Private Advisory

Bring one live, consequential conflict.

Together we step outside the immediate scene, map the larger story, and determine what it is calling you to understand, decide, or do.

Request a confidential consultation

Evening sunlight glowing through the branches of a large maple tree

The scripts leaders fall back on

Without real conflict capacity, even very senior leaders fall back on the few scripts available to them:

Waiting for the problem to subside
Keeping the peace by smoothing over legitimate disagreement
Protecting a high performer whose conduct no one will name
Over-explaining or appeasing to avoid disapproval
Acting abruptly because uncertainty has become unbearable
Reaching too quickly for surveillance, discipline, or formal process
Treating disagreement as disloyalty

These scripts bring temporary relief. They rarely change the story. Silence becomes permission, and false harmony hides resentment and risk until the cost is far greater than the conversation that was avoided.

Refusing to act is still a decision. Your team is always reading what you address, what you reward, and what you allow to remain unnamed.

Your arc

You will move from feeling trapped inside a conflict to understanding the story you are in, recognizing what it is calling for, and acting as its author.

You will build a repeatable way to:

See what is happening beneath the surface of the scene
Separate observable conduct from assumptions about character or motive
Understand the other person's story without abandoning your own
Distinguish what is yours to carry from what is not
Prepare for the other person's response rather than depend on their approval
Act with clarity and integrity under pressure

The goal is not to become untriggerable. It is to shorten the distance between being triggered and returning to your values — and to lead a team where disagreement is safe, both with you and among its members. That is where psychological safety actually begins.

Answering the call

Answering the call of a conflict does not always mean more conversation, or repairing the relationship. Depending on the story, the right response may be a conversation, a negotiation, a boundary, a structural change, mediation, a formal process, strategic distance, or exit.

This work does not romanticize conflict or ask you to tolerate mistreatment. It develops the judgment to recognize what this particular conflict requires — and the capacity to act on it.

Two ways to work together

Option One

Act I — The Conflict Mapping Intensive

For leaders who need to understand the story they are in before deciding what to do.

We step outside the immediate events and map the larger story: the characters, history, expectations, power, competing interpretations, and underlying stakes. You leave with a clear diagnosis and an initial strategy.

Includes

One 90-minute Conflict Mapping Intensive
Three 60-minute private advisory sessions
A written Conflict Story Map
An initial strategy identifying the response the conflict may require
Limited email or voice-note support between sessions

Timing: Four to five weeks
Investment: CAD $6,000

Act I is a complete engagement. You may leave with the clarity you need to act on your own, or continue into Acts II and III.

Request a confidential consultation

Option Two

The Full Arc

For leaders who want not only to address the immediate conflict, but to change how they understand and lead through conflict.

Includes

One 90-minute Conflict Mapping Intensive
Eleven 60-minute private advisory sessions
A written Conflict Story Map
Strategic preparation for critical conversations, boundaries, negotiations, and decisions
Limited email or voice-note support between sessions
A 45-minute Epilogue session about one month after completion

Timing: About fourteen to sixteen weeks, followed by the Epilogue
Investment: CAD $15,000 paid in full, or three payments of CAD $5,500

Clients who begin with Act I may continue one act at a time at CAD $6,000 per act.

Apply for the Full Arc

How the arc unfolds

Act I — Map the Story

See the conflict clearly: who is involved, how it developed, and what is really at stake.

Act II — Build the Capacity

Understand what the conflict is awakening in you, and develop what you need to meet it differently.

III

Act III — Lead the Turning Point

Prepare for and undertake the scene the story has been building toward — and make what you learn last.

The structure gives the work shape without forcing your situation into a formula. Real events rarely arrive in order, and the work stays responsive to what is actually unfolding.

Possible endings

A bleached driftwood branch resting on dark sand before breaking surf

Not every story ends in reconciliation. Depending on the conflict, you may leave with:

A clear diagnosis of what is actually happening
A principled decision about how to proceed
A strategy for a difficult conversation, negotiation, boundary, or leadership action
Language you can use without over-explaining, attacking, or abandoning yourself
A negotiated change in roles, expectations, or decision authority
Repair, where repair is possible
Functional cooperation, where trust cannot yet be restored
Strategic distance or departure, where continued engagement is inappropriate

The immediate conflict provides the material. The deeper result is a leader who can stay present, think creatively, and act deliberately when the ending cannot be guaranteed.

Who this work is for

Values-driven founders, CEOs, senior executives, and professional leaders who:

Are facing a real and consequential conflict now
Are highly capable in their field but less certain in conflict
Want more than generic communication advice
Are willing to examine their own part in the story without accepting global condemnation
Are prepared to make a decision or take action

This work is not for someone seeking an expert to declare who is right, punish the other person, or supply a script that removes all discomfort.

Practical details

Format

Sessions are held by secure video. In-person sessions are available in Vancouver and Toronto.

Organizational sponsorship

Engagements can be invoiced to your organization.

Currency

Fees are listed in Canadian dollars. USD invoicing is available on request.

Frequently asked questions

Is this mediation?

No. I work privately with you as an advisor. I do not act as a neutral between the parties or broker an agreement between them.

Is this legal advice or therapy?

No. This engagement does not provide legal representation, legal advice, psychotherapy, investigation, or clinical treatment. Where a situation calls for another kind of professional help, identifying that becomes part of the work.

Is it confidential?

The engagement is private and subject to the confidentiality provisions in our agreement. It does not create a solicitor-client relationship or privilege.

What if the conflict cannot be resolved?

Resolution is not the only meaningful ending. The work may produce repair — or clarity, accountability, a boundary, functional cooperation, structural change, strategic distance, or exit. The goal is not peace at any cost. It is the capacity to choose, and carry out, the response the story requires.

Coming soon: The Transformation Lab

A small-group program for leaders and professionals who want to change how they meet conflict, tension, and difficult conversations — using the same story-based approach, in a cohort setting. The first cohort is in development.