ABOUT

Ochre Way blends sustainability, neuroscience, and narrative strategy to help leaders and organizations think clearly, navigate complexity, and focus on what matters most. The work sits at the intersection of organizational strategy, leadership development, and long-horizon resilience, supporting teams as they align direction, strengthen culture, and make decisions support long-term organizational health.

The approach is people-centered and grounded in real-world experience across public, corporate, and mission-driven environments. Each engagement distills complexity into practical frameworks, strengthens communication, and helps leaders create structures that support both performance and well-being.

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CONSULTING
Strategic support for organizations shaping their next chapter.

Consulting work centers on organizational clarity: understanding dynamics, refining structures, and aligning people around shared purpose. Engagements draw on systems thinking, environmental insight, and leadership expertise to help teams prioritize effectively and move forward with confidence.

Using tools such as diagnostics, alignment sessions, role clarity frameworks, and developmental assessments, the work identifies strengths, surfaces friction, and supports focused action. Areas such as succession planning, team development, and structural refinement are approached with both practicality and long-term perspective.

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COACHING
A structured, insight-driven space for leadership growth.

Coaching creates room for reflection, clarity, and forward movement. Over a twelve-session process, leaders define aspirational goals, examine patterns, and build strategies to reach the next level of impact. The approach integrates neuroscience, communication science, and positive developmental models to support sustainable growth.

Optional 360 interviews provide deeper perspective, uncover narrative themes, and guide developmental priorities. Sessions are paced to maintain momentum and support leaders navigating complex environments.

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MEETING FACILITATION
Facilitation that brings clarity, alignment, and grounded decision-making.

Effective facilitation is central to how organizational progress is made. Sessions are designed to surface what is often left unsaid, clarify competing priorities, and help groups navigate high-stakes moments with clarity and confidence.

Whether guiding strategic planning, supporting leadership teams through complex discussions, or helping departments recalibrate expectations, facilitation creates the structure needed for insight, alignment, and actionable next steps.

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CLARIFYING DOCUMENTS
Translating insight into tools that accelerate progress.

Clarifying documents serve as strategic anchors — helping leaders step back, synthesize complexity, and communicate with consistency. These tools bring structure to moments of uncertainty and support execution across teams. Work includes transition guides, role profiles, benchmarking reports, communication strategies, decision frameworks, strategic plans, and sustainability-informed roadmaps. Each document is co-developed with clients to ensure clarity, alignment, and practical application.

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SUSTAINABILITY & RESILIENCE
Integrating environmental insight with long-term organizational health.

Sustainability shapes how organizations think about risk, resilience, and strategic direction. Informed by training at the Yale School of the Environment and experience across hydropower modernization, regenerative food systems, and energy strategy, this work brings an environmental lens to organizational planning. The focus is on long-horizon thinking, ethical impact, and connecting sustainability goals with role design, culture, and communication — ensuring organizations are not only environmentally responsible but structurally sound and future-ready.

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NEUROSCIENCE
A practical lens for understanding how people think, adapt, and lead.

Neuroscience offers insight into how the brain responds to uncertainty, change, and information overload. This foundation informs how strategies are designed, how transitions are paced, and how teams communicate under pressure. The lens helps identify where engagement is strong, where resistance is emerging, and what conditions support clarity, trust, and sustained momentum across the organization.

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NARRATIVE STRATEGY
Story as a tool for alignment, meaning, and direction.

Narrative is how people make sense of complexity. In times of transition or ambiguity, leaders benefit from a clear story: what is changing, why it matters, and how people fit into the future. This work surfaces the informal narratives already shaping culture — the assumptions, beliefs, and interpretations that influence behavior. From there, language is crafted that reflects direction, aligns teams, and builds shared understanding.

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Kate Carman

PRINCIPAL & EXECUTIVE COACH

Overview
Kate Carman is a strategy and change leader with more than fifteen years of experience guiding executives, teams, and organizations through pivotal transitions. Her work spans leadership development, organizational alignment, and enterprise transformation. She focuses on clarifying strategy, strengthening communication, and aligning people and structures so leaders can navigate complexity and move forward with purpose. Kate has supported clients across sectors including Fortune 500 companies, federal agencies, regional governments, startups, and mission-driven organizations.

Approach
Kate is known for combining structured frameworks with the ability to read context and surface what matters. She integrates neuroscience, systems thinking, and narrative tools to identify patterns, clarify priorities, and support effective decision-making. Her coaching and advisory work has supported senior executives and emerging leaders through succession, strategic shifts, and rapid organizational change. She has designed and delivered leadership programs, guided multi-agency initiatives, and helped organizations strengthen communication and alignment in high-stakes environments.

Experience
Before founding Ochre Way, Kate held senior roles at Korn Ferry and Sapere Consulting, where she led large-scale leadership initiatives, developed programs for global executives, and helped expand emerging service areas. Earlier in her career, she worked in sustainability and organizational development, including helping transition her family’s ranch into a leading grass-fed beef operation in the Pacific Northwest. She began her career at Human Rights Watch, supporting a team of advocates recently recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize, where she received formative mentorship in the complexity of global systems change and its profound life-changing and life-saving impact.

Education
Kate holds a master’s degree from the Yale School of the Environment, where she focused on green business, innovation, and environmental history. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English and Political Science from Oregon State University, where she was the inaugural recipient of the College of Liberal Arts Award for Leadership in Social Change. She is certified in Brain-Based Coaching through the NeuroLeadership Institute, Prosci Change Management, and Korn Ferry Leadership Architecture.