Success Stories
You carry your highest potential within you. My job is to help you activate it. ~ Dana Theus, Executive & Career Coach
“This investment has changed me as a leader.”
I originally engaged with Dana as my executive coach and then brought her in for organizational coaching for the whole company. To be the leader I wanted to be, I knew I needed to become more individually grounded, as well as establish my own identity as a CEO and co-owner. Organizationally, my goal was to develop a community of leaders. I wanted my team to migrate from the “what would the boss do?” mindset to a culture of empowerment and personal responsibility. I also wanted to establish a strong leadership team within the organizational structure and to scale the company for growth.
I am so glad I worked with Dana on both fronts. I initially chose Dana because of her approach of addressing the whole person in her role as personal executive coach. The InPower Coaching tools of intention and addressing my personal triggers have been invaluable, and when practiced regularly, changed my day-to-day life on all fronts.
Organizationally, Dana helped my company recognize that we had a strong interpersonal culture, that we truly cared about each other, but that our business culture needed attention. Dana brought us a great blend of personal practices and business practices through tools that helped us create positive and lasting cultural habits. My leadership team has gotten on board and, together with Dana, we’re bringing new levels of accountability and focus to the company as a whole.
It has been a gift, personally, to be more grounded as a leader despite what the world may bring. It’s been even more fulfilling to watch others grow into leaders–to their own surprise! If you want to become focused on your highest purpose in whatever role you are in, Dana can guide you. And, she guides you with a mix of meeting you where you are and being a mirror to your self-accountability commitment. This investment has changed me as a leader and improved my company’s effectiveness as an organization.
Kimberly Hulett
President & CEO, Creating Results
Executive Coaching Clients
Miki Crane, M.D.
Miki Crane, M.D.“Dana coached and guided me through a new leadership role that was an opportunity for professional growth and success. She helped me learn how to handle business and people challenges and buoyed my confidence as I progressed in my job for several years. Everyone in leadership should consider working with an executive coach; I’m grateful that Dana is mine!“
Market Medical Director
SCAN Group
Rebecca Rothey
Rebecca Rothey“In the last few months, I’ve had the opportunity to take on new levels of leadership responsibility and found that what made me successful up until that point wasn’t going to be enough with more people reporting to me and accountability for more aggressive goals. I reached out to Dana for advice on positioning myself to gain the credibility I’d need to succeed from key stakeholders, and to determine my team leadership and management style. I’m pleased to say her sage advice and specific tools have been exactly what I needed. In a very short period of time, I have increased trust, begun aligning my team for the challenges ahead and working with staff to help them reach their own potential too. I recommend Dana’s coaching to anyone who knows they can succeed at higher levels and needs someone skilled and trustworthy to help them get there with fewer bumps on the road that they can achieve on their own. We don’t know what we don’t know.”
Vice President of Development/Senior Philanthropic Advisor
The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region
Melissa Caravella
Melissa Caravella“Our company is growing fast and as a member of the leadership team, I’m “on point” to wear many hats and be an example of working-smarter-not-harder for all our team members. When my company started working with Dana and InPower tools, I was feeling stressed and breaking down in my ability to do anything but work. Even when I was not actually working, the mental load of clients, projects and everything we have going on was constantly on my mind. The more time I spent working, the less productive and more frustrated I was becoming. Worse, I felt like I wasn’t accomplishing my personal, non-work goals either.
I thought the emotional intelligence exercises for creating focus and reframing my beliefs would be helpful, but didn’t really expect the huge impact I’ve found. For me, these tools have been truly transformative, and I don’t say that lightly. I am using intentions and intentional time to made strides toward longer-term goals while maintaining hours that are reasonable and sustainable. I feel like I am doing more, and more significant, work than I was 3 months ago. I feel empowered to take time to care for myself and “give myself permission” to not be always on and available – yet I feel I’m able to perform to a higher leadership level and feel accomplished at the end of most days.
I’ve been reflecting on what’s made the biggest change, and I think it’s the fact that by using the step-by-step exercises it’s helping me focus on high-value initiatives that result in greater efficiencies or growth among the team, which reduces the smaller things on my plate. I’m looking forward to applying what I’m learning to continue building a competitive and profitable business and creating the space to build stronger relationships.”
Vice President of Client Services
Creating Results Strategic Marketing Agency
Elizabeth Karvonen
““I have worked with Dana for 2+ years, and continue to learn so much from every one of our conversations. Last year she guided me as I was working towards a promotion. As I balance my varied portfolio of job responsibilities, including supporting new business development and delivering against current business needs, Dana continues to provide a fresh perspective on how to approach any business situation or problem I am encountering. Her advice has helped me negotiate key business relationships and navigate challenging meetings and business dilemmas. I rely on her to help me get clear on my goals and determine the best way forward. Her advice always pays off!”“
CVS Team Lead
The Emerson Group
“If you want to become focused on your highest purpose in your role, Dana can guide you.”
In this 5.5 min video, Kimberly Hulett shares her personal growth experiences working with Dana Theus of InPower Coaching.
“Her deep expertise and experience in working in a C-suite environment has been invaluable.”
I started working with Dana a little more than two years ago. I wanted to increase my strategic capacity as a leader and be more impactful in my role as Vice President, Program Operations.
I write this now as the President of our company, a promotion I couldn’t have imagined two years ago, but one that with Dana’s coaching and leadership development became an obvious next step for our company and for me. Not only did she increase my effectiveness as a leader, but she also helped me own the skills and capacity I was already using. Her deep expertise and experience in working in a c-suite environment has been invaluable.
Eight months ago our company started contracting with Dana to work with our whole leadership team to integrate Objectives and Key Results as a framework to focus our attention and level up the whole company to be more strategic, effective, and goal focused. Dana has stuck by us as we figure this out, falter, refocus, and keep driving toward effective strategic systems and meaningful change as a company. I’m indebted and grateful to her for what she has made possible for me and our company and for her determination and commitment to center women in positions of leadership.
Jasmine Lamb
President, Mansfield Hall
“I’m sure you know what I mean when I say some people in my life are challenging! To be more effective and less stressed, I decided to focus on regaining control of runaway emotions and become better at building relationships – personal and professional. As I learned from Dana, creating a productive relationship starts with me opening my eyes to start to ‘see’ the ‘lens’ with which I view the relationship, replete with any filters and distortions.
The rewards? In one particularly difficult relationship, I went from a place of toxic anger to neutrality, even positivity! I was able to release the rippling stress, to a re-channeling of my energy for mutual benefit. There are no losers, only winners on this journey. I cannot recommend Dana and InPower Coaching more to help you bring the best YOU to all your relationships, and bring out the most authentic parts of yourself in the process.”
“I participated in Dana’s 5 Day Intention Challenge this week… and was surprised at how much more clarity and focus I had each day on working towards my daily intention. I’m going to repeat the challenge next week (about 5 minutes for me in the morning) to strengthen the practice of owning my intention and creatively solving for the other things that come up through the day.”
“InPower Coaching changed how I do my job and how I approach change. I lead and manage my team very differently today, gaining everyone’s buy-in and commitment on a regular basis.”
“As a professional charting a new course, I struggled with making change and getting buy-in in a field that constantly requires it. While working with Dana in a leadership development capacity, I learned it is critical to understand what is important to others and to gain alignment, before working to move forward. Armed with these new strategies, I’m already seeing more engagement with others in the company, and I am seeing early success in leading others to take ownership in the change process.”
“I am finding InPower Coaching really valuable. I am learning how many aspects of challenging relationships are not due to my behavior, but other people’s baggage. Amazing! I have such a weight off of me now; I haven’t resolved everything, but I feel much better and more confident.”
“Recently I found myself in a position that I felt was above my capabilities. Early on I was very overwhelmed and I felt defeated–on the verge of throwing in the towel. After the activities [in today’s call], reassurance and confidence your coaching has provided, I feel rejuvenated and am ready to conquer this situation. I am open to new and uncomfortable challenges in the future. I didn’t understand what was going on, but after utilizing the tools you have provided I can now identify with and continue to learn and grow comfortably. Thank you!”
“As a young professional, I’m always on the lookout for tools and strategies to help me enhance my interpersonal and leadership skills. So many tools available today are too theoretical and not easily transferable to real life situations, but InPower Coaching is different. After my time with InPower Coaching, it’s not only easier for me to communicate effectively about sensitive issues, but I’m also not as intimidated by those conversations as I was before. I highly recommend InPower Coaching to anyone who wants to hone their communication and leadership skills. The time spent with Dana is worth it!”
“I’ve engaged with Dana twice over the last few years, to help position me for greater success in a corporate job and then to strategize the launch of my own business. Her insight and coaching support has been invaluable in every phase of my journey! Reflecting on her coaching, the number one thing she helped me with has been managing my own emotions and triggers so that today I naturally own every success and take every setback as a learning opportunity. She’s also helped me be more intentional about how I manage my energy, how I show up in the workplace, and how I want people to experience me. The result is that I now bring my authentic best self to the job and find more joy and meaning in my work. I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my career and I couldn’t have done it without her expert guidance and support.”
“I am continually working on maintaining confidence and composure during especially high profile and/or conflict oriented meetings with senior management. While I continue to improve and the bar where I run into challenges continues to get higher, there is still a bar. Your authentic leadership inner career coach techniques for naming and reframing my challenges are helping me reduce the stress-related fog in these situations. Your advice is helping me keep a more even keel, not just at at work, but at home as well. In addition, I am naturally and consciously positive and powerful 90+% of the time, but there is that 10% of time when that is not as true as it should be. By keeping my inner coach engaged 100% of the time, this 10% is history. I will not be letting that creep into my language again. Ever. Great material, great presentation, great value, great job! Well done!”
“I am known for being a grounded leader, so when I hit a turning point in my quest for authenticity, it was quite a shock! Dana’s clear messages and advice helped kick me in the pants to finally go for what I wanted all along. Her insights were exactly what I needed to open that daunting door and claim my inner power, a power that’s making me more successful every day.”
“The Energy Integrity lesson came at a great time this week as I was pulled a bunch of different directions with competing priorities. I was conscious about choosing my commitments and I was able to ADD additional activities to my week. I was able to accomplish more and was happier about what I was doing, which helped to round out a great week!”
Career Coaching
P. Michael Condray
Colonel, US Air Force (Ret.)
“I began relying on Dana’s career advice/counseling while planning my exit from 30 years of military service. Dana’s insightful feedback was a critical factor enabling my successful transition to a civilian Senior Executive Service (SES) position outside the Department of Defense. As we continued to work together, Dana’s perceptive listening skills and ability to convert a client’s thoughts to illuminating questions helped me develop and embrace my true passion–pursuing a PhD in Public Policy.
Charting a career path can be as opaque a process for seasoned executives as it is for new graduates–especially in today’s world of continual professional growth/re-invention. I found Dana’s tremendous understanding of job markets, the job search process and options for matching my skills and goals to where they could make the most impact truly invaluable. All this in addition to good advice Dana provided on succeeding in a leadership capacity both in the Air Force and in the Department of Commerce.
I absolutely recommend Dana’s coaching to anyone who knows they can make a greater impact and find a good fit for their skills and talents, but isn’t sure where to start or how to negotiate a confusing job market. She’ll help you understand where your dreams should take you–then help you make it happen!”
Karen A.
University Program Executive
“I reach out to Dana whenever I have a big decision or a big career move to make. She has an uncanny way of always helping me tap exactly the right thought, perspective or belief within me to achieve the next stage of my career success. She recently advised me on making the biggest move of my career. With the confidence she helped me find inside myself I landed not only the job of my dreams, but the salary I deserve.”
“Following Dana’s advice to narrow my job search to focus on exactly what I wanted to do–and where I wanted to live–helped me find my ‘perfect job’ with surprising results. Sixty days after starting my search, I reported to work in a new city. I couldn’t be happier and love the new life I’m building here.”
“I turned to Dana to guide me in communicating my strongest assets while I am seeking to reposition myself with my career. Dana helped me clarify my objectives and communicate my strengths in ways that I had not considered. She thoroughly analyzed my resume and online presence, provided pointers on more powerful language, and helped me craft a positioning statement to frame all my communications. My linkedin bio and resumes are much stronger, and I am very happy with the results.”
“I was on an international development project that was in the process of closing out. Working with Dana on career planning, resume and cover letter writing helped me decide how I really wanted to further my career, despite this setback. Her online platform allowed me to take a deep dive into how to think during my transition. I made the decision to change career paths. I’m also going to run for office! I couldn’t have made this leap without Dana’s help.“
“InPower Coaching is a wonderful resource. I got an offer on Thursday, downloaded the InPower worksheets on offer negotiations on Friday and successfully negotiated my new employment package on Saturday. I’m very happy with my employment agreement and I only wish I’d found InPower Coaching sooner in my job search! “
“Dana’s InPower Coaching worksheets are excellent. Using her materials, I came to some very powerful realizations, that helped clear up some of the options I have been considering and helped me resolve into one focused goal for my job search.”
“I reached out to Dana when I was between jobs- I had just left one position before having another lined up. Ms. Theus gave me the encouragement and (more importantly) the guidance I needed to make this situation work to my benefit.
