Here’s a bit about me.   Scroll down to see my traditional bio and coaching credentials.

I transformed my own work life.

It was 1996 when I first felt that my Human Resources career had stalled.  I had the sense that there was something else I could be doing, but I had no inkling what that might be.  I read “What Color Is My Parachute?”, did some networking and found no easy answers.  I became overwhelmed with the idea of reinventing myself so I went out and found another HR job.

While that job was going well, my “stalled out” dialogue was put on hold.  Then the job got frustrating (surprise, surprise) and my intuition came back even stronger.   There is something else I should be doing.

Despite growing clarity that I needed to take a leap of faith, it was still too scary to actually do it.  I took yet another HR job.  It was in this job that I had an epiphany:  I was made Vice-President and it couldn’t have mattered less.  I was proud of the promotion, but it felt hollow. I was thirty-one years old and totally lost.

Luckily, fate intervened and I was laid off in 2002.  I decided never to take a full-time HR job again.

In 2003 I started my coaching practice and took HR consulting work to keep money coming in.   Finally, in 2008, twelve years after that initial pang of wanderlust, I left the HR world and committed to my coaching practice full-on.  And as happy as I am as a coach, I know that my next professional transformation is already underway.

I said “No” to an arranged marriage.

When I was 20, my mom asked me if I’d like to marry a lawyer or a doctor.  This was the beginning of an agonizing arc of conversations about the most important decision in my life.  I wanted my freedom, to make decisions the “American” way.  My parents wanted to preserve the Indian tradition which they believed was in my best interest.  Walking away from tradition and my parents’ expectations wasn’t easy, but I also knew it was the right choice for me and found the courage to act on that instinct.

I believe in whole systems thinking.

In order to have more satisfaction in any one area of your life, you must look at your whole life.  Creating momentum in one part of your life can feed growth and inspiration in another.  Mind, spirit and body influence and are influenced by each other.  Logic, planning and linear thinking are strengthened by art, music, body movement, metaphor, improvisation and stillness.

I’m an Improviser-Planner

I love both spontaneity and planning, keeping my options open and coming to closure.  In Myers-Briggs terms, I’m right on the line between J and P.  I studied improv for a year with Holly Mandel of Improvolution and I use  improvisational techniques in my life every day.  Here’s an example.

Coaching Cred

Madhu Krishnappa Maron, ACC, is a Certified Professional Coach who’s been practicing since 2003.   She is credentialed as an Associate Certified Coach by the International Coach Federation and is a graduate of the Coaching for Transformation program at the New York Open Center.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan and is a qualified administrator of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. In addition to coaching with individual clients, she leads workshops across the country and is on the faculty of the New York Open Center and Leadership That Works.

Prior to becoming a coach, Madhu spent seventeen years as a Human Resources professional, working with The Associated Press, Standard & Poor’s, Henry Ford Health System, the New York City Economic Development Corporation and other organizations. In her HR life, she developed and led workshops on managing people, delivering powerful feedback and developing productive teams. In 2002, Madhu left her full-time HR career to follow her passion, creating a fulfilling life coaching practice while juggling the demands of motherhood.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Madhu now makes her home in the Bronx, New York with her husband, young son and calico cat.