Carolyn Spigel

I am a coach, facilitator, and thinking partner. I believe in the power of progress, not perfection.

For over 25 years, I have been applying my professional training in psychology, organization development, and leadership best practices to my clients’ strategic advantage.

I am passionate about helping people speak their truth. I get jazzed when people tell me, “That conversation was the first time we really got to the real issues.” My experience has consistently shown that when we let ourselves relax into being real, others more often speak their truth and the results are better for all.

I bring an internal perspective from the positions I’ve held in Fortune 500 companies along with an external perspective from consulting across a wide range of industries. I have held organization and talent development positions for companies including Morgan Stanley Capital International, American Management Systems, and Revlon. As a consultant and coach, I have worked with clients like National Institutes of Health, Federal Reserve Board, Blackboard, Booz Allen, CIT, DHS, JPMorgan Chase, AARP, and more.

For 9 years, I was on the faculty for Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformation Leadership where I was both a facilitator and group coach.

I’m an ICF Professional Certified Coach. I have a Graduate Certificate in Organization Development and Change Management, a Masters in Clinical Social Work, and a BA in Psychology.

I’m a coach, facilitator, and thinking partner. I believe in the power of progress, not perfection.

When I’m not working, I am researching online about countless—and I mean countless— areas of personal interest, like nutrition, health and well-being. As an ex-New Yorker, I may also be hanging out in Central Park for the weekend, checking out live music, and going to improv.

My Get Real Services

I provide coaching to clients who want to apply their workshops learnings in meaningful and sustainable ways.

My Trust Temperament™

The Connector

Who I’m Reading/Following

My Get Real Story

Many years ago, I was meeting with two leaders in a top tier consulting firm who were considering hiring me as a consultant for a big project. I really wanted to get my foot in the door. One leader was clear about the project’s importance and my value; the other more senior leader, holding the budget, seemed more uncertain and ambivalent. Did I mention I really wanted to get my foot in the door?

As conversations progressed, I found myself working hard to convince the senior leader that the investment in the project was a good one. *I* was the one with the sense of urgency. I knew something was off, but I pushed forward, because I believed in it and I had my personal “foot in the door” agenda.

Then I finally took the risk to get real, voicing my concerns that the project didn’t appear to be a compelling priority. The senior leader readily agreed. Meanwhile countless hours had been lost (mostly mine). I was selling hard and my client wasn’t in the market.

Lesson learned: Short-term thinking and self-orientation can creep up on the best of us and hijack opportunities to create trust. Focusing on the other party for their own sake creates trusted relationships and saves a lot of time and stress in the process. Every single time.

Getting a Little More Personal

Words people often use to describe me

Deeply committed, empathic, relationship builder, direct communicator, wickedly intuitive.

What inspires me

People who take a stand and live their values regardless of what is mainstream or expected at the time.

What brings me joy

My rescue dog and how she brings a big smile to everyone she meets.

What anchors me

Time with my close friends who know me inside out and who I know inside out yet we still love each other.

What drives me nuts

Closed mindedness, taking the easy way out, rigid rules, no good coffee in the house.

My guilty pleasure

Netflix binges with warm chocolate chip cookies and ice cream (lots!).

A favorite quote

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
—Mahatma Gandhi

What I can’t do without

Live conversation (not texting), keeping connected to those I love, walks in nature, my dog, big hearty belly laughs.

My secret ambition

To see the mountain gorillas in Africa and write a book about the human-animal bond.

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