Lisa was born in Pittsburgh, PA in November of '45. For five years, because of her father’s work, her family lived in the Midwest. Lisa always felt that living in the Midwest was dreary and lonely, only moderated by summers in central PA where there was green, spaciousness, and extended family. At six years old she contracted chickenpox, mumps, measles, and scarlet fever, missing 80 out of 180 days of school. For Lisa, it was a long, lonely year, and as a result of all that missed school, Lisa taught herself to read. To this day, she takes pride in being one of the fastest and best readers she knows.
A graduate of Bennington College, Marshall is certified by the International Coaching Federation, and she has received additional certification in Conversation-Based Assessment™, Syntax Communication Modeling, Newfield’s Ontological Coaching, and William Bridge’s Transition Management. Prior to entering the business world, Marshall spent twelve years working as a documentary filmmaker. It is from that background that her fascination with story, and its power to transform real-life lives, took hold.
Lisa is a nationally recognized expert, trainer, and speaker on leadership maturity and organizational development, and president of her executive coaching firm, The Smart Work Company. Marshall founded The Smart Work Company to help leaders develop critical communication and collaboration skills. For over twenty years, her seminars and trainings have offered executives a creative way to become more self-aware and tap into their potential through the power of story. She has coached individuals and teams at such firms as NASA, Intel, USDA, and Taiwan Semiconductor. Lisa is the author of Speak the Truth and Point to Hope: The Leader's Journey to Maturity and her recent release is Yin: Completing the Leadership Journey.
On becoming a business coach Lisa states, “I realized that coaching was a much more effective way to improve people skills than training. And then the people I worked with kept getting promoted....so I ended up doing a lot of leadership and executive coaching.” One factor that helped was that her dad was in industrial advertising and strategic planning. She grew up around those conversations, and could easily transition engineer clients into thinking about business issues and long-range planning.
Lisa is now a fierce elder and grandmother, who aspires to be a good ancestor. She lives with her husband on the Yin side of First Mountain, part of the ancient mountains that run along the eastern side of the U.S in central Pennsylvania. She has set up her schedule to have “off” and “on” work weeks. During “on” weeks she'll talk to clients from about 11:00 to 4:00 for several days. “Off” weeks find her focusing on the family including her youngest grandson. She is fascinated by the idea of learning to listen to the natural world as well as she listens to her clients. Lisa understands the power of story, and that stories live in our bodies. And she is deeply committed to the idea that our purpose in life is always, whatever path we take, to grow up, to mature, to become an elder.
