A leadership and career coach who understands consulting because she lived it

I’m Karin E. Mayer, an ICF-credentialed leadership and career coach for women in consulting, from Manager through Partner. I help clients navigate pivotal career decisions, strengthen their leadership effectiveness, and build successful careers that are sustainable for the lives they want.

Before becoming a coach, I spent more than 30 years in consulting and industry, including 20 years at Deloitte, where I served as a Managing Director. I understand the demands of consulting from the inside: ambitious goals, demanding clients, long hours, constant change, organizational politics, and the pressure to keep performing at a high level.

I also understand how difficult it can be to question a career you worked hard to build or to acknowledge that something needs to change for you to perform at your best.

Coaching for different points in a consulting career

The women I coach are accomplished consulting leaders whose firms, teams, and clients rely on them. Some are deciding what they want next. Others know they want to succeed in their current roles but need to strengthen a particular aspect of their leadership or performance.

Clients may come to coaching to explore questions such as:

• Do I still want the career path I have been pursuing?

• Should I continue advancing, pursue a different role, or leave consulting?

• What opportunities would use my experience without recreating the same pressures?

• How can I set stronger boundaries without undermining my career?

• How can I improve my performance and effectiveness in my current role?

• What is limiting my influence, leadership presence, or impact?

• How can I navigate difficult stakeholder or organizational dynamics?

• What do I want my work and life to look like now?

These challenges are rarely solved by working harder or making a quick list of pros and cons. They require space to think strategically, identify what is getting in the way, and determine which changes will have the greatest impact.

How I coach

My coaching style combines thoughtful reflection with practical action. I will give you room to think while also challenging assumptions, patterns, and beliefs that may be limiting your choices or effectiveness.

Together, we may explore your values, strengths, priorities, leadership approach, career possibilities, boundaries, professional relationships, organizational dynamics, and longer-term vision.

If you are facing a career decision, I will not tell you which path to choose. I will help you develop the clarity and confidence to make a well-considered decision that is right for you.

If you are focused on improving your leadership or performance, we will identify the specific behaviors, relationships, or circumstances affecting your effectiveness and translate those insights into practical action.

Clients describe my approach as caring, direct, thoughtful, and empowering. They value that I understand the consulting environment and can help them turn reflection into meaningful, sustainable change.

Experience that informs my work

In addition to my consulting and corporate leadership experience, I hold a master’s degree in computer science and began my career as a programmer at IBM. My career has taken me through technology, automotive, hospitality, entrepreneurship, higher education, and executive leadership.

That range of experience has taught me that successful careers do not always follow a straight line. A change in direction does not erase what you have built. At the same time, reaching a senior position does not mean you have finished developing as a leader.

The right coaching work can help you use your experience more intentionally, improve how you lead today, and define what success will mean in your next chapter.

Today, in addition to coaching, I teach college courses in business communication, personal finance, and artificial intelligence.

Professional credentials and experience

• Associate Certified Coach through the International Coaching Federation

• More than 30 years of consulting and industry experience

• Former Deloitte Managing Director with 18 years at the firm

• College instructor in business communication, personal finance, and artificial intelligence

You do not have to figure it out alone

Whether you are questioning your next career move or working to become more effective in your current consulting role, coaching can provide the confidential space, objective perspective, and structured support to help you move forward.

Schedule a free introductory conversation to learn whether coaching with me would be a good fit.