Her Story
About Rox
Roxanne Pals serves as President and Founder of Free Consulting, a practice she has led for 15 years. Her work centers on organizational culture and change, with a recent emphasis since 2023 on human-centered leadership and helping early to mid-career leaders guide others effectively. A nurse by training, Pals earned a Master's in Servant Leadership while leading a nursing unit through culture transformation at a faith-based healthcare system spanning 26 states. She is a graduate of the Integrated Healing Arts program at Birchtree Center for Healthcare Transformation and previously held board certification as a holistic nurse. Pals teaches through her Trilogy Change Collaborative cohort learning program and attributes her success to therapeutic listening, which she illustrates using the Chinese character Ting. She belongs to the National Association of Women Business Owners and the Holistic Nursing Association, and she values time, compassion, and the human spirit in both her professional and personal life.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Rox
01What do you attribute your success to?
I have been told over and over and over again that I'm a great listener. So, I think just, in every conversation. I truly believe that everything happens in conversation. I have practiced and practiced the art of therapeutic listening, which is very different from active listening. I teach something called the Chinese character Ting, which is a very useful visual of how to listen with your ears and your eyes and your heart.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Asking good questions and inserting that pause where you're really, truly listening to what the other is trying to communicate. One of the most important questions that I was given as a young leader was, what could I be missing here?
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Pay attention to what's attracting you. Create that pause in yourself with morning, noontime and end-of-day pauses. Follow the energy. The art of appreciation - write 5 handwritten thank you notes every Friday.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
In this world, you can get pretty lost by declaring you're a consultant. So much of my work is in isolation, so it's really important to have things set up like connecting with people. I don't ever want to lose the human connection even while willing to work with AI.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Time is a value I hold very dear. Compassion is a value I hold very close to me. And I would just say the value of the human spirit, just knowing that everybody's human, everybody has their own life experiences. I think about every interaction as a way in which I can care for someone, quietly care for them.
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