Sara Harvey Yao
Executive Coach, Leadership Team Facilitator, Keynote Speaker and Author
Since 2003, Executives and top performers at leading companies have relied upon Executive Coach Sara Harvey Yao to call them on their blind spots, expand their influence and create a more compelling executive presence. High achieving professionals from Microsoft, T-Mobile, and Coldwell Banker Bain have come to know Sara as their secret weapon to overcome leadership and communications challenges that stand in their way of making an even bigger impact.
Sara is described as the “Queen of Candor” by some and “Leadership Chiropractor” by others. No matter how they describe her, clients regularly welcome the benefits that flow from their work together. Most notably, clients advance in their careers, make a bigger impact at work and home, and learn smarter ways to add value without burning out.
Known for her compassionate, direct, and truth telling candor, Sara Harvey Yao has coached and trained more than 3,000 leaders in six countries since 1998. Whether working one-on-one with clients, as a leadership team facilitator, or as an inspiring keynote speaker, Sara’s commitment is to guide clients to clarity about the behaviors, communications, and stumbling blocks that stand in their way of their effectiveness.
Her powers of observation, ability to build trust immediately, and her tactful, direct style create an environment in which clients can speak their truth and receive feedback that they wouldn’t hear from anyone else. It is precisely the kind of feedback clients need to make changes that often catapult their leadership in powerful, compelling, and high impact ways. Many clients are surprised at how quickly Sara identifies the core issue of a problem or dynamic. She’s honed this ability by coupling her natural intuitive senses with her ongoing obsession with human behavior.
Ideal Clients to Benefit From Working With Sara:
- CEOs, Presidents, Vice Presidents and General Managers who want someone to tell them the truth about how they’re coming across and give them game-changing tools to improve their leadership and communication.
- Clients who are already successful, but paying a heavy price for it and hungry for a new way of working that is easier and more impactful.
- Clients who are ready to hear what they need to start, stop, and keep doing to kick their contributions up to a much higher level and are willing to commit to taking action.
Client Results:
New positions, new promotions, successful sales of their companies, and building bench strength among their leadership teams are among the stunning results clients achieve during their very personal coaching engagements with Sara. In fact, 98% of the leaders Sara works with accomplish their personal and professional objectives defined at the start of their engagements and 90% of clients re-engage to keep the forward momentum flowing.
Creator of Impactful Tools to Inspire Success:
Sara is the creator of The Candid Solution™ which surfaces the most costly topics that aren’t being talked about. She is also the author of the forthcoming book, “Succeeding without Side Effects: Burnout-Proof Your Leadership and Life”, and the creator of several audio programs, including:
- What’s the Unsaid Costing You? How Candid Communication Can Save Your Business and Life
- White Space Time: The Only Productivity Tool You Need
- Is Success Running You Ragged?
Education and Accolades:
Before launching Working with Power LLC, Sara worked for a decade as a Leadership Development Consultant for several technology and communications firms. During her role as an internal consultant and coach she earned her frequent flyer gold status on dozens of trips to work with leaders in places as far-flung as London and Lubbock, Seoul and St. Paul.
She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Communications and a Master’s Degree in Organizational Management. Her training program, “Working with Power: How to Thrive in an Intense Environment” aimed at retaining female leaders at Microsoft, earned some of the highest participant satisfaction ratings among programs offered for women in leadership.
On the Personal Side:
Sara’s gifts for guiding executives took root at an early age. Growing up in Spokane, WA her father was the President of a publicly traded company and conversations about business were common around the family dinner table. Sara’s parents exposed her to Lou Tice seminars when she was ten years old and as a teen her dad allowed her to observe his leadership team meetings. When observing these meetings, she would often ask questions about why people would behave in such “weird” ways. Even then she was able to tune into the unproductive and unspoken dynamics of a group.
Happily married to husband Jesse since 1998, she is enjoying the journey of raising two sons, Ethan and Logan, to be emotionally aware, grounded and happy people. A former competitive ballroom dancer, Latin music and dance always stir her soul and remind her that there is a distinct rhythm to what matters most. Sara’s guilty pleasures include American Idol and People Magazine.
To learn more about Sara and her offerings, visit www.workingwithpower.com, call 206-686-3670, or send email to sara@workingwithpower(dot)com
Media:
Click here to listen to Sara’s radio interview about how she and her business partner created Working with Power and their infamous retreat.
