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I stood outside in the cold January air, watching flames devour my home & office. As the wooden beams and all our possessions crackled under the heat, I took a deep breath, "It's just stuff…only stuff. Let it go." I had learned over the years that each transition - no matter how devastating - could be an invitation for greatness. “Traumatic events like my home fire or world tragedies like September 11th, force us to look at what really matters. With every transition, there is transformation, and often a greater connection to others and to our soul purpose. These events refine us and make us look more closely at ourselves, our relationships and our place in the world. True greatness is forged from change.” ~ Karen Sands, January 2001 As a Master Coach and Futurist, I believe the world is enriched when each of us answers our call to greatness. And greatness is not possible without facing the questions born from personal, as well as global change. Transition and transformation bring the answers we seek. Reinvention is an act of greatness when it is in the service of our personal and professional higher good and the good of others. Each of us has the opportunity to express our Soul’s higher purpose by serving others through our gifts. That is greatness…and that is the call for today and tomorrow. Coaching Those Seeking to Reinvent Their Lives and Their World. I have spent three decades coaching, educating and training high-achieving and accomplished men and women to reach their full potential so to unleash greatness in others and manifest a greater tomorrow. Together we co-create positive futures and strive to meet the "greatness challenge" of our times. My clients are those who want not only success, but true fulfillment, hoping to offer enlightened leadership and breakthrough results that better their lives and reinvent their world. We are seizing new opportunities and looking ahead to build brighter futures. Whether leaving offices to build new businesses, or trading in briefcases for diaper bags, or exchanging laundry for corporate ladders or a long time job for unemployment lines , or leaving the boardroom for new vistas, we are on the move. Even in challenging times, we are stepping up to the plate and making a difference. For 30+ years, as one of only 600 ICF certified Master Coaches worldwide and a professional futurist, I have inspired others to cultivate their self-confidence, hone their skill sets and gain the profound knowledge that makes them visionary leaders with successful careers and fulfilling lives – so they can make a real difference that is sustainable and profitable. Since the 1970’s, I have created communities of executives, professionals and business owners who support one another, through a variety of different vehicles. I created these communities in the workplace, in my public groups, and through my Tele- Dialogues and Forums. Everyday people…smart people….successful people….striving women…. emerging careerists….married ….single …new parents and empty-nesters…bring their souls seeking my guidance. They listen to my speeches, they attend my group sessions, they read my Gazette, and they work with me on a one-on-one basis. I offer a unique female perspective to human potential, consciousness and greatness. It is my intent to model a new greatness, emerging out of a holistic view of the world that emphasizes connectedness, collaboration, inner knowing and ancestral wisdom…and most of all, truth-telling. I believe in a “win-win” approach to life and work. My “community” is a wide range of high achieving and accomplished women and men. My goal is to train them to stretch beyond their imagined ability, while sustaining balanced whole lives. My focus is on the “cradle to grave” transitions that confront an increasing number of us as we move from iadolescent to elder. In my work as a trusted advisor to CEO’s, Senior Executives, professionals, entrepreneurs and community activists – some “Parents-on-the Go”, others empty-nesters or retirees re-entering the workforce-- we create out-of-the box thinking so that these leaders and change agents can successfully lead sustainable change and catalyze peak performance to meet the challenges of the future. But first we start with ourselves. After all, we can’t heal the world and reinvent our future until we do so for ourselves. These times we live in require a total re-evaluation and demand reinvention based on our current values, real needs so we can create futures we design by intention. Clients come from a variety of industries and organizations, business models and forms: partnerships, boards, teams and independent professionals all changing the model to a more profitable and purposeful workplace, community, country and world…leading, working and playing at a whole new level. They all depend on my insightful and analytical results-oriented evolutionary approach to visionary leadership, reinvention and self-mastery. What qualifies me to create greater futures? My continuous self-improvement model moves clients to ever-increasing levels of peak performance, achievement and fulfillment as they move through accelerating change and un-mapped transitions on the way to greatness. I draw on my more than 30 years experience as a pioneer in coaching, adult development & learning, transformation & consciousness and in futures work focusing on personal, professional and workforce futures. I have been an innovative educator, an enterprising non-profit and for-profit entrepreneur as well as a highly successful start-up and turn-around visionary line-executive of fast growth, “win-win” businesses in the financial services industry. What Is FutureWorksInstitute.com? In 1988, I founded the Future Works Institute, (FWI) to serve as a face-to-face, telephonic and virtual coaching and educational forum, as well as a futuring institute. Future Works specializes in working with those who imagine a greater future. It serves accomplished and busy entrepreneurs, professionals, top executives, experienced