“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”
Cindy Peterson
Founder and Managing Partner
Nothing brings me more motivation and joy than helping those around me achieve their goals and fulfill their purpose. I often refer to myself as a recovering full time employee after 20+ years working and leading corporate teams. I bring my knowledge of how organizations function, from Fortune 100 companies to scrappy start-ups, to my work. I have found and am living my purpose by partnering with organizations, leaders, and individuals to step into “what’s possible.” By coupling deep listening and empathy with practical strategies, I work alongside my clients, bringing to life the vision and change we create together.
I founded Leading With because I am on a mission to move the world toward a more humanistic economy that IS the future of work. I offer both myself, as well as the collective superpowers of my strategic partners, to create extraordinary, expansive visions of what the future of work and the future of leadership can hold. Based in Bozeman, Montana, I enjoy hiking, snowboarding, good food, laughter, trying to keep up with my kids, and exploring near and far with my family.
“Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.”
One of the foundational pillars of Leading With is cultivating a team of expert collaboration partners who are not only thought leaders, but operational executors who can roll up their sleeves and make change happen. We choose to work with individuals and companies that forward our thinking, compliment our areas of focus, challenge us in new ways, and bring inspiring skills and expertise to our engagements.
Collaborative Partners
Jessie and the team at the Improv Effect bring learning and collaboration to the next level. Their use of applied improvisational techniques, coupled with innovative and immersive experiences, arm teams and organizations with the tools they need to create strong cultures and continue to adapt to whatever comes their way. Jessie embodies a culture of belonging and proves day-in- and-day-out that play and curiosity helps teams tap into creativity and solve sticky problems.
Lia James is redefining the future of work and the human experience. She helps others find their place in the world, while at the same time expanding their perspective through engaging with those around them. She brings a broad range of skills to the table, from hiring practices and workplace development to combating burnout to helping leaders and organizations build productive programs around equity and inclusion. What I admire most about Lia is her passion to continue to be a student of the world as well as a guide and teacher.
Deborah Bonzell is on a mission to banish burnout by integrating the practice of wellbeing into daily work-life. She and her team lead experiential, science-based, and fun! Well Workouts for employees that produce measurable results, while also coaching leaders to shift unhealthy cultural norms to promote greater balance and resilience. Above all, Deb is committed to her own daily ‘well-at-work’ practice, and she strives to bring joy, a sense of calm, and a space for belonging into any environment she enters.
Stop Meeting Like This is a professional services firm and preeminent thought leader dedicated to making work both joyful and productive. Shani and the team at SMLT bring the highest level of professionalism and creativity to architecting experiences for their clients. Their expertise ranges from developing stronger leaders and cultivating healthier teams, to establishing more effective and efficient collaboration practices, to designing innovative, strategic, and purpose-driven large-scale meetings.
Janel works with clients across three continents and two languages (English and Spanish) - illuminating the path to true product-led and agile work practices that increases the return on investment of each dollar spent on technology. She has been training and reskilling product organizations for over 20 years, but doesn’t stop there. Janel is an expert at creating systems that embed user centricity & a focus on outcomes, and align “what it really means to BE agile, rather than simply implement an Agile methodology". Her unique in-context training and coaching helps individuals and teams shift mindsets and realize the value as they are learning, and helps clients to implement structures that reinforce new ways of working and make them stick.
How Do You Manage specializes in leadership training and coaching. Val and her expert team of coaches and facilitators believe that great leaders not only need business and technical skills, but also need to know how to inspire and motivate their teams. Everyone on the HDYM team brings industry experience as leaders of teams, and they know first-hand the impact of both great leaders and awful ones too. The HDYM team works with organizational leaders who truly care about their impact on their greatest asset, their people.