Testimonials

CC, Executive Leader

“Laurie Hillis has been a trusted executive and leadership coach for me and my executive teams for fifteen years. During my tenure as Associate Dean of the University of Alberta business school, Laurie’s management and leadership programs were consistently sold out and provided the utmost value to all levels of leaders in a broad swathe of industries and organizations. Laurie has my highest endorsement for her work, integrity and trusted advice.”

Dave Dominy

CEO, FIRMA Foreign Exchange Corporation

“The Harrison Assessment tool provides a range of useful data on individual strengths and weaknesses, levels of engagement, stress behaviors, and areas for improvement, all in the context of standard characteristics for a particular role. I’ve used it as a baseline analysis for performance management and coaching, particularly in identifying suitability to current role, ‘stress behaviors’ and specific development objectives.

When applied across a team, the ‘comparative’ and ‘role up’ features offer useful insights in to team dynamics and comparative thinking and decisions styles. Harrison Assessments are regularly conducted on all of our senior leadership teams as a ‘baseline’ input to regular performance appraisals.

Laurie has provided our company with outstanding input and guidance on leadership development for a number of years. She regularly employs Harrison data as a building block for ‘crucial conversations’ and has consistently held us accountable for specific outcomes using the tool’s framework. Her insightful, objective (for most of us) and candid counsel have helped elevate executive performance and made us a better company. Thanks Laurie!”

Larry Hulsmans

President, Reframe Leadership Inc.
Past Executive Director of Leadership at The Banff Centre

“I have known and worked with Laurie Hillis for more than 20 years. She is an outstanding facilitator and one of the most impactful and professional people I have ever met or worked with. She is a consummate learner and a true partner who is always increasing her knowledge and the impact that she creates I really cannot say enough about Laurie and her abilities. Anyone or any organization that gets to partner with Laurie will experience powerful change and results!”

Dr. Marvin Washington

Professor, Author, Consultant

“There aren’t enough superlatives to describe Laurie Hillis, the work she does, and the care she brings to her clients. Not only is she a master leadership development specialist, facilitator and coach, but she also brings tremendous depth and insights into her work when she facilitates Brené Brown’s materials or conducts individual assessments. It would be so easy in this business to just “parrot” what Brené Brown says, or to just read the assessment report. Laurie does more! Her insights, experiences, and expertise makes the material relatable, insightful, and meaningful! For as long as I have known her she has been my “go to person” with everything leadership development, assessments, and Brené Brown!”

Eva Van Krugel, ACC, CEC

Founder, Leadership & Team Coach l Facilitator
Fervor Leadership Coaching & Consulting

“I’ve had the true pleasure of connecting with Laurie Hillis through coaching and in powerful trainings she leads, such as Dare to Lead. In these experiences, Laurie brings an unparalleled wisdom, experience, presence and treasure chest of diverse, highly relevant resources. Learning with Laurie has deeply informed my growth and toolkit as a human, leadership coach and business owner. She is consistently ahead of the curve when it comes to what’s topical for leadership learning which offers significant value and impact for me, and in turn those I serve. She is highly strategic, creative, intuitive to the needs of others, sees to it each person feels authentically engaged in both coaching and in trainings – utterly top notch in adult learning and coaching. I hold immense appreciation for the gift that is Laurie in my journey and highly recommend her as a coach, coach Super-visor and any training or workshop you can participate in with her. She is world class and keeps me on my toes in the best way possible.”

Leona deVinne

Coach/Consultant CPCC, PCC

“I can honestly say that working with Laurie has changed my life. Laurie has gently held my feet to the fire to help me show up in my life and business as my best self. She hasn’t allowed me to shrink, hedge, or hide and has supported me to live a bolder life filled with greater vitality and integrity. As a direct result of our work together I launched a nonprofit (joysocks.ca) as well as exponentially grown my leadership coaching and consulting business (leonadevinne.com). Laurie holds more credentials than anyone I know and is incredibly generous with sharing her resources and knowledge. Laurie is nothing but amazing to work with.  Laurie is incredibly bright, wise and has such contagious wit. It is such an honour to have been supported for all these years by someone as magical as Laurie.”

VP Human Resources

Energy industry

“Laurie has provided leadership development to all of our leaders over the past two years. Laurie listens to our needs, creates a customized program and is a very flexible facilitator to change course when needed, while still delivering the content. The participants appreciate Laurie’s approach and expertise and the feedback on Laurie is very positive. She creates an inviting environment for participants to learn and develop.”

Dr. Lori Campbell

Principal, Colbourne Institute for Inclusive Leadership
Business Development | NorQuest College

“We have had the pleasure of partnering with Laurie Hillis to provide Dare to Lead™ training events since 2019. In addition to the exemplary high quality of her facilitation and the depth of her knowledge of Brené Brown’s theory and practice, Laurie is an excellent collaborator whose focus is always on the quality of the learning experience for her clients. We benefit from, and deeply appreciate her professionalism, her experience, and her engagement on how we can continuously improve the experience for our clients.”

Amolak Grewal

Founder & CEO
HumanEdge Executive Search Business

“Over many years I have seen Laurie’s empathetic, pragmatic approach to leadership development successfully build and strengthening trust between leaders and their teams. I highly recommend Laurie to any organization looking to improve the performance of their executives and leadership team.”

Peggy Smigarowski

Senior Manager, Human Resources
The Alberta New Home Warranty Group of Companies

“It gives me great pleasure to provide this testimonial for Laurie Hillis, Megatrain. Over the years Laurie has been my conscience and mentor; someone that keeps me on track both personally and professionally! We met 25+ years ago and immediately sought opportunities to work together in both volunteer and corporate capacities; a relationship that continues to flourish all these years later. Laurie has been instrumental in shaping my strengths, reducing my blind spots and helping be become more self-aware in my personal and business relationships. Along the way there have been surprising, rewarding and sometimes painful realizations, but Laurie’s upbeat candor, compassion, willingness to listen and depth of wisdom continue to make me a better person every day! I feel very fortunate to have participated in many of Laurie’s training sessions and look forward to reaping the benefits of her commitment to continuous learning in the future! I highly recommend Laurie for anyone seeking a difference maker; a coach that will hold you accountable for executing your initiatives, developing your people and increasing accountability at all levels of your organization!”