Rooted Leader
Identity · Reach · Legacy
Lead from a foundation you finally understand.
Rooted Leader brings identity, ancestry, coaching, and leadership development together to help accomplished leaders understand who and what shaped them. From that foundation, they can lead with greater intention and build a legacy that lasts.
30+ YEARS
Senior national security leadership
ICF ACC
Associate Certified Coach
40+ YEARS
Genealogical research
FOUNDER
Rooted Leader LLC
For leaders at consequential moments.
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Rooted Leader is designed for accomplished leaders navigating transition, growth, greater responsibility, or questions of purpose and legacy. They are not only asking, “What should I do next?” They are asking, “Who am I becoming—and what do I want to carry forward?”
Nicole’s experience is especially relevant to senior executives, government and military leaders, founders, board leaders, and women navigating consequential transitions across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.
N° 01 · ABOUT
MEET THE FOUNDER
Who you come from shapes how you lead. How you lead shapes who comes after.
For more than three decades, I led people and organizations through complexity and change in the national security arena. Today, my work as an executive coach, instructor, facilitator, speaker, writer, genealogist, and board advisor comes together in Rooted Leader—helping leaders understand what shaped them, choose how they will lead, and build what will continue after them.
Who you come from shapes how you lead. How you lead shapes who comes after.
Leadership does not begin with a title. It begins with identity. Rooted Leader helps you examine the relationships, stories, experiences, inherited beliefs, values, and choices that formed you—so you can decide, with intention, what will shape your leadership and what will continue through you.
The Rooted Leader Framework
The work begins with identity, grows through intentional leadership, and endures through legacy. Each part of the tree represents a stage in that journey—not a separate service.
1 · KNOW YOUR ROOTS — Explore the people, stories, experiences, inherited beliefs, values, and lessons that shaped you.
2 · STAND IN YOUR TRUNK — Understand your identity, strengths, purpose, and the principles that keep you grounded.
3 · GROW YOUR BRANCHES — Expand your knowledge, relationships, reach, and possibilities without losing your roots.
4 · BEAR FRUIT — Turn insight into aligned action, meaningful contribution, and results that reflect what matters most.
5 · CREATE A CANOPY — Build a legacy that strengthens others and creates shelter, possibility, and continuity for those who follow.
N° 02 · SERVICES
Ways to Work Together
Each offering is grounded in the Rooted Leader philosophy and adapted to the leader, team, organization, or audience in front of me.
Workshops & facilitation
Interactive leadership experiences and carefully facilitated conversations that help teams connect identity, values, culture, decisions, and shared direction.
Group coaching & retreats
Small-group and immersive experiences that create space for reflection, connection, integration, and intentional action.
Executive coaching
Confidential one-on-one partnerships for senior leaders navigating complexity, transition, growth, or questions of purpose and legacy.
Speaking & thought leadership
Keynotes, fireside conversations, and reflective talks that invite audiences to ask who shaped them, how that shapes their leadership, and what they will carry forward.
N° 03 · LATEST
LETTERS FROM THE GROVE
Latest writing.
Occasional essays and field notes on identity, leadership, ancestry, transition, and legacy—written to be read slowly and carried forward thoughtfully.
FEATURED · ESSAY
START HERE
Begin with one conversation.
Tell me a little about where you are in your leadership journey, what is prompting you to reach out, and what you are hoping to understand or change. I read every inquiry personally. Please allow up to five business days for a response.