Who is talking?

Mary Schaefer first leadership experience was managing a team of fellow teens, picking melons and tomatoes on her family farm.

Fast forward… in her corporate career she started out as a computer programmer. Computers were so new in the workplace in the Eighties. She really liked helping people feel confident as quickly as possible when they were worried about looking stupid or breaking the machine.

She loves helping people at work to get along better, enjoy their work more, develop, succeed and thrive. She decided the best place to help people this way was to go into Human Resources. Getting her Master’s in HR helped her change direction, and now she was in a better position to be in-the-know about how things really work in an organization.

Even before she got her first HR assignment she found people came to her for help with improving their chances of getting promoted, discussing their performance appraisals, posting for new assignments, and maneuvering office politics and difficult conversations. She rounded off her 20-year corporate career as an HR Manager serving a constituency of over 550 employees. She keep up with her former cohorts, and of course, her clients help her keep her coaching and training grounded in the reality of the workplace.

What is she talking about?

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Mary’s interest in the dynamics of humans at work started while working on her family’s farm in southern Indiana. As the principal of her own business, Artemis Path, Inc., Mary is a coach, trainer, and consultant specializing in talent development, change management, and workplace interactions. Her clients include Fortune 500 companies and local businesses. Mary has a Master’s degree in HR, and is certified as a Professional in Human Resources (PHR). Previously, she was a corporate employee at DuPont as an HR Manager where she worked for 20 years. While at DuPont Mary was the recipient of The Crystal Award, designed to recognize “champions of people.” Mary applies her fierce idealism to create work cultures where organizations and human beings can both thrive. She publishes on this topic and more at maryschaefer.com and leadchangegroup.com. Mary is the co-author of the book, “The Character-Based Leader.”