Member since October 2023
I am a leadership speaker and author who helps people Rethink Obvious—to recognize the assumptions hiding inside the workplace practices, decisions, and beliefs we rarely stop to question.
During my 30-year construction career, I advanced from carpenter to operations director, giving me a firsthand view of how everyday assumptions can influence communication, development, opportunity, leadership, and advancement. I learned that some of the biggest barriers inside organizations are not always obvious problems. Often, they are familiar ways of thinking that have gone unquestioned for so long they simply feel true.
Today, I help audiences slow down long enough to notice those assumptions, challenge what they think they know, and look at familiar workplace challenges from a different perspective.
That philosophy is at the heart of my book, OneLadder to Leadership, where I use the framework of Missing, Broken, Sticky, and Slippery Rungs to explore how communication, networking, perceptions of readiness, and bias can shape each person's climb in different ways.
As a keynote speaker, trainer, author, and host of the Constructive Behaviors podcast, I combine real-world construction experience, personal stories, humor, and practical tools audiences can put to work immediately.
My message is simple: some of the most important things we need to rethink are the things we have stopped thinking about at all.
I am fascinated by assumptions.
Not just the big, obvious ones. I am interested in the everyday assumptions that silently influence what we notice, what we overlook, what questions we ask, and the decisions we make.
Every workplace has them.
We assume good performers will speak up when they want more responsibility. We assume the right information reaches the people who need it. We assume we know what leadership looks and sounds like. We assume we can tell when someone is ready. We assume the way we have always done something makes sense because, well, we have always done it that way.
Most of those assumptions are not malicious. Many are not even conscious.
They simply seem like obvious choices, decisions, explanations, or paths.
And that is precisely why they are worth examining.
My work is about helping people become more curious about what they have accepted as true, ask better questions, and recognize when assumptions may be shaping what they notice, what they overlook, and the decisions they make.
The goal isn't to eliminate assumptions. It's to get better at recognizing when they are limiting our possibilities.
One of my favorite examples happened during a closed-door leadership meeting.
A group of experienced leaders was discussing employees and their readiness for advancement. But there was a name that wasn’t being discussed. When I asked why…
Everyone seemed to agree. He wasn’t ready for promotion. But they couldn’t articulate... Why?
So I started asking questions.
How was he performing? Strong.
How were his client relationships? Strong.
Was he meeting the expectations of his current role? Yes.
Was there a specific skill, behavior, or performance issue that would prevent him from succeeding at the next level?
No one could identify one.
As we kept talking, something became clear.
They didn’t have evidence that he wasn’t ready.
They had an assumption.
By the end of the discussion, his name was not just discussed, he ultimately received the promotion.
Nothing about his performance changed during that meeting. What changed was the willingness to question something that they had already accepted as true.
That moment captures what Rethink Obvious means to me. Sometimes better leadership doesn’t start with having a better answer.
It starts with questioning the answer everyone thinks they already know.
For much of my career, I assumed the challenges I experienced while climbing through construction were simply part of my individual journey.
I watched opportunities go to other people. I received feedback that didn’t always seem to match what I was seeing around me. So I did what a lot of people do: I worked harder, adapted, figured things out, and kept climbing.
Then I moved into executive leadership and got to see the climb from a completely different perspective.
I was no longer only experiencing decisions about development, readiness, and advancement. I was sitting in the rooms where those decisions were being made.
That changed everything.
I began recognizing patterns behind experiences I had once considered isolated. I saw how communication, relationships, perceptions, and bias could influence who received information, who gained access to opportunities, who was viewed as ready, and ultimately who advanced.
That realization led me to start looking at leadership development differently. Over time, it became the foundation for OneLadder to Leadership and my Notice – Question – Rethink framework.
Today, my work helps leaders recognize assumptions and rethink what’s possible.
Question the assumptions behind your most important decisions.
Barb’s flagship keynote applies the Notice. Question. Rethink. framework to the people and operational situations leaders face—from talent and succession, to risk, productivity, innovation, and client relationships.
Through honest stories, practical insight, and unexpected humor, Barb challenges audiences without making them feel judged—and changes how they see familiar situations and what they do next.
The climb isn’t the same for everyone. It’s time to build a ladder that is.
We often talk about the path to leadership as though it is both clear and the same for everyone. It isn’t.
