Women Igniting Leadership Lab · Executive Coaching

Some programs teach
leadership theory.We build leadership mastery.

Your leadership patterns are running the show — in every difficult conversation, every high-stakes decision, every moment that matters. Most leaders never see them clearly. This assessment changes that.

25+
years coaching
global leaders
5
continents of
leadership work
Harvard
adaptive leadership
framework
Free assessment · No account needed
Leadership Pattern Awareness

Five real leadership scenarios. Your instinctive responses. A personalized synthesis that names your pattern — strengths, shadows, and your developmental edge.

5scenarios
25minutes
Free 
Begin the assessment →
Confidential · Results are yours alone · No right answers
Sample scenario

"A trusted colleague tells you that you seem checked out in meetings lately — and it's making them hesitate to bring new ideas to you. You have, in fact, been dealing with a personal issue."

Scenario-based · individually tailored
Harvard adaptive leadership framework
AI-powered personalized analysis
Designed for senior leaders
NYC-based · Global reach

Developed by Dr. Kirsti Samuels, founder of KS Insight and the Women Igniting Leadership Lab — drawing on 25 years of leadership work across five continents, including constitutional processes in Somalia, Sudan, and Iraq.

"Kirsti's experience navigating conflict and complexity in some of the world's most challenging environments gives her a depth of practical wisdom that enriches everything she does."
Ron Heifetz Founder, Center for Public Leadership · King Hussein bin Talal Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School

You're good at this.
And something's still
not working.

Senior leaders — founders, executives, women navigating the upper reaches of organizations — who've hit a ceiling that skill and effort alone won't move.

"I'm the most senior woman in the room and I still don't feel like I fully belong at the table."

"I'm doing everything right and somehow not getting the recognition or the role."

"I know what needs to change in my organization. I don't know how to move it."

"I've made it this far on grit. I need a different kind of edge for what's next."

Your actual leadership pattern.
Not a type.
Not a score.

Real leadership situations. Your instinctive responses. A synthesis of what that reveals about how you lead when it counts.

Begin the assessment →
01
Your instinctive moves
What you optimize for under pressure — relationship, precision, speed, safety — and how consistently that pattern shows up across different situations.
02
What your pattern accomplishes
The real strengths your instincts create — what they protect, what they signal, and why they've worked as well as they have.
03
What it leaves unaddressed
The shadow of your strength — the systemic issues your pattern consistently misses, and why they keep resurfacing despite your best efforts.
04
Your developmental edge
The specific capability shift that would move you from managing the effects of a problem to changing the underlying dynamic that creates it.

A named pattern. Yours.

Specific, sometimes uncomfortable, always actionable. Not a personality type — a clear-eyed account of how you lead and what it costs.

Sample pattern synthesis

"You consistently choose moves that preserve relationships and maintain system stability, demonstrating sophisticated emotional intelligence and perceptiveness about what others need in the moment. Your core strength is creating psychological safety through empathetic response. However, this pattern creates a significant shadow: your drive to maintain relational harmony prevents you from addressing root causes and systemic dysfunction, leaving underlying problems to resurface. The developmental question is whether you can learn to use your exceptional relational awareness to surface and resolve systemic issues — rather than just managing their effects."

— Actual output from the Leadership Pattern Awareness assessment

The five scenarios cover:
Receiving tough feedback
Clarifying a colleague's confusion
Managing a public accusation
Navigating dysfunctional group dynamics
Restoring team perseverance

"I expected a quiz. I got a mirror."

Begin the free assessment →

Senior women across sectors.

Technology, healthcare, nonprofit, government — leaders navigating real complexity.

★★★★★

"The assessment named something I'd known was there but couldn't articulate. My coach used it as the entry point for everything we worked on — it gave us a shared language from the first session."

VP of Operations · Healthcare sector
★★★★★

"I expected a quiz. I got a mirror. The pattern synthesis was uncomfortably accurate — and that's exactly what made it useful. I shared it with my coach and we started immediately."

Executive Director · Nonprofit sector
★★★★★

"Seeing my shadow named clearly — not as a flaw but as the cost of a strength — changed how I understood what I actually needed to work on. That reframe was worth the whole engagement."

Senior Director · Technology sector

Assessment first.
Coaching when you're ready.

The assessment is yours to keep regardless of what comes next. Most leaders who take it want to talk about what they found.

Step 02 · When you're ready
02

Talk to a coach about what your pattern means

Bring your results. In 30 minutes, we'll unpack what your pattern means for the specific challenges you're navigating — and whether coaching is the right next step. A real conversation, not a sales call.

Complete the assessment first — your results are what make this conversation worth having.
Book a free 30-minute coaching conversation →
Women Igniting Leadership Lab

See your pattern.
Then decidewhat to do with it.

Your results belong to you. No one else sees them unless you choose to share them.

Begin the free assessment →
Free · ~25 minutes · Confidential · No account needed
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About you

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Your leadership goals

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Timing & fit

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