Empowering Leaders.

Building Organizational Capacity.

Facilitating Transformation.

I help leaders and organizations find clarity and possibility in complexity.

With over 20 years of experience leading international peacebuilding and justice organizations, designing award-winning leadership development programs for organizations like the United Nations, Google, CDC, and GoFundMe, and teaching at Stanford, I provide innovative and proven solutions that:

Empower senior leaders to thrive amidst uncertainty and complexity;

Clarify and crystallize organizational responses to change, conflict, and crisis; and

Transform workplace culture.

Services

  • I am a thought partner to executive leadership teams and heads of People & Culture on issues of culture, change management, and employee capacity.

    My approach is collaborative and educational, offering insights, expertise, and process support to help teams make informed decisions that drive organizational success.

  • I create and facilitate bespoke learning programs that drive individual and collective transformation. We collaboratively decide on content based on the leadership mindsets and skills you are seeking to develop in your senior leaders or managers.

    Then, depending on your goals, I design a program involving a combination of live instructional time using scenario-based learning, asynchronous learning, facilitated peer learning, and coaching ‘office hours.’ I incorporate experiential learning methods honed while teaching at Stanford and for the UN.

  • I design and facilitate immersive, high-impact off-sites and retreats that align leadership teams and boards on vision, strategy, and values.

    My approach is collaborative and impact-driven. In the weeks leading up to the event, we partner to clarify goals, design an optimal agenda and activities, and develop communications that set expectations and generate enthusiasm.

    During the event, I either facilitate or serve as a thought partner and coach to the lead team member. Afterward, we debrief to identify key outcomes, learnings, and future opportunities.

About me

I help leaders find clarity and possibility in complexity. Working with organizations from the UN to early-stage startups to Google, I create the space for breakthrough moments that transform how leaders see and respond to their most pressing challenges.

As a strategic advisor and facilitator, I guide conversations and design immersive learning and development programs that help leaders develop the mindsets and skillsets needed to scale their impact while building effective and sustainable organizations. My approach combines analytical rigor with creative thinking, drawing on a background in law, conflict transformation, and adult learning. Before launching my consulting practice, I led capacity-building initiatives and strategic partnerships in conflict areas globally, advised parties to peace processes on negotiation and strategic communication, and taught negotiation and influence to MBAs and JDs at Stanford.

What drives me is the belief that challenges, crises, and conflict can be powerful opportunities for innovation and transformation - if people have the mindsets and skills to 'meet the moment.' I've spent the last 20 years exploring and honing the most effective ways to develop that capacity in individuals and organizations. Today, whether I'm advising UN Police Commanders or Fortune 100 executives, I help leaders tap into new ways of seeing and solving problems.

Who I’ve Worked With:

What Clients Have to Say

  • Megan is an active listener that doesn’t simply try to fit your situation in her framework.

    A result of working with Megan is that I am better able to think expansively about situations, and recognize that many of the dynamics may be about the other person or otherwise out of my control. With this recognition, I can identify what I’m comfortable doing in a given situation and how I want to present myself to be true to my values. Megan is an active listener that doesn’t simply try to fit your situation in her framework. She’s read everything, knows all the studies, and will figure out which frameworks and tools will help you in your particular situation and that resonates with how you think and work.

    — Teresa Ko, Director, Apple

  • Megan is brilliant enough to quickly understand the complex and unique challenges of our team and diagnose underlying dynamics

    so we spent most of our time finding answers rather than figuring out the situation. Every conversation is intellectually stimulating, with Megan’s erudite insight and quick grasp of everything from psychology to power dynamics to history and philosophy. I’ve worked with billionaires and serial entrepreneurs, and top execs at Fortune 500 companies – and have never found this level of intellectual depth or mental agility to consider new ideas and perspectives while also weaving in extensive personal knowledge and new insight.

    - Alex, Chief Strategy Officer

  • Megan excels not only in developing traditional leadership skills but also the relationship skills that are so key to success in the workplace.

    I took over the executive leadership of a civil rights litigation organization after the previous director left after many years. I needed support through the transition, and particularly in developing my own leadership style and skills relating to conflict management, performance evaluations, boundary setting, and communicating effectively with my colleagues and the executive team. Being coached by Megan has truly changed my work life. She is unique among coaches as a result of her extensive background in negotiation, mediation, and conflict resolution work. As a result of working with Megan, I am a happier, more confident and effective leader.

    - Alexa, Executive Director, MacArthur Justice Center

  • Megan creates clarity in difficult, nebulous situations and is a fantastic partner in problem solving.

    I sought a coach because I was struggling with severe burnout, lack of confidence, lack of motivation, fear, and a daunting professional mandate that I was struggling to deliver on. Megan helped me work more effectively with my peers, mitigate my burn-out, and act as a focused and motivating leader for my team. Megan brings insight, wisdom, intelligence, and empathy to coaching. She creates clarity in difficult, nebulous situations and is a fantastic partner in problem solving. She has a deep well of knowledge and resources that can help transform your thinking and make you a better person and leader. 

    – Chief People Officer at a Series E startup

  • Megan knows her stuff inside and out but delivers it in a way that is accessible and super practical.

    I was really blown away by our manager training program. It was so densely informative. Megan knows her stuff inside and out but delivers it in a way that is accessible and super practical. Not only is Megan an incredible facilitator, she is also brilliant at building community among participants. Having a good experience learning about leadership is so dependent on whether participants feel comfortable taking risks and going outside of their comfort zone. That requires a high level of comfort and mutual respect in the classroom, and Megan was amazing at fostering this super early in the training program.

    - Nidhi, Manager at Google

Get in Touch

Ready to tackle your toughest leadership, organization, and culture challenges? Reach out today using this form or at megan@megankarsh.com to start the conversation.