I'm Not an HR Person Who Learned Business.
I'm a Business Person Who Made Culture My Competitive Advantage.
I've spent my career trying to solve one problem: too many people are passive passengers at work. That's not a culture problem. It's a human one. And it's fixable.
I work with mid-market CEOs who are done firefighting the same problems and ready for a diagnosis that actually goes somewhere. Not a study of your organization from the outside. A reckoning with what's driving it from within. Together, we close the gap between the culture you're running and the results you know are possible.
I'm Not an HR Person Who Learned Business.
I'm a Business Person Who Made Culture My Competitive Advantage.
I've spent my career trying to solve one problem: too many people are passive passengers at work. That's not a culture problem. It's a human one. And it's fixable.
I work with mid-market CEOs who are done firefighting the same problems and ready for a diagnosis that actually goes somewhere. Not a study of your organization from the outside. A reckoning with what's driving it from within. Together, we close the gap between the culture you're running and the results you know are possible.
Two Turning Points. One Purpose.
In 2004, I was handed Rogers Communications' largest division, a billion-dollar operation and the company's worst performer. I had just attended a talk by Richard Barrett, founder of the Values Centre and author of Liberating the Corporate Soul. That day, I had an “aha” moment when I learned his framework for measuring culture, the way you measure any other business KPI.
For the first time, what I had been doing intuitively had a concrete system behind it. My question was: would it work at scale?
It did. That division became a top performer.
The second turning point shaped who I am as a practitioner. I was saying yes to everything: work, community commitments, and family, including one kid in competitive travel hockey.
Eventually, something gave. A doctor's note. Two weeks off.
Then an executive coach guided me through a personal values exercise that changed how I led—and how I lived. Once I got clear on what truly mattered to me, I had boundaries, direction, and the language to say no.
I still use that invaluable exercise with the leaders I work with to this day.
Those two experiences are the foundation of everything I do. The organizational and the individual. The diagnostic and the personal. Two lenses on the same work. Both in service of the same belief: work should be more than something people merely pass through.
How the Work Actually Works
The leaders who get the most from working with me share one quality above all: they are willing to do the work. Not delegate it. Not observe it from a distance. Do it.
That shapes how I operate.
I believe real change happens when leaders do the work, not when consultants do it for them. That principle shapes every decision I make about how to structure an engagement.
Take employee focus groups, for example. I don't run them. The leaders do. I build the run sheet, I prepare them, and I’m in the room when it matters. The “aha” moments don't happen when a consultant facilitates a meeting. They happen when a leader sits across from their people and hears something unexpected. That moment of genuine discovery is where real change begins.
The same is true in coaching. The insight has to come from the leader, not from me.
My job is to ask the questions that make it possible.
When a leader describes a challenging situation, my first instinct isn't to offer a solution. It's to ask: How did that work out for you? Why do you think that's happening? I keep asking until we reach the root cause rather than the presenting symptom.
I do this without judgment, but I do it persistently.
Leaders tell me they didn't expect the depth of my process. They also tell me it's where the most valuable work happens.
What I bring to those conversations is the full weight of thirty years inside organizations— the turnarounds, the integrations, the transformational changes— combined with a suite of values-based and leadership development tools most consultants don't carry.
What I ask in return is straightforward: be committed, open, and willing to change. If you're looking for someone to tick the culture box or to run a program while you watch, I'm not the right fit. If you're looking for a thought partner who will challenge you, support you, and stay with you through the hard part, we should talk.
Credentials, Recognition & Books
Recognition: Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women, Canadian Women in Communications, Woman of the Year
Education & Professional Designations: FCPA, CPA — a designation reserved for CPAs recognized by their peers for exceptional contribution to the profession, Rotman School of Management, Judy Project Executive Program
Specialized Certifications: Barrett Values Centre Culture Transformation Tools, Brené Brown's Dare to Lead Program, Wiley's Leadership Challenge Practitioner
Board Leadership: Chair, Greater Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, Board of Governors, CMA Canada
Books: IGNITE Your Culture is available now — practical frameworks and field-tested insights drawn from two decades of culture work with mid-market leaders.
People Problems Solved is coming soon, built on the same premise that drives everything I do: people problems are never just people problems. They’re symptoms of the system people live in.
The Organizations That Have Done This Work
City of Hamilton
City of Markham
Camnet Energy
NORR
CN
Money Mart
Gibson Supplies
Tavern Group
Diabsolut
Connex
YMCA HBB
Pathstone Mental Health
What leaders say
“Although I had the clearest vision possible for my organization, I was getting nowhere. The strategy presented was key in helping our leadership team ignite our organization. It put us on the right track in a short time.”
Stephen Covey
Chief of Police and Chief Security Officer, CN
“I have worked with Carol for a number of years now and found that her experience and leadership in values-based organizational development has been instrumental to creating stronger and more effective organizations. Working with Carol brought greater clarity and intention to how I approach leadership and people-related challenges. Her professionalism, deep insight, and practical guidance had a meaningful and lasting impact on both my leadership practice and my team.”
Arvin Prasad
MPA - GM Planning & Economic Development, City of Hamilton
“Carol's insight from her own personal experience along with her guidance and accomplished facilitation skills, aided our leadership team as we progressed through her framework. Carol kept us on track through the process which has culminated in an enhanced and sustainable culture recipe for ConnexOntario”
Lorri Lowe
Executive Director, ConnexOntario