I grew up as a middle kid…always observing before plowing ahead. I learned what I wanted for my life through process of elimination and watching others go first. This vantage point enabled me to be certain about what I didn’t want, and those things served as the beginning of me testing my limits. I continue to test my limits and spend most of my time challenging others to try and find theirs.

My mother came to the U.S. from Thailand. English was her second language and she spoke with a heavy accent. Even though she was a force to be reckoned with, she always struggled to articulate what she was trying to communicate. Although this frustrated me, the by-product was that I developed a knack for filtering through the confusion and rapidly understanding the point that she was trying to verbalize.

It also helped me learn how to listen to a seemingly complex scenario and then communicate it clearly to someone else. This ability serves me daily. My father taught me discipline and how to be a leader by example. Sometimes this means just being present and sometimes it means more. He taught me how to be strong when nobody else can.

I’ve spent the last 15 years working with attorneys as an executive, consultant and coach. As a group, attorneys rank in the 90th percentile for skepticism and 89th percentile for autonomy. These are qualities that help them shine at the practice of law. These personality traits present opportunity for growth in the spheres of business development and collaboration. After thousands of hours coaching attorneys, watching them gain confidence in areas that are not their primary area of focus still brings a smile to my face.

Just knowing the answer has never been enough for me. A relentless curiosity has kept me searching for “the why” in every scenario. I have spent my career taking seemingly complicated concepts or processes and getting to the core of why we do the things we do.