Explore how leadership extends far beyond the workplace, shaping employees' personal lives, relationships, and well-being. Discover the profound human ROI of conscious, compassionate leadership.
Her Story
About Audrey
Over the years, I’ve had a front-row seat to something that has shaped how I think about leadership.
I’ve watched one leader walk into a room and change the energy for the better. People speak up. Ideas get shared. Problems get solved faster. People take ownership because they feel trusted to do their jobs.
And I’ve watched the opposite.
One leader can create an environment where people second-guess everything, stop speaking honestly, carry stress home, lose sleep, and eventually start questioning themselves.
That impact doesn’t stay at work.
It follows people into their cars at the end of the day. Into conversations with their spouses. Into how much patience they have with their kids. Into their sleep, their health, and sometimes even their belief in what they’re capable of.
That realization changed the way I see leadership development.
Through SYNC Consulting, my work starts with corporate training, consulting, and executive coaching—but what interests me most is the human ripple effect behind the business results. When you help one leader communicate differently, listen differently, or see their own impact more clearly, you can change the experience of an entire team.
And sometimes that change travels much farther than anyone in the conference room will ever know.
The same belief shapes how I show up in my community. I’m passionate about creating spaces where women connect, share what they’ve learned, open doors for one another, and use their influence to make things a little better for the people coming behind them.
That’s why Influential Women resonates with me.
I don’t think influence is about being the loudest person in the room.
I think it’s about what changes because you were in it.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Audrey
01What do you attribute your success to?
I used to think being strong meant figuring things out on my own.
Life has done a pretty good job of teaching me otherwise.
Some of the hardest seasons, personally and professionally, showed me just how much the people you surround yourself with matter.
I was raised by an incredibly strong mother who showed me resilience long before I had a word for it and a father who was tough as nails on me.I may not have appreciated all of it at the time, but looking back, that combination gave me a lot of the grit, independence, and determination I carry today.
I've had mentors who saw something in me, challenged me, opened doors, and occasionally told me exactly what I needed to hear when I would have preferred something else. 😂
I've been equally lucky to have an incredible sisterhood of women around me. Women who celebrate the wins, answer the phone during the hard stuff, make introductions, share opportunities, tell the truth, and remind each other who we are when we occasionally forget.
And then there's my amazing husband and family, who have been a constant through all of it. Building a career, raising a family, starting businesses, serving in the community, reinventing yourself a few times along the way...it really does take a village. They are a huge part of mine.
I also attribute a lot of my success to curiosity. I'm fascinated by people, business, leadership, communication, wellness, and why we do the things we do.
That curiosity led me to Sage University, where learning coaching, communication, and entrepreneurship skills fundamentally changed the way I saw myself and other people. Those tools didn't just change how I worked. They changed my relationships, my leadership, and the way I move through the world.
Looking back, some of my biggest growth came from chapters I definitely wouldn't have signed up for at the time.
But they made me more curious, more self aware, more willing to let people help me, and a lot more comfortable not having everything figured out.
So when someone asks what I attribute my success to, there isn't one thing.
A powerful mother. Great mentors. An incredible husband and family. A sisterhood of women. Curiosity. Education. A willingness to keep evolving. And a few hard chapters that, annoyingly enough, turned out to be some pretty great teachers.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received came from a mentor who told me:
“When you stop letting people affect you, you will be unstoppable.”
That sentence still rings in my ears today.
He also helped me recognize how much of our reaction to people comes from years of programming—what we think something means, what we make personal, and the stories we create around other people's words and actions.
He taught me practical ways to dissipate that emotional charge rather than carry it with me.
Over time, I learned that emotional resilience isn't about becoming numb or unaffected. It's about being able to feel something without automatically reacting to it.
Stay curious instead of defensive. Yield without surrendering yourself. Make people right instead of needing to prove them wrong. Don't take everything personally. And sometimes, just enjoy the absurdity of being human.
That has given me tremendous freedom in my career and my life.
People will challenge you, misunderstand you, disagree with you, and occasionally push every button you have. The real power comes when you realize they don't get to control what happens next.
