A compelling narrative about challenging the status quo through education, career transitions, and purposeful leadership. This article explores how positive disruption—both chosen and unexpected—can transform professional experiences into meaningful impact.
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Influential Woman · Organizational Effectiveness Consulting
Michelle T. Fader
Founder, Organizational Effectiveness Consultant, Fader Consulting Alliance
Worcester, MA 01605
1Article published
Her Story
About Michelle
Michelle T. Fader is the Founder of Fader Consulting Alliance, an organizational effectiveness consulting firm focused on helping organizations strengthen leadership, improve collaboration, and create people-centered workplaces. After completing her Master of Science in Industrial and Organizational Psychology in 2024, Michelle launched her consulting practice to apply her nearly three decades of corporate experience and behavioral science expertise to improving organizational performance. Her approach centers on helping companies build stronger teams, enhance employee engagement, and create environments where individuals and organizations can thrive.
Prior to founding Fader Consulting Alliance, Michelle spent nearly 30 years in the footwear industry, building a distinguished career in supply chain compliance with PUMA. She advanced from Customer Compliance Coordinator to Senior Director of Supply Chain Compliance, leading initiatives that strengthened operational processes, vendor relationships, and organizational effectiveness. Throughout her corporate career, Michelle gained firsthand insight into the importance of strong communication, team alignment, and workplace cultures that support employee growth and success.
Michelle holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Maine and a master’s degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Southern New Hampshire University. Her academic foundation, corporate leadership experience, and involvement with professional organizations such as the Retail Value Chain Federation and the National Retail Federation inform her consulting work in organizational alignment, team collaboration, job satisfaction, relationship building, and process improvement. Through Fader Consulting Alliance, Michelle is dedicated to humanizing workplaces, mentoring professionals across generations, and helping organizations foster psychological ownership, meaningful work, and sustainable success beyond technology-driven solutions.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Michelle
01What do you attribute your success to?
While my LLC is just beginning its journey, I attribute nearly 30 years of success in the corporate world to determination, persistence, and flexibility.
I learned early in my career that success rarely comes from following a straight path. It comes from being willing to adapt, continue learning, navigate change, and keep moving forward when circumstances shift. The corporate world is constantly evolving, and my ability to remain flexible while staying committed to my values and goals allowed me to grow along with it.
Most importantly, I learned that success is not defined only by a title or position. It is also defined by the relationships you build, the value you bring to others, and your willingness to continue developing yourself. Those lessons now serve as the foundation for this next chapter of my career and the work I am building through Fader Consulting Alliance.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I have ever received is to observe, listen, and trust your intuition.
Over the years, I have learned how important it is to pay attention to behavior—not just what people say, but how they interact, respond to challenges, and influence those around them. Observation and intuition can tell us a great deal about people, teams, and organizations.
I have also learned that following the leader is not always the best option. Leadership should not replace independent thought. Sometimes the greatest opportunities for growth and positive change come from having the confidence to question the status quo, trust what you observe, and choose a different path.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice to other women is to have patience with yourself and your journey.
Growth is not always easy to see while it is happening. It comes in stages, shaped by both success and failure. Some experiences move us forward, while others teach us what we need to know before we can take the next step.
Use that time to understand who you are, what you value, and what you stand for. Don’t measure your progress only by titles, promotions, or milestones. Sometimes the most important growth is happening within you long before others can see it.
Be patient. Keep learning. Trust that every stage is helping shape where you go next.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges I see today is gaining leadership buy-in for reshaping corporate culture. Meaningful cultural change requires more than new initiatives or policies—it requires commitment at every level of leadership. Culture cannot simply be defined at the top; it must be demonstrated through everyday behaviors, decisions, and interactions throughout the organization.
At the same time, I am encouraged by the progress I see. The next generation entering and advancing through the workforce is challenging traditional expectations of leadership, communication, flexibility, and workplace culture. They are helping organizations recognize that people and performance are not competing priorities—they are connected.
The opportunity is to bring generations together, combining experience with new perspectives while ensuring that leaders at every level understand their role in shaping culture. Lasting culture change happens when leadership becomes a shared responsibility, not simply a message from the top.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Determination — continuing forward despite challenges or setbacks.
Integrity — doing what is right and remaining consistent with what you believe.
Honesty — communicating openly and authentically, even when it is difficult.
Positive Influence — choosing to bring constructive energy, encouragement, and possibility to people and situations.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Michelle
What I’ve Learned: The Power of Positive Disruption
From Corporate Stability to Meaningful Leadership: How Disruption Became My Path to Purpose
Positive Disruption: Challenging the Status Quo
Nearly 30 years in the corporate world taught me a great deal about business, leadership, people—and myself.
