Karen White

Karen White – Where Product Thinking Meets Human Leadership

Most teams don’t get stuck because they lack strategy — they get stuck because old assumptions keep dictating new decisions. I’m usually invited in when something important is shifting: growth has outpaced structure, a business is redefining itself, or a leadership team senses that “what worked before” isn’t enough anymore.

Experience

I’ve spent more than 25 years inside organizations that were actively being built — not just managed. Startups, scale-ups, and mission-driven companies have been my operating environment, often in moments of rapid change or high stakes. My career has spanned product leadership, operations, and cross-functional executive roles, with chapters at organizations like Khan Academy, Edelman Financial Engines, WePay, GreenRoad, Picaboo, and PayCycle.

Coaching Foundation

My coaching approach blends formal training with decades of real-world leadership experience. I help leaders notice what they’ve stopped questioning — especially about their own habits, beliefs, and behaviors-- so that they can lead with courageous presence when decisions carry real consequence. I am a Certified Executive Coach with UC Berkeley’s Executive Coaching Institute (BECI) and with the International Coaching Federation.

I came to coaching after years of realizing that the hardest problems in organizations are rarely technical. They’re personal. They show up as hesitation disguised as analysis, confidence without self-awareness, and ambition that quietly outruns alignment. I care deeply about helping leaders recognize when they’re operating from habit instead of intention — and creating the space for something better to take root.

The Approach

My work is quiet, direct, and practical. I ask the questions that surface what’s underneath the conversation you’re already having. I’m attentive to how leaders make choices, not just what those choices are. Together, we look at the patterns shaping your leadership — not to judge them, but to understand them well enough to change them deliberately. Clients often tell me the process feels less like “coaching” and more like finally having a place where they can think clearly again.

Specialties

• Decision-making under real pressure  

• Leading through scale without losing clarity, culture, or personal grounding

• Transforming technology teams through the Product Operating Model 

  
  

Personal Note

Outside of coaching, I stay close to work that keeps me grounded in service and education. I currently serve as Board Chair for Dream Volunteers - a nonprofit that connects young people around the world through learning and community service - and as a board member of Middle Way Zen .