ABOUT
Ochre Way provides executive coaching and organizational consulting to help leaders find clarity amid complexity. The work brings together neuroscience, narrative, and the time-honored instinct to write our way into understanding, a sense-making tool rooted deep in our earliest wiring.
CONSULTING
Our consulting practice helps organizations clarify strategy, strengthen leadership, and align talent for what’s next. We use structured assessments, role profiling, and leadership diagnostics to surface what’s working, what’s missing, and where to focus. From succession planning to team development, we translate insight into action through tailored strategies that support growth, resilience, and readiness. Whether guiding a leadership transition or shaping an enterprise-wide shift, we bring the tools and perspective to move from complexity to clarity.
COACHING
Our coaching approach is structured, insight-driven, and focused on helping leaders unlock their best thinking. Through a twelve-session journey, we set aspirational goals, develop strategies and a plan to achieve them, and meet regularly to navigate challenges and build momentum. Coaching is solutions-focused, grounded in positive feedback and stretch goals, and designed to keep participants progressing toward meaningful outcomes. This process can be supported by verbal 360 interviews: confidential conversations with colleagues and stakeholders that surface nuanced feedback, reveal patterns, and provide a rich foundation for targeted development and reflection.
CLARIFYING DOCUMENTS
Our use of clarifying documents sets us apart. In environments where speed and reactivity dominate, we help leaders step back and clarify what is really happening. Together we co-create benchmarking reports, strategic plans, project charters, role profiles, transition roadmaps, and communication frameworks. These tools are designed to surface insight, align teams, and drive momentum where it counts. The goal is not just to document but to deepen understanding and support the shift from complexity to clarity.
NEUROSCIENCE
Neuroscience is a foundational element of our work. Understanding how the brain processes information, manages uncertainty, and responds to challenge allows us to design strategies and interactions that actually stick. Whether we’re supporting a leadership transition or navigating organizational change, we draw on the latest research to help clients shift from reactivity to intentionality. Our methods are built to lower threat responses, increase clarity, and prime the brain for insight and sustained behavior change.
MEETING FACILITATION
Facilitation is one of our core strengths. Clients consistently note our ability to navigate complexity, surface unspoken dynamics, and guide groups toward shared understanding. That’s not accidental—it’s the result of deep expertise in how people think, process, and relate under pressure. We use that knowledge to create the conditions for alignment and momentum, whether in a high-stakes strategy session or a candid team conversation. The result is a space where critical insights emerge, and people leave with clarity, ownership, and a path forward.
Kate Carman
MANAGING DIRECTOR & EXECUTIVE COACH
Overview
Kate Carman is a strategy and change leader with two decades of experience guiding executives, teams, and organizations through pivotal transitions. Her work spans leadership development, organizational design, and enterprise-level transformation, with a focus on aligning strategy, talent, and culture in high-stakes environments. She has worked across sectors, from Fortune 500s and federal agencies to startups and social impact organizations, helping clients navigate complexity, sharpen focus, and move forward with intention.
Approach
Kate is known for combining structured frameworks with deep contextual awareness. She integrates neuroscience, systems thinking, and narrative tools to surface patterns, clarify priorities, and enable strategic decisions. Her coaching and advisory work has supported CEOs, senior leaders, and emerging talent alike. She has helped scale consultancies, prepare founders for succession, and design coaching programs that improve leadership performance by 20 to 30 percent. Whether guiding a national strategy for a major federal infrastructure initiative or modernizing COVID protocols for a 700-person utility, Kate brings a grounded, forward-looking approach.
Experience
Prior to founding Ochre Way, Kate held senior roles at Korn Ferry and Sapere Consulting. She led multimillion dollar leadership initiatives, developed global programs for senior executives, and launched new service areas to expand market reach. Earlier in her career, she directed sustainability campaigns and helped transition her family ranch into one of the Pacific Northwest’s leading grass-fed beef operations. She began her career at Human Rights Watch, working alongside Nobel Peace Prize recipients, where she gained early exposure to the complexity and impact of large-scale change initiatives.
Education
Kate holds a master’s degree from the Yale School of the Environment, where she focused on green business and innovation, and an undergraduate degree in English and Political Science from Oregon State University. She is certified in Brain-Based Coaching through the NeuroLeadership Institute, Prosci Change Management, and Korn Ferry Leadership Architecture.