Athena Williams

CEO and Founder at Tenacious Leadership Institute
  • Claim this Profile
Contact Information
us****@****om
(386) 825-5501
Location
Los Angeles Metropolitan Area

Topline Score

Topline score feature will be out soon.

Bio

Generated by
Topline AI

5.0

/5.0
/ Based on 14 ratings
  • (14)
  • (0)
  • (0)
  • (0)
  • (0)

Filter reviews by:

Sharran Srivatsaa

I have worked with Athena during critical junctures and inflection points in my leadership career. During my role as President of a luxury real estate company, her coaching and guidance helped me step more fully into executive leadership. She helped me expand my thought leadership during a rapid high-growth period and build my tenacity so I could better manage the rapid change both professionally and personally. She also coached and worked with my leadership team on strategic planning strategies, executive development and increased collaboration across multiple locations. In another phase of my career, Athena worked with me as I prepared to sell my company and take on a leadership role in a new company. She helped me with transition planning and change management activities as I became part of the executive team in a much larger real estate firm (as President of the brokerage department of the company’s entire western region). Athena provided a unique approach to leadership—showing me how to communicate with my team more effectively, get buy-in for my ideas and manage ongoing change and growth through my transition. As an executive coach, Athena is extremely observant and attuned to my needs and personality. She is able to challenge my leadership in a highly productive way and is able to help create clarity and structure around complex and abstract leadership topics. She is an expert in strategic thinking and planning and a brilliant coach that provides gentle yet firm guidance. She helped me navigate ongoing change and other challenges and achieve many things both professionally and personally that I would not have been able to otherwise.

Megan Butts

I have been working with Athena since 2018 as I’ve served on various leadership teams. She worked closely with one of my teams to plan then implement a significant change in our operations that impacted every area of the business. Tailoring her leadership services to our group’s specific needs and demographics, she helped us think both strategically and innovatively so we could handle massive change and rapid growth. Athena brings a fresh perspective to leadership and to business. Her methods are both fun and challenging! Athena’s executive coaching, leadership programs and guidance brought our leadership team closer together. Through our work with her, our team: - Designed a powerful launch strategy complete with specific timelines so we could smoothly navigate the required change and its accompanying challenges. - Leveraged the wide experience, diverse thinking styles and key strengths of each person to solve problems and evaluate solutions at a higher capacity. - Navigated growth and its accompanying challenges by enhancing our leadership team’s cross-functional collaboration and leveraging each other's strengths. - Communicated and collaborated more effectively, implemented solutions more efficiently and ultimately reached our goals. In addition to the work with my leadership teams, Athena has also been instrumental in my own leadership growth. She has helped me improve my ability to collaborate with my team, deliver strong business results and reach all my individual and team goals. Her guidance and support have encouraged me to think

Mark Paul

I’ve had the privilege of working with Athena for nearly 10 years. Her coaching expertise and guidance have been instrumental in improving my leadership skills and decision-making abilities and supporting my overall professional growth. Her coaching has helped me build a more cohesive and high-performing team, and her guidance has helped shift our organizational culture to foster greater collaboration and innovation. She fully understands the context of my role and our organization’s vision, and she tailors her coaching approach accordingly. Working with Athena and going through her coaching program have been transformative for me as a leader. Her availability, responsiveness and ongoing support have been invaluable. Her work ethic, insightful coaching techniques, dedication to her clients, and unwavering commitment to their success make her an exceptional executive coach. I wholeheartedly recommend Athena and Tenacious Leadership Institutes’ coaching program to anyone looking to move their leadership to the next level!

You need to have a working account to view this content.
You need to have a working account to view this content.

Credentials

  • Positive Neuroplasticity Facilitator Certification
    Rick Hanson PHD
    Jan, 2017
    - Nov, 2024
  • Executive Leadership Assessment Certification
    Center for Creative Leadership
    Jan, 2015
    - Nov, 2024
  • Leadership Embodiment Coach Certification
    Leadership Embodiment
    Jan, 2014
    - Nov, 2024
  • Embodied Leadership Courses
    Strozzi Institute
    Jan, 2010
    - Nov, 2024
  • Training and Human Resource Management
    University of California
    Jan, 2003
    - Nov, 2024
  • Coach Certification
    Coach U, Inc.
    Jan, 1999
    - Nov, 2024

Experience

    • United States
    • Professional Training and Coaching
    • 1 - 100 Employee
    • CEO and Founder
      • 2000 - Present