One of the most important lessons I learned is that we do not have to accept the status quo in our work environment.
Salary matters. Titles matter. Career advancement matters. But over time, I learned that those things alone do not define a meaningful or successful work experience. What stays with us are the relationships we build, the value we create, the influence we have on others, and the feeling that our work matters.
I also learned that feeling stuck does not mean you have to stay stuck.
Education as Positive Disruption
For me, education became a form of positive disruption. It gave me a way to challenge myself, expand my thinking, and remain relevant at a time in my career when I was beginning to question what I wanted my future to look like.
In 2024, I completed my master's degree in Organizational Psychology. Going back to school later in my career wasn't about replacing nearly 30 years of experience. It was about complementing that experience with a deeper understanding of the science behind what I had observed throughout my career.
I had spent decades experiencing the realities of organizations—leadership, relationships, change, collaboration, conflict, performance, and growth. My education helped me better understand why people and organizations behave the way they do and how that knowledge can be applied to create better outcomes.
It also reinforced something I strongly believe today: experience is incredibly valuable, but we have a responsibility to keep learning.
Education doesn't always mean earning another degree. It can mean developing a new skill, finding a mentor, reading, asking better questions, seeking different perspectives, or simply becoming curious again.
Continuing to learn is one of the most powerful ways we can remain relevant—and regain momentum when we feel stuck.
I didn't realize it at the time, but I wasn't simply continuing my education.
I was preparing myself for what came next.
When Disruption Found Me
After 24 years with the same company, I was laid off.
In many ways, I was ready. I knew I had reached a point in my career where I wanted something different. But knowing that didn't make the experience easy.
After investing so much of my professional life in one organization, the ending was still a personal blow.
For a while, I needed something I hadn't given myself enough of during my corporate career:
Time to rest.
And then came reflection.
Without the title, the deadlines, the meetings, and the constant momentum of corporate life, I had the opportunity to think about what I had learned—and, more importantly, what I wanted to do with it.
I began to see that the next chapter wasn't about replacing the position I had lost.
It was about creating something that reflected who I had become.
That reflection helped me find my path.
Turning Experience Into Purpose
I created Fader Consulting Alliance around a simple belief: individuals and organizations do not have to accept ways of working simply because "that's the way they've always been done."
My nearly 30 years of corporate experience gave me practical knowledge. My education in organizational psychology gave me a deeper understanding of human behavior. And my own career transition gave me a renewed appreciation for the importance of purpose, relationships, resilience, and continued growth.
Together, those experiences became the foundation for People | Performance | Growth and my belief in the power of positive disruption.
Positive disruption doesn't have to mean tearing something down. Sometimes, it simply means having the courage to ask:
Why do we do it this way?
Is this still working?
Are we creating value—or simply maintaining a process?
Could there be a better way?
Today, my goal is to use what I've learned to help individuals and organizations ask those questions—and then help them find the answers.
What I Hope to Influence
My experiences have shaped not only what I've learned, but also what I now hope to influence.
I want to encourage leaders to lead from within, not from above.
Leadership is not simply about having the highest title, making the decisions, or directing the work. The leaders who make the greatest impact are willing to be part of the team—to listen, share knowledge, provide support, build trust, and recognize the value each person brings.
I also want to challenge the idea that compensation alone communicates an employee's value.
People want to know that they matter.
They want their ideas to be heard. They want their contributions to be recognized. They want opportunities to learn and grow. They want leaders who understand that a person's value cannot be measured only by a salary, title, or position on an organizational chart.
This is where I believe positive disruption can make a meaningful difference.
Imagine workplaces where leaders spend less time demonstrating authority and more time building trust. Where success isn't measured only by results, but also by how those results are achieved. Where employees understand not only what they are responsible for, but why their contribution matters.
That doesn't mean performance becomes less important. I believe the opposite is true.
When people feel valued, supported, and connected to purpose, we create the conditions for stronger performance—and ultimately, sustainable growth.
That is the connection behind People | Performance | Growth.
What I've Learned
Perhaps the greatest lesson I've learned is that disruption can feel like an ending when you're standing in the middle of it.
But it doesn't have to be.
Sometimes, positive disruption is a decision we make ourselves—to learn something new, challenge the status quo, change how we lead, or choose a different path.
And sometimes, disruption chooses us.
Either way, with continued learning, time, reflection, and the willingness to ask, "Could there be a better way?" disruption can become the beginning of something far more meaningful.
For me, it led to a new purpose: using what I've learned to help create workplaces where people feel valued, leaders lead from within, performance has purpose, and growth is shared.
That is the influence I hope to have.
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