“In today’s culture of fear, living bravely
is indispensable for living well.”
Hi, I’m Margie
I spent my entire childhood in the Aussie bush, yet I’ve spent much of my adult life living beyond Australian shores. In my early 30’s I did a career pivot and have been working in personal and leadership development ever since – as a coach, facilitator, author, speaker and media contributor.
While I have a masters in leadership and organizational change and PhD in human development, I’m much more of a ‘pracademic’, energized by helping people connect head and heart to take braver action, pursue a bolder vision and live into their fullest potential. I’m also a mother of four, women’s leadership advocate and amateur barista with a love of adventure.
You can download my official bio here. If you’d like to learn more about my journey – with a few pics from the storybook of my life – you can scroll down!
This is My Story
Lets start at the beginning – with the forces that have shaped and inspired me…. starting on the small dairy farm where spent my first 18 years.
My dad milked cows for nearly 50 years. My mum made a leap of faith from being a nun in a convent to the wife of a farmer and, eventually, a mother of seven. I was the big sister in our big family…
Growing up on a farm taught me a lot about risk, resilience, feeling fear but saddling up anyway.
An important lesson I learned:
Growth and comfort can’t ride the same horse.
My dad thought I’d be a great nun… “Sister Margaret Mary”. We agreed to disagree. While I didn’t feel called to the convent, I felt pulled to expand my horizons beyond the Aussie bush. At 18, I left home for college. The first in my family to go to university. That path less travelled made all the difference.
If you only stick with what’s comfortable, you’ll never know what’s possible.
After graduating, I spread my wings further – with a year backpacking around the world. That first trip emboldened future ones- crossing the Sahara, across Africa, South America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Highlights included swimming with piranhas in the Amazon, staying in Palestinian refugee camps, hiking in Nepal and cycling across Beijing.
What inspired my travels? A curiosity to understand the world and cultural forces that shape our lives. I met many people and arrived at the conclusion that we are far more alike than we are different.
Most people live in a restricted circle of their full
potential, hemmed in by untested beliefs and fears.
Returning to Australia, I began my ‘professional career’ – at BP and then at KPMG in Melbourne, Australia. This early chapter was rich in learning.
Newly married, Andrew and I set off to work in Papua New Guinea. While it was the most dangerous country outside a war zone at that time, we were up for the adventure.
I worked in marketing by day and joined a theatre troupe by night. We explored PNG’s rich culture on weekends, climbing its tallest peak, Mt Wilhem (15,000 ft).
My three years in PNG were rich personal growth. I was held up at gunpoint. Lost my first baby. Confronted insecurities, discovered new talents, reset my sails on a new path.
I returned to part-time study… first psychology… then coaching… then (much later) a masters in Leadership & Organizational Change and PhD.
Over the next five years, I moved house 4x, country 2x times… in between having children.
The situations which test us the most, teach us the most.
A month after 9/11, our family moved from Australia to Dallas with 3 kids under 3. I had my share of long days and disrupted nights. Eighteen months later we welcomed a baby Texan to complete our family… four kids in 5 years… it was a happy chaos.
I launched my coaching business in Dallas. While I knew nearly no-one and little about building a coaching business, my passion made up for my lack of network and knowledge.
I began speaking anywhere that would have me… my first talk was at my kid’s pre school. Humble beginnings. I also started writing my first book despite feeling utterly inadequate.
In 2005 we moved to McLean, Virginia. I continued speaking and running leadership programs with organizations like NASA. When Find Your Courage came out, I did my first local TV interview… and then my second… and eventually with CNN, Today Show, Fox, MSNBC…
You have no idea what you can do if you don’t dare to put yourself out there.
It was a rewarding and busy period… but it had its heartache.
In 2008 my brother Peter took his life after a long battle with mental illness. Two years later my brother Frank suffered a spinal injury that left him with paraplegia. While these events rocked my world, they deepened my appreciation for the gift of life. Amid the tears I resolved to honor the life that Peter never got to live.
To live fully we must feel fully. When we don’t allow ourselves to feel life’s lowest notes, we cut ourselves off from the high notes.
Then, in 2011, Andrew was ‘asked’ to move back to Australia by his employer. Moving our four kids (aged 8-13) across the world held an unsought lesson on embracing change….
Life isn’t linear. By learning it’s curves, you discover it’s gold.
My five years back in Australia gifted me with time with my family along with many rich experiences and a few scraped knees.
I wrote three more books. Became ‘Resident Coach’ on Australia’s #1 talk show. Ran women leadership retreats. Failed to successfully launch RawCourage TV but interviewed extroardinary leaders across many spheres.
Parenting from faith, not fear, has guided me in giving my kids deep roots, strong wings and responsibility to use their gifts for good. Our family vacations were never restful but always adventurous. We climbed Mt Kilimanjaro, raising money for children in Kibera, Africa’s largest slum. While there, I ran a women’s workshop. Empowering women has long been a cause close to my heart.
Then…another ‘plot twist’ to the story of my life… instead of returning to America as per my plan, Andrew was moved to Asia.
Out came the boxes… again…this time, bound for Singapore. Since my two oldest had returned to the US to study. Parenting kids over two continents became even harder.
In every adversity lies the seed of equal or greater benefit. But you have to look for the seed. Water it. And wait…patiently.
I accrued many air miles based in Asia… and finished my PhD (my dissertation was in women’s leadership)… and launched my Live Brave podcast…and wrote You’ve Got This! because it was the book I needed to read.
And then… the pandemic… border closures… kids kicked out of dorms 10,000 miles away… hubby one of Singapore’s first Covid-19 patients. As I shared on CNN from quarantine,
When all we do is focus on what scares us, the more scared we become.
In late 2020 a series of miracles parted the pandemic waters to relocate back to the US. Landing back on the same continent as my kids was pure joy. Amid the events of January 2021, I may have been the most grateful person to be living in America.
In 2021, I joined Korn Ferry as a Senior Partner in the CEO & Enterprise Leadership Institute, partnering with boards on CEO succession for some of the world’s largest organizations. During my 3+ years at Korn Ferry, I gained invaluable insights into the dynamics of the c-suite and the forces that can derail quality decision making. This experience reinforced my conviction in the importance of fostering a courage mindset among senior leaders and cultivating forward leaning cultures which unleash bold thinking and brave action.
Leaders who’ve not confronted their insecurities will be governed by their fears, not their values, making everyone less secure.
I’m privileged to advise bipartisan Chiefs in the US Congress, support political leaders in burgeoning democracies and serve on advisory boards focused on advancing women in leadership and improving education globally.
My book The Courage Gap has been inspired by my belief that living bravely is indispensible for living well. Amid the dangers and challenges of this time, within us lays the courage to meet them and, together, to create a future even better than the past.
I hope you’ll join me.