      As Founder and CEO of Tenacious Leadership Institute, I work closely with executives and senior leaders to optimize their leadership so they can weather the storm without burning out. I help my clients rethink their leadership so they can pivot where it’s needed, have important conversations with their teams, make tough decisions, and feel re-inspired with their vision so they can get the results required in these difficult times. The results my clients achieve include: ✓ Optimal leadership performance without burning out ✓ Expertise handling disruptive change, uncertainty and resistance ✓ Much higher team engagement, productivity, innovation and retention ✓ Strategic solutions to organizational issues leading to sustainable results ✓ Creating bigger leadership visions and making greater organizational impact I’ve worked with 83,000+ leaders in large organizations worldwide, including Adobe, AMP, ANZ, Bank of America, Bayer, Charles Schwab, Cisco, Datacom, eBay, EPAM, Fujitsu, JP Morgan Chase, Meta, Microsoft, NASA, SAP, Stanford University, Siemens and Wells Fargo Bank. Here are a few highlights from recent client projects: ✓ Tech company increases productivity by 20% and generates quarterly cost savings of $848,000 ✓ Global software company creates thriving hybrid team and sees 16% increase in team productivity ✓ International manufacturing company increases productivity by 32% resulting in savings of $620,000 in 30 days With things breaking down in your organization, with old ways of working not working anymore, and with disruptive change and uncertainty being the norm, it’s time to rethink how you’re operating as a leader. If you’d like to find new ways to rethink your leadership so you can meet all your goals, please feel free to connect with me. I’m happy to offer you a complimentary 30-minute Strategy Session to discuss how you can optimize your leadership. You can DM me to set that up. Show less

    • United States
    • Higher Education
    • 700 & Above Employee
    • Leadership Facilitator and Executive Coach for Faculty and Staff
      • 2002 - 2008

      Worked closely with faculty and staff to build leadership capacity and manage university-wide changes Developed customized leadership development and coaching programs to develop change readiness, resilience and agility Worked with key leaders in the Stanford Medical School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Graduate School of Education and the School of Engineering Participants in program, reported the following results: ✓ Increased strategic and interdisciplinary thinking ✓ Better change management for large-scale initiatives ✓ Improved collaboration, communication and alignment ✓ Significant cost savings as they implemented the strategies we developed ✓ Stronger leadership to initiate new projects required If you want to learn how to manage the challenges you are facing as a leader, message me and we’ll schedule a time to talk about how you can do this. Show less

    • United States
    • Higher Education
    • 700 & Above Employee
    • Director, Leadership and Management Program
      • 2000 - 2002

      Directed and delivered Leadership and Management Program at UCSC Extension focused exclusively on high-tech and biotech leaders throughout Silicon Valley Involved in hiring and coaching of 12 instructors to ensure high quality program materials and delivery Participated as an instructive and executive coach to 30+ leaders in the program Delivered classes in leadership, management, strategic thinking, communication skills, influence skills, high-stakes presentations, talent development, employee engagement and HR management Several companies requested in-house programs for their companies as a result of this program Show less

    • United States
    • Software Development
    • 700 & Above Employee
    • Senior Program Leader
      • 1998 - 2000

      Produced strategic plans for business development opportunities including OEM and distribution agreements for deals ranging from $20M to $250M Negotiated and closed significant deals for the company; Led the deal team through to close Supported a large-scale change initiative after a series of acquisitions; Guided my own team as well as several other leaders to develop a change strategy, roll out change communications and guide their teams through significant change Managed the launch of Symantec Alliance Program with global partners in 14 countries Provided business development coaching and training to US sales team in 9 locations to support alliance program and ongoing OEM deals Created sales training tools for 200+ global sales associates including partners and VARs; Rolled out training program and received 92% satisfaction with material and delivery Show less

    • United States
    • Technology, Information and Media
    • 700 & Above Employee
    • Senior Learning and Development Leader
      • 1997 - 1998

      Developed robust training programs to rollout survey results to consultants and clients globally to support customer satisfaction and employee engagement research programs with budgets of $500K to $6.2M Delivered training to global clients such as Agilent, Fujitsu, HP, Cisco, Microsoft, Sun, Synopsys and Western Multiplex Developed and delivered training programs internally for researchers and account managers. Programs later became utilized by corporate headquarters for global training initiatives Managed content, documentation and delivery of technical training for staff and clients in North America, Europe and Japan Formerly Prognostics in Palo Alto, CA Show less

Education

  • Simmons College
    M.A., Organizational Sociology
  • Bentley College
    B.A., Economics
  • Harvard Medical School
    Post-Graduate, Resilience and Mind-Body Medicine

Community

You need to have a working account to view this content. Click here to join now