Being unstoppable isn't always about becoming tougher. It's about becoming harder to knock off center.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don’t take anyone’s advice. Including mine.
Some of the best decisions I’ve made came from following what lit me up—even when it didn’t make perfect sense to everyone else.
For me, learning powerful communication and sales skills changed the trajectory of my career and relationships. Great mentors challenged my thinking. Being willing to move before I felt completely ready created opportunities I never could have planned.
Along the way, I became more comfortable asking—for the sale, the opportunity, help, accountability, or sometimes just a shoulder when I needed one.
I stopped believing I had to figure everything out alone.
Finding a community of women who genuinely support one another, collaborate, make introductions, open doors, tell each other the truth, and celebrate each other’s wins has also been one of the greatest gifts of my journey.
And imposter syndrome? It still makes an appearance from time to time. I’ve just gotten much better at not letting it make my decisions.
None of this is a formula. It’s simply what has worked for me.
There are a million ways to build a meaningful life. Mine got a lot more interesting when I started following what lit me up—and asking for what I wanted.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge and opportunity I see right now is change.
Companies are navigating down revenue cycles, AI, layoffs, mergers and acquisitions, shifting markets, and plenty outside their control. At the same time, getting leaders to prioritize training and development when so much else demands attention can be a never ending battle.
The pitfall is waiting too long. Communication breaks down, great people leave, sales slip, or change exposes issues that were already there.
The opportunity is investing in people before or during those moments. Strong communication, leadership, sales skills, adaptability, and emotional resilience can change how a team navigates uncertainty and position the organization for stronger performance and higher revenues on the other side.
And yes, we can have some fun doing it. Serious business doesn't have to mean miserable people.
We can't control every change. We can develop people who are better equipped to navigate it and come out stronger.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Connection, curiosity, growth, contribution, family, and playfulness are values that show up in almost everything I do.
There is no better feeling than seeing something I contributed lead to real results in an organization, watching someone become a more inspiring leader, and then seeing that growth ripple far beyond the workplace.
Better communication and leadership don't end when someone leaves the office. They can show up in marriages, partnerships, parenting, friendships, and ultimately create more harmonious families and communities. That ripple effect is a big part of what makes this work meaningful to me.
Curiosity keeps me learning and evolving. Connection keeps me surrounded by people I value. Family keeps me grounded. And playfulness reminds me that even meaningful, serious work can be fun.
For me, success is about creating results that ripple outward and enjoying the people and the journey along the way.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Audrey
People Take Their Leaders Home With Them
How leaders shape not just workplace performance, but the lives people live beyond the office.
People Take Their Leaders Home With Them: The Human ROI of Leadership
I've watched one leader walk into a room and make ten people better.
I've also watched one leader walk into a room and make ten incredibly talented people question themselves.
After more than 25 years in leadership, sales, training, and consulting, one thing continues to fascinate me:
People take their leaders home with them.
Not literally, thankfully. Most families have enough going on. 😂
But the experience of being led doesn't magically disappear when someone closes their laptop or pulls out of the parking lot.
It follows them.
The Five Minutes in the Driveway
Think about the person who sits in the driveway for five extra minutes before walking into the house.
Maybe they just left a meeting where they were talked over, dismissed, embarrassed, micromanaged, or made to feel like nothing they did was quite good enough.
They don't leave that feeling in the parking lot.
They bring it home.
It can show up in how much patience they have with their spouse, how present they are with their children, whether they sleep that night, and whether they wake up excited about another day or already exhausted by one that hasn't started.
I've watched prolonged workplace stress affect confidence, relationships, well-being, and the way people see themselves.
One leader can create quite a ripple.
But the ripple works in the other direction, too.
Imagine someone driving home after hearing:
"I trust you. You've got this."
Or being genuinely acknowledged for something they contributed.
Or having a leader ask what they think—and actually listen to the answer.
They take that home, too.
Confidence travels.
So does appreciation.
So does feeling trusted, respected, challenged, and valued.
I Watched It Happen
Years ago, I watched a talented employee begin to change.
They became increasingly frustrated and hostile. Their health was suffering. Their relationships with the people around them changed.
This wasn't someone who lacked ability.
They were working under a leader who questioned nearly every decision and often used manipulation and competition as ways to lead.
Over time, I watched a capable person become a very different version of themselves.
Then the leadership changed.
And slowly, so did they.
The talent hadn't disappeared.
It had been buried underneath the environment.
They became a high performer again. Their health improved. Their interactions changed. And something else happened that fascinated me:
The change rippled through the team.
As one person changed, the dynamics around them changed.
Same employee.
Same underlying talent.
Different leadership environment.
Very different results.
Once I started noticing this ripple, I couldn't unsee it.
The Leader Goes Home, Too
There's another side of this conversation we don't talk about as much.
Leaders are human, too.
They're navigating pressure from above, revenue expectations, difficult stakeholders, changing markets, family responsibilities, and decisions where there may not be a perfect answer.
A leader carrying stress can unknowingly hand that stress to an entire team.
But a leader who develops greater awareness of how they communicate, react, listen, and handle pressure can create a very different experience.
People speak up.
Ideas get shared.
Problems get addressed instead of hidden.
People take greater ownership.
They become more willing to make decisions without needing 17 approvals and a committee meeting. 😂
The strategy may not have changed.
The people may not have changed.
But the environment has.
And people respond to environments.
We Remember How People Made Us Feel
Most of us can probably remember a leader who brought out something great in us.
I certainly can.
Someone who saw potential before we did. Someone who challenged us. Someone who trusted us with something we weren't completely sure we were ready for.
We remember those people.
Unfortunately, most of us can probably remember the opposite, too.
The leader whose name still causes a slight tightening in your shoulders 20 years later.
You know the one.
Both teach us something.
Throughout my career, I've become increasingly interested in what separates the two.
It isn't always charisma.
It isn't having all the answers.
And it certainly isn't being the smartest person in every room.
Often, it's awareness.
Awareness of your words.
Your reactions.
Your energy.
Your ability to listen.
Your ability to have a difficult conversation without making another person smaller in the process.
And the understanding that what feels like a five-minute interaction to you may stay with someone much longer.
The Positive Ripple Travels Home, Too
Now picture a different drive home.
Someone was trusted with a bigger opportunity today.
Her leader asked for her opinion in a room where she normally would have stayed quiet.
She took a risk, and it worked.
Or maybe it didn't work, and instead of being punished for it, someone helped her learn from it.
She leaves work standing a little taller.
That confidence doesn't necessarily disappear when she walks through her front door, either.
Maybe she's more present.
Maybe she's more playful.
Maybe she finally has the confidence to have another conversation she's been avoiding.
Maybe her children see a mother excited about what she's creating instead of depleted by it.
That's a ripple, too.
The Human ROI of Leadership
We know how to measure the business side of leadership.
Revenue.
Productivity.
Retention.
Sales.
Engagement.
Performance.
Those numbers matter. I love results.
But I've come to believe there is another return we're not nearly as good at measuring.
The human ROI.
It's the employee who sleeps better.
The marriage carrying a little less stress.
The parent who has more patience.
The team that trusts each other again.
The person who stops questioning whether she belongs in the room.
The leader who realizes they don't have to create fear to create accountability.
And then those people interact with customers, coworkers, spouses, children, friends, and communities.
That's where the math gets really interesting.
One leader doesn't just influence the people who report to them.
Their influence travels through those people into relationships and rooms they may never enter.
What Are We Sending Home?
There is no better feeling in my work than watching something I've contributed to lead to real results in an organization.
Watching a team communicate differently.
Watching someone become a more inspiring leader.
Watching people who were struggling with each other begin working together.
And yes, watching the business results follow.
But I've also become fascinated by the results I'll never get to see.
The conversation that went differently at home.
The person who didn't quit.
The idea someone finally felt safe enough to share.
The marriage carrying a little less stress.
The child who got a more present parent that evening.
The future leader who started believing in herself again.
Those things will probably never make the quarterly report.
They still count.
Maybe leadership has always had a much bigger ROI than we've been measuring.
Because people take their leaders home with them.
The question is: What are we sending home?
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