Off the Beaten Path.

That is not just the name. It is how I work.

I am a little quirky. I will own that upfront.

I have a skull made of shells sitting next to my desk. His name is Russel, and, to be honest, he is not a very good assistant. I love stuffed animals. I love tattoos. And I created a leadership coloring book series because I got tired of watching people fall asleep during training and decided to do something about it. If that already tells you something about how I approach leadership development, and maybe life…then good. You are paying attention!

I built OTBP Consulting (Off the Beaten Path) fourteen years ago, and the name was intentional. I have never been interested in the standard path. The standard path is what gives us avoidant leaders, toxic cultures, and organizations that keep scheduling the same ineffective training year after year while wondering why nothing changes.

My career has taken me through places where leadership actually matters in life-or-death ways. I managed disaster response teams for the American Red Cross. I worked with organizations serving active duty military and their families. I built HR and operational systems from the ground up at a tech startup. I have led volunteers through chaos, managed multi-state regions, and sat across from boards who needed someone to finally say the uncomfortable thing out loud. I have seen what good leadership builds and what bad leadership destroys. Not in theory. In real rooms, with real people, and real consequences.

I have also been on the receiving end of exactly what I fight against.

Early in my career, I was in an HR role when a leader decided that the law was more of a suggestion than a requirement. A woman on maternity leave. A boss who would not leave her alone despite being told clearly that he could not contact her about work. He found her personal number and kept calling until she answered. When I told him that it could not happen again, he fired her. Then he came for me. I lost that job for doing it right. That experience did not discourage me. It clarified everything. I never want someone else to go through that alone, and I never want a leader to think that kind of behavior is something they can just get away with.

I have also watched bad leadership play out at the highest levels. I once watched a board decide to remove a CEO (which is sometimes the right call), but they executed it in the most damaging way imaginable.

Public.
Humiliating.
Security called.
At a company-wide conference.
On day one.

Yup. The rest of the conference dissolved into gossip and side conversations. Morale didn’t just dip, it cratered. The CEO went on to build something of her own. The organization was left to clean up a mess that never should have happened. That is what happens when the people in charge of accountability have no idea how to use it well.

That is the work I do. I help leaders get better before the damage is done. And when the damage is already done, I help organizations figure out how to fix it rather than duct-tape it together.

I believe leadership development should be real, practical, and honestly a little fun. That is not a contradiction. I think creativity unlocks things that a PowerPoint deck never will. My leadership coloring book series — books like Dinosaurs Make Bad Leaders and The Butterfly Effect of Good Leadership — exist because growth does not have to be stiff and lifeless to be serious. They work for individual leaders who want to think differently and for teams who need a real conversation starter that doesn’t feel like punishment.

OTBP Consulting and this Substack are for anyone who wants to be a better leader.

For managers stepping into leadership for the first time.
For seasoned leaders who know something is broken and are ready to stop pretending otherwise.
For organizations that want to develop their people in ways that actually stick.

I am sarcastic. I get things done. I love to see people succeed.
And I will tell you the truth even when it is uncomfortable, because that is the job.

If you are ready for that, you are in the right place.

🦋🦖🐧🦁👾

𝘋𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘉𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘎𝘰 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩.