Twenty Years of Experience
in Leadership Management Training

I’m Suzanne Kryder. Thanks for visiting my website. I specialize in leadership management training as a corporate communication consultant. I help leaders and teams take the dread out of conflict.

Educational Background

• Ph.D. 1989 University of New Mexico, Health Education with a minor in Organizational Behavior
• M.S. 1981 George Washington University, Exercise Science
• B.S. 1976 University of Georgia, English Education

How I Became a Corporate Communication Consultant

After teaching at Tallulah Falls School in northeast Georgia for a couple years, I decided at age 23 that I was ready to be a manager. I know, it doesn’t make any sense. But, I moved to Southern California and managed a small title insurance office.

Both of my employees were older than me and much more productive. But I was miserable as their boss because I got no leadership management training on how to do my job.

I didn’t know how to hold meetings, give bad news, or motivate my employees. The worst part was feeling inadequate as a manager.

So, I decided to change careers and go to graduate school.

Fast forward six years. I'm running a hospital health promotion program in North Carolina. I have three employees, but still no leadership management training. And, I realize that I don’t know how to manage my boss either.

My greatest pain as a manager? Being totally unassertive. My ebook, Dreaded Conversations at Work: From Conflict to Collaboration, describes my painful yet successful journey from wimp to diplomat without any leadership management training, including how I responded to being sexually harassed by my boss.

This pain plus trying to figure out how to hold my employees accountable motivated me to return to graduate school, become a corporate communication consultant, and learn to help other gentle leaders become more confident communicators.

How I Got into Management Coaching

But this time it was client pain.

I had been a corporate communication consultant for seven years, when a client organization asked in 1999 if I did executive coaching. The identified leader was a young, Ph.D. scientist who managed five labs totaling 20 employees.

After driving morale into the ground, her boss said, “We’re taking away four of the labs and offering you management coaching. If you don’t turn it around, we're demoting you to scientist.”

This woman desperately wanted to move into executive leadership. The 360 feedback survey we conducted pointed to a lack of communication skills.

Are you surprised to hear she'd had no leadership management training?

I enrolled in the professional coach training program at Corporate Coach University, Our coaching focused on using her natural abilities to improve both one-on-one and team meeting communication.

Within six weeks, her boss walked into her office proclaiming, “I'm your biggest fan. Please take back all of your labs.”

Two years later, my first management coaching client was running a scientific facility with over 200 employees. When a highly-motivated person is open to feedback and change, coaching really works!

I’m humbled by the power of management coaching. In addition to shadow coaching executives, I coach teams. I also offer leadership management training to leaders who want to be internal coaches for their organizations.

Meditation

I've practiced Vipassana (also known as Insight or Mindfulness) meditation since 1985. I started meditating in graduate school to help me concentrate better and manage stress.

I got hooked on it and started doing silent retreats. Beginning with a 5-day retreat, I built up to longer retreats including six-weeks in 2001 and three-weeks at the Kyaswa Monastery in Burma in 2005.

I’ve spent alot of my adult free time on retreats. I guess I could have been on vacation in Italy. But, the solitude was well worth it. My meditation practice helps me be more present with clients, and enjoy life more fully.

If you’re curious about retreats, the two most well-known Vipassana centers in the USA are Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California. For centers in other parts of the world, search the web for “Vipassana retreat” plus the name of your country.

Sabbatical

I love living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It's a beautiful place to hike, camp, and bike.

I hosted a monthly radio program for two years on KUNM-FM 89.9 called Peace Talks. The series explores non-violent conflict resolution on topics such as parenting, race relations, and domestic violence. To listen to RealAudio of the shows, please visit Peace Talks Radio.

Click here to contact me and send questions or stories about your work. I really enjoy hearing from folks who visit my website.


Click here for FREE resources from leadership management training consultant, Suzanne Kryder.


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