Compass International | Our Inspirations

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”— Mother Teresa

Our Inspirations

Our work has been informed and inspired by the work of many teachers, coaches, authors, mentors, and friends. With gratitude for all they have taught and continue to teach us, following are some of those on whose shoulders we stand.

Dr. Patricia Moore Harbour and Healing the Heart of Diversity:
Deepest gratitude to Dr. Patricia Moore Harbour, creator of Healing the Heart of Diversity (HHD, a transformational leadership development program and change process), author of Community Educators: A Resource for Educating and Developing Our Youth (2013), and gifted educator, coach, and photographer. In the year-long HHD program, Pat’s insistence on courageous vulnerability created a safe and inspiring context in which participants engaged on difficult issues of identity and diversity to achieve enhanced self-awareness, deeper understanding of others, and healing.

Legacy lessons from Pat and HHD: “you can’t do the work without being in the work” and “truth lies close to the nature of things.”

Newfield Network (NN) and Julio Olalla:
Thanks to the Newfield Network community, including the faculty, coaches, and the many students over the years who have inspired us to greater impact in our teaching and coaching. Newfield Network offers personal and professional development programs using transformational learning methodologies and an ICF-accredited coach training program teaching ontological coaching. Special thanks to Julio Olalla for his inspirational coaching and teaching and to DJ Santana for reminding us of the power of music.

Legacy lessons from NN and Julio: lifelong, transformational learning only happens when it is embodied – in language, emotions, and body.

Stuart Heller, Cultivating Excellence and WalkingYourTalk:
A big thank you to Stuart Heller, author of Retooling on the Run: Real Change for Leaders with No Time and creator of the Walking Your Talk approach – a whole person, whole systems approach to change based on Kung Fu psychology. The Walking Your Talk approach invites you to bring all of yourself to the moment – your conscious and habitual thoughts, feelings and movements, along with your less conscious habits of carriage (how you hold yourself as you move through space and life), how you listen to your senses, and the quantity and quality of your energies (Qi or Prana).

Legacy Lessons from Stuart and WalkingYourTalk: The way you move through space reflects the way you move through life.

Timeless Wisdom at Work (TWAW) and Sean Casey LeClaire:
Special thanks to Sean LeClaire, creator of TWAW, a leadership development and coaching approach that teaches individuals and teams how to deliver inspired performance while enjoying inner peace. Based on wisdom emerging from clients, sacred texts (primarily The Bhagavad Gita), and daily practice, the TWAW approach includes three principles (love or fear, you choose; support equals release; and energy follows attention) and seven practices (slow down, accept what happens, rest and renew, body-centered breaks, serve someone, purpose first, and deepen awareness).

Legacy Lessons from TWAW and Sean: Love or Fear, You Choose – in every moment, in every decision, in every action or inaction.

Leadership Development

We help to develop leadership qualities in staff members, first-line supervisors, middle managers, and executives.

Executive Coaching

Our intuitive and credentialed coaches will give your company leaders the tools needed to thrive and lead more effectively.

Cross-Cultural Support

Ensure your employees have the cross-cultural skills they need to communicate, work, and manage across the globe.

One of my CI mentor coach’s most outstanding qualities is the ability to create a very safe and trusting space for inner exploration and creativity. Within this space she offered different perspectives, questioned my assumptions and challenged me to step into the change I was seeking. As a result I was able to move forward in a steady manner and leave the stuck state I had been living in. Reading books and attending classes are very helpful for a quick fix, but for lasting results, working with a remarkably gifted coach like mine is what will create a lasting change.

Julie Hodack
Business Analyst, Swett & Crawford
My CI supervisor understood and appreciated who I was as an emerging coach. She was intent upon supporting me to become my best coach. She was also able to go back and forth between coach and mentor, drawing on her many years of experience of using different tools and approaches.

Gale Thompson
Leadership and Resiliency Coach
My CI consultant and coach provided executive coaching and office-wide consulting which improved individual managerial skills and organizational effectiveness by improving communications and helping to set individual and office-wide priorities. She has tremendous interpersonal skills combined with vast coaching knowledge, assisting those being coached to evaluate and learn about their strengths and tendencies. Her knowledge of and work with the private and government sectors enhances her effectiveness to those she coaches.

James K. Gallahan
Staff Chief, EPA
My CI consultant assisted us in developing a preferred workplace culture and increasing our diversity understanding. She is able to understand, very quickly, the needs of an individual and then to work with that person to develop a plan for self-improvement. Our people are more aware of their impact on the organization and more importantly the people within the organization. This allowed us to better perform as a team.

Rick Evans
Former President, CrownCen Marketing, Crown Central Petroleum
I would, without qualification, recommend my CI Mentor Coach because she is both an experienced professional as well as being an individual that is able to guide coaching conversations in a very human way that allows and encourages getting to core issues that effect performance and development. I would without question employ my CI coach again.

George West
former Senior Manager at the World Bank
My CI coach has helped me identify approaches to managing staff and dealing with superiors that have resulted in successful completion of projects and improvements in interactions with colleagues and superiors that would not have occurred without the coaching relationship and her unique support. This coaching experience with my CI coach has been one of the most significant growth experiences of my entire 23-year career with the Federal government. I believe that executives can perform at even higher levels when assisted by the coaching experience, particularly one that is facilitated by such talented coaches as my CI coach.

Bob Politzer
Sc.D., DHHS Office Director
My CI coach's coaching style made me feel at ease discussing difficult topics and concepts, and I appreciated her gentle candor and willingness to push me to think more profoundly about what my strengths, weaknesses, desires, and fears are. Our meetings and the supplemental materials she provided have helped me identify the underlying causes of my feelings and attitudes, have validated some of my concerns, but also helped me step outside myself and rationally re-approach issues in a healthier way.

Nora Ryan
Program Manager - LMI/Logistics Management Institute
After completing 6-months of supervision with my CI supervising coach, I am a more confident and competent coach, evidenced in the results I am able to achieve with both my organizational and individual clients. My CI coach’s deep understanding of the ICF core competencies, her approach to helping me identify my blindspots, and her ability to engage me in developing creative practices that I could immediately use, were nothing less than amazing. From one session to the next, I could see and feel growth, which was not only satisfying, but inspiring.

Angela Cusack
PCC, Managing Principal, Igniting-Success, Inc. and former Senior Vice President, SunTrust Bank
The CI consultant we work with has a unique blend of content expertise, facilitation skills, and flexibility to appreciate and adapt to unique cultural aspects of our company. Her work in augmenting our delivery team to support the organization-wide launch of a new capability – combined with her offers of micro-innovations and improvements of that offering - led to resonance with participants and significant organizational results in a short period of time. I would recommend Compass International for any organization who needs a true partner that combines deep expertise and highest quality facilitation and coaching skills with their ability to create cultural resonance within an organization.

Casey Wilson
Senior Director, Learning and Development, Evolent Health
The small group work was most beneficial to me—I was surprised at some of the responses from those of different backgrounds. The course helped us realize how managers must be willing to confront the issues and make some changes in order to have a more productive staff. It also helped us realize how important it is for everyone to understand the issues of diversity.

Participant
Inclusion Training Program
This is the most practical course I have taken—application of theory was emphasized.

Participant
Management Training Program
Innovative and imaginative approach to covering the topic.

Participant
Leadership Training Program