She went above and beyond what I was expecting, and her advice gave me a clearer idea of what my career goals were and how to best pursue them. I would recommend her to anyone in need of guidance and direction in their careers.
I ended up in a new position that was both higher in compensation and better suited to my career goals. I give Ms. Theus much of the credit for this.”
Women’s INPowerment
L. Halima Gambo
“Before I met Dana and started working with InPower Coaching techniques I was struggling with confidently getting my ideas across and standing for them without appearing to be aggressive or authoritarian. Even though I was very aware of the need to be open-minded, considerate and accept people’s ideas, my communication patterns made it difficult for me to work effectively in a team.
It was seriously affecting my personal and professional relations because I frequently had to go back and clean up the messes my less-than-sensitive communications created. I had even decided to become silent in important meetings and situations, convinced that I was born to keep quiet.
Using InPower Coaching strategies, I discovered what emotional distortions mean and how they affect how we act , react and – in this case – communicate. I realized that my communication shapes how I am perceived by the people I interact with. I learned how easy it is to copy other people’s communications patterns without realizing it, instead of owning my personal communication style. I also become aware of how powerful it can be to include thankfulness in every interaction. Gratitude has made a huge difference in my personal style and how people respond to me.
Fundamentally my life changed after the 2nd session I had with Dana. It is like a veil has been removed from my face. It is like I can now breathe oxygen.
I react to people very differently now than I did before working with Dana. And people in my personal and professional life seem delighted to talk with me – even if we disagree! I am totally in control of my emotions and my communications, choosing words consistently and choosing when and how to provide information, to make a point or provide a suggestion during a meeting or professional interaction.
My close relatives, my supervisor and my colleagues wished I done this work before. I am grateful to the African Development Foundation who decided to Invest in me so that Dana could help me work on my leadership and communication skills as part of my 8 week leadership internship in the U.S.
Working with Dana has been a life changing experience. I communicate clearly and I am more confident during my meetings with senior officials.”
“The business world teaches us to define our value in terms of what we’ve done. Dana has taught me how to fully embrace my all of my skills, including both the hard and soft. Now I’m able to share my value confidently based on who I am rather than trying to muster up the so-called confidence I thought I needed to be better able to “brag” about what I’ve done. I always believed real self-confidence comes from being your authentic self. Now I’ve begun to experience how self-promotion can come from the same place!”
“When I was in the corporate world, I always had the confidence-booster of a big brand behind me. Now that I’m on my own, I have had to build a power base that can come only from deep inside me. Dana has been the ideal partner to help me reach that power and feel confident and comfortable using it to promote myself and my value to prospective customers. Dana’s supportive approach and savvy insight take you on a journey to greater self-appreciation, while helping you set a course of action to offload the self-sabotage and doubt that typically get in the way.”
“Since working with InPower Goals and Intentions, I have definitely noticed how possible my most outlandish intentions are becoming. I can see my intentions coming to life both professionally and personally, and I’m gaining the confidence I need to take my career to the next level. Dana’s InPower Coaching tools have helped me set intentions and let go of dictating how I get there. This process often presents unexpected opportunities and outcomes that are often better than I could have imagined.
The InPower Intentions Coaching and the workbooks have great value and value added over time. After you start to see some of your intentions coming to fruition, you can go back and re-work your intentions for bigger and better things. Also, by leaving some wiggle room in your intentions, opportunities that you might not have seen before will present themselves and help you tailor your life and achievements to your most authentic self.
Now that I’ve experienced so much success with the intentions I set in the InPower Coaching program, I plan to set new ones and set the bar higher.”
“Dana Theus has played an integral part in my career development. She helped me to focus on my strengths and stay on track as I transitioned from working for a large organization to envision starting my own business. Her coaching approach enabled me to identify what is most meaningful for me and now serves as the driver to build a business that is meaningful and useful to others. Dana particularly helped me to unleash parts of my personality to be more intuitive and creative. I am no longer plodding to work in a job that was going nowhere, in contrast, I am using all of my creative energies to be of service to others. Thank you Dana!”
“Three minutes of advice from Dana will carry me for the next three years!”
Organizational Impact
Mike Howard
Chief Security Officer,
Microsoft (ret.)
"Dana Theus of InPower Coaching has done work for my team at Microsoft and the feedback on Dana's work is phenomenal and excellent. Using her knowledge as a facilitator, Dana is able to drive really great content in her forums on leadership and teamwork.