Based on Barb’s book, OneLadder to Leadership, this keynote uses the framework of Missing, Broken, Sticky, and Slippery Rungs to show how communication, networking, perceptions of readiness, and bias can shape each person’s climb in different ways.
Through personal stories and practical insight, Barb helps leaders and climbers recognize when one of those rungs is affecting their own progress or someone else’s, understand what is getting in the way, and gain tools they can use to begin repairing it effectively.
There is more to her story. There is more to yours.
When information is missing, we fill in the blanks—and the stories we create can quickly begin to feel like facts. We tell ourselves stories about why another woman does not like us, why she has it easier, or why we do not measure up.
Through honest, deeply personal stories, Barb invites women to question the assumptions they make about one another and the lives they see from the outside. Audiences leave encouraged to replace judgment and comparison with curiosity and grace—and practice the vulnerability that creates more honest connection.
Leadership ladders are designed to provide a clear path for people as they advance in their careers. But what if the ladder isn’t the same for everyone? In predominantly male industries, many women encounter rungs that are Missing, Broken, Sticky,
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The obvious choice may be limiting what’s possible. On Constructive Behaviors, conversations with people inside and outside construction challenge assumptions, shift perspective, and help us see work, leadership, and the people around us differently.
Listen NowOne of my favorite examples happened during a closed-door leadership meeting.
A group of experienced leaders was discussing employees and their readiness for advancement. But there was a name that wasn’t being discussed. When I asked why…
Everyone seemed to agree. He wasn’t ready for promotion. But they couldn’t articulate... Why?
So I started asking questions.
How was he performing? Strong.
How were his client relationships? Strong.
Was he meeting the expectations of his current role? Yes.
Was there a specific skill, behavior, or performance issue that would prevent him from succeeding at the next level?
No one could identify one.
As we kept talking, something became clear.
They didn’t have evidence that he wasn’t ready.
They had an assumption.
By the end of the discussion, his name was not just discussed, he ultimately received the promotion.
Nothing about his performance changed during that meeting. What changed was the willingness to question something that they had already accepted as true.
That moment captures what Rethink Obvious means to me. Sometimes better leadership doesn’t start with having a better answer.
It starts with questioning the answer everyone thinks they already know.
For much of my career, I assumed the challenges I experienced while climbing through construction were simply part of my individual journey.
I watched opportunities go to other people. I received feedback that didn’t always seem to match what I was seeing around me. So I did what a lot of people do: I worked harder, adapted, figured things out, and kept climbing.
Then I moved into executive leadership and got to see the climb from a completely different perspective.
I was no longer only experiencing decisions about development, readiness, and advancement. I was sitting in the rooms where those decisions were being made.
That changed everything.
I began recognizing patterns behind experiences I had once considered isolated. I saw how communication, relationships, perceptions, and bias could influence who received information, who gained access to opportunities, who was viewed as ready, and ultimately who advanced.
That realization led me to start looking at leadership development differently. Over time, it became the foundation for OneLadder to Leadership and my Notice – Question – Rethink framework.
Today, my work helps leaders recognize assumptions and rethink what’s possible.
Question the assumptions behind your most important decisions.
Barb’s flagship keynote applies the Notice. Question. Rethink. framework to the people and operational situations leaders face—from talent and succession, to risk, productivity, innovation, and client relationships.
Through honest stories, practical insight, and unexpected humor, Barb challenges audiences without making them feel judged—and changes how they see familiar situations and what they do next.
The climb isn’t the same for everyone. It’s time to build a ladder that is.
We often talk about the path to leadership as though it is both clear and the same for everyone. It isn’t.
Based on Barb’s book, OneLadder to Leadership, this keynote uses the framework of Missing, Broken, Sticky, and Slippery Rungs to show how communication, networking, perceptions of readiness, and bias can shape each person’s climb in different ways.
Through personal stories and practical insight, Barb helps leaders and climbers recognize when one of those rungs is affecting their own progress or someone else’s, understand what is getting in the way, and gain tools they can use to begin repairing it effectively.
There is more to her story. There is more to yours.
When information is missing, we fill in the blanks—and the stories we create can quickly begin to feel like facts. We tell ourselves stories about why another woman does not like us, why she has it easier, or why we do not measure up.
Through honest, deeply personal stories, Barb invites women to question the assumptions they make about one another and the lives they see from the outside. Audiences leave encouraged to replace judgment and comparison with curiosity and grace—and practice the vulnerability that creates more honest connection.