Most organizations stagnate by protecting the status quo. They tweak marketing campaigns, adjust sales funnels, juggle short-term headcount, or buy another tool to latch onto an old system. They start with answers, not questions, and then wonder why nothing really changes. If you’re the leader who can already see the pattern but can’t quite shift it from inside, you’re who I’m here for.
Every organization moves through cycles of growth, stall, and upheaval. It's how systems work. The question is whether your organizational design is built to adapt, or built to resist. With the right lens, disruptions like new technology implementations, policy and funding changes, demographic shifts, and leadership transitions stop being "out of nowhere" and can become predictable. Handled well, these moments become a chance to realign how work actually gets done.
I work across organizational development, organizational design, and strategy consulting, because you can't fix one without touching the others. As a Business Designer, I help scaling organizations and enterprises redesign the internal systems, decision structures, and leadership practices that impact your people's ability to execute. That's management consulting with a systems lens. Nothing pre-packaged. Instead, a rigorous, co-designed process grounded in your culture.
Saying maybe before no means pausing the rush to a fix long enough to ask: What's actually happening in our system — and does the way we work still make sense for where we're going?
My question for you is simple: are you willing to get curious about those patterns?
“Karen is an exceptional connector of people, organizations and ideas. She’s great at it because she is genuinely interested in helping others achieve their goals, passionate about the organizations she chooses to work with and highly receptive to new ideas.”
— Mark Zimmerman - CEO at RSPNDR
My work shows up in three ways: consulting inside organizations, speaking at events, and designing or supporting projects that keep me grounded in community and experimentation with an eye on positive social impact.
I work with scaling, mid-sized organizations and large enterprises that need to design for their growth, or are showing signs of struggling as the gaps between strategy, operations and culture become harder to manage. We map what’s really going on, identify the elephants, and redesign how work gets done so people, processes, and decisions line up.
I am not a motivational speaker.
I’m a reality check.
I bring a disruption and systems lens to conferences, leadership sessions and workshops so people can see their own patterns—and what it might take to change them.
Projects are where and how I stay rooted in community, curiosity, and connection.
Previous and ongoing work includes Women Disrupted, systems change initiatives, city-building, and mentoring entrepreneurs.
If something in your system needs to change and you’re willing to say maybe, we should talk.