MBA
I understand organizations.
Strategy, finance, operations, and how decisions actually move through a company.
Executive Coaching · Leadership · Strategy
Leadership is a series of decisions. I help you make them well.
For leaders who are used to being the person everyone else relies on.
I'm Charity Russell — a nonprofit CEO, executive coach, and speaker with more than 20 years in leadership.
I work with capable leaders carrying consequential decisions, complex teams, and significant responsibility — and give them a confidential place to think clearly, challenge assumptions, and move forward with confidence.
20+Years in executive leadership
CEO$13M organization, nearly 180 employees
2×Titan 100 honoree, recognizing the Phoenix region's top 100 CEOs and C-level executives
MBAPlus M.A. in Human Services Counseling
Does this sound like you?
You don't need someone to tell you how to lead. You need somewhere to think.
You may be here because:
- You're carrying a decision you can't discuss with your team.
- You're leading people through change while managing your own uncertainty.
- Everyone expects you to know what comes next.
- You've reached a level where the decisions are less obvious and more consequential.
- You're successful — but you're questioning what the next version of success should look like.
The difference
Business strategy + human behavior + lived executive experience
“The MBA gave me strategy, finance, and how organizations actually move. The Master's in Human Services Counseling gave me trained insight into people and change. Most coaches have one of those. I use both in the same hour.”
M.A. Human Services Counseling
I understand people and change.
Trained insight into behavior, motivation, positive psychology, and the human side of transition.
20+ years leading
I understand what happens when theory meets Monday morning.
Nonprofit CEO, executive decisions, board pressure, and real organizational consequences.
The work
Three ways I work, one standard: direct conversation and measurable movement.
01
Executive coaching
A confidential one-to-one engagement over several months. We work the real agenda: the decisions in front of you, the relationships that determine whether they land, and the habits of thought that either sharpen or slow you.
02
Leadership development
For leaders and teams building capability, not just morale. Structured work on communication, delegation, accountability, and influence, drawing on Maxwell Leadership methodology and two decades of running organizations.
03
Personal & Professional Coaching
Career and life do not sit in separate files. When the question is direction, purpose, or the cost of how you are currently working, we address it directly — with counseling-trained practice, not platitudes.
For organizations
Leadership development isn't a soft benefit.
Strong leaders shape more than individual performance. They influence engagement, retention, culture, decision-making, and how the organization around them performs.
I partner with organizations to develop executives, leadership teams, and emerging leaders through coaching and customized leadership development grounded in both business strategy and human behavior.
70%
Gallup finds the manager accounts for roughly 70 percent of the variance in team engagement.
Source: Gallup, State of the American Manager
How I coach
“I think the greatest way to lead people is through questions.” — John Maxwell
I coach from a foundation of positive psychology, drawing out your strengths and the version of you that is already capable of the next level, so the answers that surface in our sessions feel like yours — because they are. My background running a federally funded organization at real scale shapes the questions I ask because I've wrestled with many of the same things from the other side of the table — people, priorities, pressure, and decisions without obvious answers. You leave with language for what is actually happening, a clear-eyed view of your own strengths, and a next action you arrived at yourself.
Together, we face what's ahead — I ask, you discover, and I hold the space with respect, care, and candor, no judgment.
What clients say
“Charity has a gift for asking the questions that get you unstuck. Session after session, I walked away with more clarity than I came in with — not because she told me what to think, but because she helped me think more clearly for myself.”
“She asks thoughtful, insightful questions that encourage growth, self-reflection, and meaningful progress. Rather than offering surface-level advice, she takes the time to truly understand the people she serves and helps them move forward with clarity and confidence.”
A place to start
Is coaching right for you?
A short guide to what coaching is, who it helps, and how to tell whether now is the right time. Download it and read it before we ever speak.
Start here
A 15-minute conversation, no charge
Bring the decision, the team problem, or the next move you have been carrying around. We will talk plainly about where you are, what is actually in the way, and whether coaching with me is the right instrument for it. If it is not, I will tell you that.
Charity@charityrussell.net