pioneering the application of behavioral science to personal and organizational change and transformation.
My insights, tools, frameworks, and inspiration are distilled in my books: HealThyself, Self-Renewal, Stress Map, Rekindling Commitment, Empowerment, Take This Work and Love It, Managing Change at Work, Mission Vision and Values, Getting Your Organization to Change and Leadership for Sustainability and Change.
I designed accessible tools including the Values Edge, The Transition Curve, Stress Map, and the Change Readiness Assessment, that are interactive learning experiences to build insight and action. I have taught academic courses in Managing Organizational Change, Managing Personal Change, Sustainable Management, and Strategic Agility. I enjoy sharing my insights at global conferences on the topics of leadership, mastering change, resilience, and innovation. My work has been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, the Stanford Business School Newsletter and Worthwhile magazine. I earned a Ph.D. in Psychology from the Fielding Institute, researching stress and burnout in health professionals, an M.P.H. in Health Planning and Administration from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from University of California, Berkeley.
Testimonials
Cynthia always brings an expansive sensory lens, and the capacity to see beyond the normal way of thinking. She has generated many creative ideas and reflective insights in our sessions.