InPower Coaching has made a substantial impact on my team and I highly endorse and recommend Dana."
Audrey Jakel Hlavin
Board Member, Women Impacting Storebrand Excellence (WISE)
"InPower Coaching, created and developed by Dana Theus, is a wonderful online professional and leadership learning program!
When our membership organization sought new programming to offer our corporate members, we were pleased to find that InPower Coaching met all our requirements for in-depth lessons, timely events, user engagement and flexible access. The learning tools are varied and the material is extensive, allowing users to learn on multiple levels and at their own convenience. Through the program our members have had access to video clips, written material, practice exercises, live presentations and group chats (both online and live group call-in sessions); appealing to a variety of learning styles. We've collaborated with Dana Theus of InPower Coaching over the last several years to support individuals as well as mentor groups, and feedback has been consistently enthusiastic and positive. While many individuals use the program on-demand, others have chosen to use it in greater depth to support their career and leadership development goals. InPower Coaching additionally continues to evolve adding new material to keep up on current issues and trends so your employees will never be behind the curve. I highly recommend this program to any membership organization or company in need of professional development materials and supporting resources."
“This investment has changed me as a leader, and improved my company’s effectiveness.”
In this 10 min video, Kimberly Hulett shares her experiences working with Dana Theus of InPower Coaching to build and strengthen her company culture.
Online Programs & Community
Jasmine Lamb
Vice President of Program Development and Operations, Mansfield Hall
“Joining the InPower Women Mastermind community has offered me not only exceptionally intelligent women in leadership to share ideas with and learn from, but it has also offered a community that fills my heart with a sense of possibility, purpose and the experience of connection and warmth with other leaders. Dana leads us toward this connection and purpose and has created a culture free of competition or status and full of learning and sharing. I’m grateful.”
J. Voss
Project Manager, Major Manufacturer
“I started working with Dana several years ago when I was seeking strategies to improve some challenging working relationships. The InPower community has been a life line for me, helping me through tough times and giving me support as I got a promotion and prepared for a more demanding role. Dana uses the monthly calls effectively to provide helpful tools and information, and personal support. This approach of call-ins and online tools, gives me an opportunity to participate in both group discussions and individual learning. Dana’s InPower Coaching community is just that, a community with people who are positive and motivated to learn and grow. I find listening to others perspective helpful and have learned from them as well. I’ve joined several of her classes for more intense learning and found them to be truly transformative, providing me with various tools I can use right away and can fall back on when faced with a new challenge. I find taking time to connect with InPower helps me stay focused and energizes me.”
“This program is a gift, I wish that I would have had this in my former company, where most of the focus was on the outcome, timelines and trying to convince people to agree…the experience, stress and dealing with all of the wild cards, team members and myself would have been so much better had I been equipped with the concepts covered in these materials. I am really appreciating all of it!”
“Dana’s coaching programs helped me realize I could effortlessly fly to the mountain top instead of plodding along in the woods. I am thrilled, In an exceptionally busy time I managed to do everything on my list (and this included a few instances of closing down old projects which were half dead but still around).”
Cindy B.
IT & Innovation Director, Damco
“I would like to recognize Dana for establishing an inspiring virtual community and for running our monthly sessions. I have participated in a number of Dana’s programs over the past few years, which I have found very valuable for my own personal development as a leader, and this community continues the tradition.
I applaud Dana. It’s a great strategy to create a network of people that come together for healthy collaboration. This diverse forum provides various perspectives on the subjects discussed, enabling everyone to come away with fresh thinking and new innovative ideas. The one hour phone session each month is well worth the time. It gets our creative juices flowing. Join us, and bring your friends or colleagues to share their thoughts or success stories. We can all benefit from sharing.
Thank you Dana, for all your leadership coaching and mentoring. I truly value this journey with you and the rest of the group and I look forward to the next session.”
Super great instructor. I cant say enough how much she helped me get back on track after I had a setback in my project I failed at. I now have the tools to get back on track. I appreciate this program and that it really applies to real lives and real things that happen in our lives. There is hope at the end of the tunnel and bouncing back thru resilience. Thank you so much Dana Theus.
What Our Members Say
Activate Your Highest Potential
“I know that coaching is a major investment you make in yourself. To get the most out of your investment, I have to be flexible so that you can align your time, energy and financial resources and fully reap the rewards of your commitment. Working with clients at every level I’ve designed packages that make it simple and affordable for you to work with me. My only goal is your success.”
Dana Theus, Executive & Career Coach