All Certified NeuroTransformational Coaches have first completed a recognized coach training program* before completing all four modules of BEabove Leadership’s Neuroscience, Consciousness and Transformational Coaching, a total of over 81 classroom hours (in addition to their core coach training). Upon completion of these modules, our certified coaches have then completed a rigorous Certification Program, which includes additional reading, review, coaching supervision and feedback. At the end of this program, they must pass a comprehensive written test (essay format) covering key neuroscience topics, as well as a one-to-one interview and coaching proficiency test. We’re very proud to recommend all our CNTCs as transformational coaches and experts in the neuroscience of human development. *in some rare cases, they may instead be trained as therapists — see individual information for more detail.
Since the company’s founding in 2004, Cornelia has spent nearly two decades collaborating with elite athletic coaches, forward-thinking executives, industry leaders, and pioneering educators to address leadership and team effectiveness. She brings an analytic rigor and a mindful presence to the complex problems facing her clients by coaching them to link behaviors to culture design and performance outcomes. Cornelia coaches and consults clients at all levels of an organization—from board members to first line leaders. Her work includes coaching in leadership development; workshops in diversity, equity and inclusion; advancing women and underrepresented minority leaders; and facilitating organizational change management. She leads behavior change initiatives inside organizations, which clients consistently describe as transformational. Cornelia is recognized for her expertise in equipping leaders to develop mindset and behavior changes required to effect lasting culture transformation, value creation, process adoption, and performance optimization.
Drawing on her extensive educational background and experience, Cornelia has worked with clients in a wide variety of industries including Olympic and U.S. national athletics; globally renowned boarding schools and universities; national not-for-profits; and top-10 tech and private wealth management firms. Applying the Mindful Warrior Culture Design model, Cornelia helps her clients to devise and deploy innovative business solutions as they build behavioral neuroscience-informed sustainable management systems. She has deep experience in advancing performance objectives and enhancing operational excellence at individual, team, and organizational levels.
Integrity and innovation are in Cornelia’s DNA—her work ethic is fueled by her visionary spirit. Cornelia grew up in her great-grandparents’ house in Lincoln, Massachusetts. She is inspired by her eponymous great-grandmother, Cornelia James Cannon, who was an author and social reformer and her great grandfather, Harvard Medical School Professor Walter Bradford Cannon, the visionary physician-researcher who coined the term “fight or flight response” and developed the concept of homeostasis. Cornelia credits her penchant for developing cutting-edge techniques that advance purpose-driven excellence to her forebears—a lineage of New England academics, doctors, and lawyers also celebrated for their athletic achievements.
Cornelia inherited a love of athletics and began ski racing when she was six years old. She won a NCAA Division II giant slalom ski racing title but, at the age of 21, was gravely injured in a ski accident. Challenged by a traumatic brain injury, she spent the next decade studying and healing her central nervous system. Seeking an in-depth understanding of the intersection between the Eastern and Western wisdom traditions that supported her recovery, Cornelia earned a Master of Divinity degree from the Harvard Divinity School (HDS) in 2003. She complemented her theological studies at HDS with graduate courses at Harvard Business School (HBS). As an extension of her studies at HBS, Cornelia worked for a year at The Bridgespan Group, a subsidiary of Bain & Company, where she was introduced to management consulting. Her interdisciplinary education sparked Cornelia’s desire to create a model for performance excellence that integrates mindfulness, elite athletic training techniques, business acumen, and emotional-spiritual intelligence.
During her tenure with USA Hockey, the women’s national team achieved its first-ever world No. 1 ranking. After the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and building on her work with the women’s national ice hockey team, Cornelia continued to develop leadership programs for emerging and established leaders. The Core Leadership California residential leadership programs which run on the campus of the Stevenson School in Pebble Beach, California are based on the Mindful Warrior pedagogy and approach. Cornelia is a certified Neurotransformational Coach, and will soon complete her training as a Co-Active Coach. She lives in Pebble Beach with her family.
Coaching includes identifying unconscious patterns, developing effective decision-making skills, discovering inefficiencies, recognizing opportunities to advance excellence, and collaborating with teammates to create new and better ways of behaving and working together. Our methods integrate the best in cutting-edge neuroscience-based coaching techniques with time-tested wisdom from eastern and western spiritual traditions.
Coaching is one of the most—if not the most—individually tailored practices in talent development. Coaches help you to achieve greater self-discipline and self-awareness, clarify goals, achieve your professional development objectives, and unlock your potential. Coaches also serve as respected and trained sounding boards so that you can clarify and solve your problems. We use strengths-based and weakness-based coaching methods to help you clarify and amplify your strengths while ensuring you are aware of and working to mitigate your weaknesses. We partner with employers to analyze and understand the measurable effect on their employees and business.