careerists and mature seekers on the road to a greater future. I am the publisher of the web-based Future Works® Gazette and I’ve authored numerous articles including "Reinvention to Renewal," "Bottom-line Soul", and "Mid-Career in the Fast Lane." I have also written two ebooks based on her insights into and experiences with midlife transition, social reinvention and transformation. They are: The New Sixties: Reinventing Our Millennium and Crossing the Canyon: Women’s Midlife Journey to Greatness. I have also written a manuscript The Greatness Challenge: a guide for living your greatness and creating a sustainable future. I am currently working on a new ebook on Reinvention and Personal Futures. I speak at a number of forums, conferences and workshops about the new millennium workplace, current trends, reinvention, mid-career, coaching, visionary leadership, personal and global change and transformation. I’ve been interviewed by CNN, Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan, The Washington Post and the Boston Globe and I’ve been a featured guest on a variety of radio and television talk shows. From Prophet to Profit: Cassandra Then – ROCK SOLID Now Almost 40 yrs ago I was one of a growing number of women becoming leaders, breaking through the glass ceiling and a multitude of barriers to our advancement and equality. It was a time of women helping women. A decade later, I forecasted the coming impact of the “Graying of America on our future workforce, global competitiveness, and ultimately on our personal and professionals futures. Linking insights from adult development, education, psychology and the new sciences with this growing cohort group, I have gained an in depth understanding of the future values, views and behaviors of mid-lifers and mid-careerists as they retread retirement and lead us into the future. I advised and contributed to the White House Task Force on Innovative Learning and the Hudson Institute's Workforce 2000 Task Force. The American Management Association selected her for their roster of Trainers for the privately owned small and mid-sized market CEOs and Top Management teams. In 1995, I was invited to be a guest reporter at the White House Conference on Aging. I was also named to Connecticut's Permanent Commission on the Status of Women's Advisory Council, and I am active in the International Coach Federation, World Future Society, Association of Professional Futurists, American Association on Aging and Association of Spirit at Work. I am also a participating member of Retirement Income Industry Association. In the ‘80’s I developed my corporate leadership abilities during my 10 years with Equitable/AXA Financial Services. Leading, educating, training NASD Series 7+ Advisors and over 8000+ Agents, I became well regarded in the study of emerging trends, (such as the Graying of America’s workforce and led the call for private retirement planning for high net worth clients and firms. Valued as a change agent and innovative “intrapreneur”, I consistently led fast-growth, highly collaborative teams, producing breakthrough results with passion and innovation. Concurrent with my bottom-line responsibilities, I served as Executive Coach & Mentor to down-line managers and company-wide fast trackers. In the mid-1970’s I founded Wearwithall Jewelry with the underlying mission to empower women returning to the workforce. The company provided coaching and career development, sales training and daycare before it became “the “norm” to an employee base of women who were first-timers or re-entries. In the early 70’s I founded a non-profit growth center: an adult learning and life/career planning, training and coaching center which supported the re-entry of women into the workforce. My first career at age 22 was as the youngest School District Chairwoman and Science Teacher creating learner-centered template programs for the state of California’s curriculum development. I have studied with some of the “greats” and been blessed to stand on their shoulders crafting my own body of work in the field of transformation, adult learning, self-& career development, change & transition, enlightened leadership and futuring. A disciple and colleague of the late Dr. W. Edwards Deming, legendary Godfather of the Continuous Quality Improvement Movement, has informed my worldview and been instrumental in my work. As protégé of Social Entrepreneur Extraordinaire, Nelson Broms and an avid student of the leading futurists, change masters, new thought leaders and enlightened visionaries of our times. I have become a cutting edge new thought leader, coach and educator: teacher & trainer. Standing on the shoulders of these greats, I guide my clients to improve the quality of their lives, businesses, communities and planet. Currently, I live in Litchfield County, Connecticut and winter in Arizona with my husband of many incredible years. Known as a “Renaissance Woman” by many for my ability to straddle the roles of long-time, happily re-married wife, mom of two 30-something children, a new grandmother of two and a multiple career changer and gifted guide to the alchemical process of transformation. I’m also highly regarded for my multi-disciplinary and diverse approaches to changing the lives of individuals and the culture of organizations they lead and communities they live in. The Bottom Line It is very clear that my calling is to be your ultimate guide to the future. My cutting edge tell-it-like-it-is TV/Radio presence, as well as my savvy, yet irreverent columns, articles and ezine are expressions of my truth-telling. In demand as an engaging writer and dynamic guest-speaker, and praised by clients, I challenge powerful individuals to step out of their comfort zones. Truly a “Transformational Alchemist”, I turn the base metals of concerns over “Lost Opportunities” and paths taken into the gold of fresh focus and dynamic deeds…making futures great. I am eminently qualified to guide YOU to lead the way to a new greatness.
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