Experience
With 30 years of experience in the leadership development field, Sara has served thousands of executives in Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, educational institutions and nonprofits. For over two decades, Sara worked at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), a top-ranked, global provider of leadership education and research. She held a variety of roles including global executive, program manager, trainer and researcher. Sara began her extensive work in the field of women’s leadership in 1986 as a member of CCL’s Breaking the Glass Ceiling research team, which studied the career development of executive women in Fortune 100 firms. That team produced the 1987 book, Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Can Women Reach the Top of America’s Largest Corporations? Sara also served on a research team that investigated the choices and tradeoffs facing high-achieving women. Her passion for women’s leadership has led to many direct client engagements, including her twenty five-year ongoing involvement with the national Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) flagship leadership training program.
Current Role
Sara is a senior adjunct faculty member for the Center for Creative Leadership. In this capacity, she serves as a lead designer on a number of client engagements and facilitates in both open enrollment and custom programs. She is also owner of Optimum Insights, Inc., a private consulting firm, that helps leaders explore their potential and increase their performance. In this capacity, Sara serves as an executive coach, author, workshop designer and facilitator.
Educational Background
Sara earned a B. A. in English from Wake Forest University and an M.S. in Higher Education Administration from Cornell University. She is certified in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, WorkPlace Big Five, Conflict Dynamics Profile, CPI-260, SYMLOG, CCL’s suite of 360 assessments, VOICES, Leadership Versatility Index, Influence Style Indicator, and Change Style Indicator.
Publications
As a thought leader on leadership development, Sara began publishing books and articles in the 1980’s. She has revised her book Discovering the Leader in You which highlights the importance of a conscious decision to lead and offers a framework for developing leadership vision, values and skills. The updated version (2011), co-authored with David G. Altman and Robert J. Lee, is now available as a joint publication of CCL and the Jossey-Bass Business and Management Series. In May of 2011, a workbook on the same topic was published by King and Altman through CCL and Jossey-Bass as well.
