Ethical Power for Collective Liberation

Leaders make choices every day that echo far beyond balance sheets. They decide whose labor is seen, whose safety is protected, and whose futures are sacrificed for quarterly gains. Conventional executive coaching promises sharper KPIs or investor-pleasing charisma, but it rarely asks who is harmed, who is heard, and who is left behind. My Executive & Leadership Coaching practice begins with a different premise: power can be practiced ethically—or not at all. Drawing from critical theory, liberation psychology, and lived experience inside and outside traditional workplaces, I guide leaders to interrogate the systems that shaped them and to wield influence in service of dignity, equity, and collective flourishing.

Why Executive Coaching Needs a Critical Lens

Mainstream coaching frames every obstacle as a mindset glitch the coachee can solve through positive thinking. Yet research shows that 63 percent of workplace stressors are structural—tied to workload, inequitable policies, or discriminatory cultures—far more than personal resilience will fix. When 88,531 EEOC discrimination charges were filed in 2024, it was not because executives lacked confidence; it was because power was allowed to operate without accountability. A justice-centered coaching engagement surfaces these hidden structures so leaders can disrupt, rather than reproduce, oppression.

Coaching as Praxis, Not Performance Hacks

• Root-cause inquiry – We trace decisions back to the ideologies that informed them, whether shareholder primacy, white supremacy culture, or patriarchal norms.
• Ethics over optics – Instead of polishing public images, we build internal alignment between values, policies, and everyday behaviors.
• Collective accountability – Each coaching goal is co-developed with direct reports or stakeholder councils to ensure that change is verified by those most impacted, not only by the leader themself.

What a Justice-Centered Engagement Looks Like

Discovery & Power Mapping

We begin with confidential narrative interviews and a power-mapping exercise that visualizes how decisions, resources, and voice flow through your organization. Patterns of exclusion, wage gaps, and procedural injustice are documented alongside your personal leadership story.

Reflective Dialogues

Over six to ten sessions, we engage in dialectical conversations that connect critical theory with lived dilemmas: How does racial capitalism shape your compensation philosophy? How do colonial mindsets appear in your international expansion strategies? These sessions integrate somatic practices to notice where power sits in the body.

Applied Experiments

Between sessions you will test micro-interventions—redistributing meeting airtime, implementing transparent salary bands, or inviting workers into budget decisions. We measure impact with structural indicators (pay-equity ratio, promotion velocity) rather than individual mood scores.

Restorative Check-Ins

If experiments cause harm—and experimentation always risks missteps—we convene restorative conversations, borrowing tools from Mediation & Conflict Resolution to repair relationships and refine strategy.

Special Focus Areas

• Ethical Power Use – Deep dives into how class, race, and gender privilege shape authority; integrates resources from Critical Social Theory.
• Trauma-Responsive Leadership – Strategies for guiding teams through crisis without retraumatization; closely connected to Trauma-Informed Practices.
• Queer-Inclusive Executive Practice – Coaching for leaders committed to dismantling cis-heteronormativity in policy and culture; complements LGBTQ+ Issues & Inclusion.
• Labor-Aligned Decision-Making – Support for executives partnering with unions, worker councils, or moving toward cooperative models; aligned with Labor Rights & Ethics.

Integration with Your Broader Transformation

Clients often pair coaching with:

• Leadership Development workshops that bring a critical curriculum to the wider leadership bench.
• HR Consulting & Organizational Development to embed coaching insights into policy and structure.
• Employee Experience Design so systemic barriers do not erode personal growth.

How to Begin

Schedule a No-Cost Alignment Call

Spend 30 minutes clarifying your leadership pain points, desired outcomes, and readiness for structural change.
➡️ Contact Willow

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