SyncUp Leadership Stories

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Mary PriceDirector, Global Revenue and Business Recruiting, Slack

“The biggest shift in my mindset was based on the whole person integration model and the neuroscience research shared by Suzanne and Terri. The increased level of mindfulness that I gained and began to practice daily at home and and work, shifted my behaviors from automatic responses to reflective steps toward a more thoughtful life. I am a better friend, daughter, colleague, wife, and mother based on the tools I now carry with me. Truly a life changing experience!”

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Brian SchreiberPresident and CEO, The Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

“My change in leadership has been so successful that we had an increase in our bottom line of $500,000 in an 18 million dollar budget. This is a very significant increase in one year. Up until several years ago, my mindset as a leader was to always have answers and always have solutions. But I saw that I needed to become better at stepping into the unknown where you don’t always know the answer. I now have the maturity to be comfortable with ambiguity and to work with it.”

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Barb SteeleManaging Director, The Natural Step, Canada

“Suzanne has changed my life! by helping me surface unproductive patterns and behaviour, understand their reason for being within my life experience and replace them with more helpful thinking and choices. The results have been remarkable. Through my work with Suzanne I have tapped into a deeper level of internal awareness and wisdom, used that wisdom to guide me during crisis and day to day life and developed disciplined practices that I can use to bring me back to that wisdom spot on a daily basis.”

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Kim MaxwellPrincipal, Kim Maxwell Studio

“ROCKSTARS of the leadership universe, Terri and Suzanne combine the most recent discoveries in neuroscience with self-deprecating humor and killer exercises. Rooted in evidence-based research, their 4-Capabilities Workshop sent me out the door inspired and prepared to embark on the next level of development in my young company. If you’re ready to make consistent, joyful, sustainable progress personally or professionally, Terri and Suzanne are a spectacular investment of your time and resources.”

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Mark LewisPresident and CEO, POISE Foundation

“I’ve been able to take an introspective look at my leadership style and to delegate more and free myself up to build capacity in others. My confidence level is much higher as a mentor and coach of others - to give direction, to delegate and to inspire my team to do what they need to get done for the organization.”

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Kristen GemenyLeadership Development, The Boeing Company

“Exploring the 4 Leadership Development Capabilities with Suzanne as my coach and guide resulted in new insights into my own leadership patterns and appreciating how these were both helping me and holding me back. I was able to reshape the patterns to get out of leadership autopilot and work as a much more strategic leader, in real time, as I navigated a new job that is truly in a VUCA environment!”

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Everett McElveenPresident/CEO, Life’s Work of Western PA

“In this program, I befriended the emotional component of leadership when I needed to deal with inadequate performance with a member of my staff. Prior to this learning I would have continued to modestly push this person to improve - a form of tolerance. I was able to make a decision to let this person go, to outsource the function and it’s been better ever since. I don’t cut off my emotions anymore. This makes me more accessible. People feel more secure around me.”

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Don BrownAuthor, 'What Got You Here Won't Get You There in Sales'

“Terri Egan gives you the practitioner's approach to applied science. She has her own unique way of building leaders – by taking highly complicated ideas, and making them eminently useful in practice. The science? Neuroscience. Let her translate what we've learned about the brain, into what you can do to be more effective – Terri rocks!”

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Aliya DurhamVP of Foundation and Government Relations, YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh

“This program let me know that it was important to process how I was feeling and to get comfortable sharing feelings at work. As I opened up dialogues with key colleagues - I actually found my way to a new position in the organization that suits my talents and passion to a much greater degree. I did not have the tools or understanding to bring my whole self into my work prior to this program. I learned a lot about my patterns and how they drained my energy.”

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Nicole MolinaroDirector of Services, Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh

“In my former role as Director of Communities in Schools of Pittsburgh-Allegheny County, focusing my attention was something I constantly needed to remind myself to do. This program helped me prioritize and to counter my procrastination by spending 20-30 minutes getting a start on a project. The great outcome for me - I am now using my creativity more and integrating all parts of my whole self into my leadership. I have improved my ability to think outside of the box. I broke through patterns that were holding me, my staff and the kids we served hostage - all because I now have a wise inner voice informing my choices.”

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Dena JensonVice President & Director, Center for Nonprofit Leadership

“The two days with Terri and Suzanne exploring the 4 capabilities framework was possibly the most valuable investment in my leadership skills that I have made in quite some time. I so appreciated the shift in perspective. I began the day thinking about how the behaviors around me impact my work and quickly realized it was my behaviors that matter the most. I have been reminded of this simple a-ha daily. Their approachable style, practical examples and engagement of the entire audience led to rich, meaningful and authentic discussions about this life of nonprofit service. I have used what I have learned every day since – sometimes in quiet introspective ways and sometimes in outward, very visible ways serving our community. Best two days in a long time! Thanks Terri and Suzanne!”

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Fortune 500 ExecutiveFortune 500 Corporation

“My experience with Suzanne helped me in two major ways. She provided a framework that helped raise awareness of my emotional intelligence and fostered a habit of spending time reflecting on what it was telling me. This has served me throughout my career as I climbed into the Executive ranks of a Fortune 500 Company and had numerous situations where my emotional intelligence was my compass. Secondly she guided me to understand and deal with a behavior of procrastinating when I felt I might be bringing forward an idea that was unpopular. This became a pivotal point in my career that I would not have reached without her involvement. These and other examples helped me reach an important conclusion... that its a long path to achieve your true leadership potential by yourself and having a skilled professional with proven frameworks plays an instrumental role.”

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David KahleyPresident and CEO, The Progress Fund

“The program help me realize that my nonprofit organization’s growth, which was the key to reach self-sufficiency, had more to do with my own growth as an individual and as an effective whole-person leader than any of the external factors we faced. The process of their program allowed me to explore my own leadership strengths and weaknesses, the latter being things I was reluctant to do or wasn't doing to the fullest. As a result of my own accelerated growth, the organization sprang ahead at its fastest rate in 17 years.”

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Gina PaoneAdvisor - Institute for Capacity Development, The International Monetary Fund

“Terri and Suzanne have created insight and a new energy around strengthening authentic leadership. Using their knowledge and in-depth research and dedication to leadership in organizations, they have created an experience that allows all participants to dig deep into themselves to bring out their leadership qualities. The session was very inspirational and surfaced many new ideas in a highly intellectual environment. Their approach allowed the participants to grow by contributing to interesting discussions and exchanges between them.”

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Lisa HoitsmaAdvancement Director, Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts

“In my former role as the Executive Director of Gateway to the Arts I was working as hard as I could as long as I could to have breakthrough results. What I learned is that I was a better leader if I took care of myself and took the time to listen to my intuition and my emotions and share this with my team as part of our decisionmaking. This change of focus inspired me and my staff to create some innovative programs, communicate more clearly and find the funding to expand our engagement in the community and bring on 12 new partners.”