Testimonials
Nathalie Salles Olivier is an extraordinary executive and team coach. Nathalie has a special skill for recognizing the best in people and also what is most difficult for them. On countless occasions over the past 20 years, I have witnessed Nathalie’s listening, business acumen, and empathy create a safety that encourages the individuals and teams to dare to surface from even the most unnamable challenges. Nathalie combines a business pragmatism with a way of modeling courage that drives action for resolving the difficulty. Her clients have demonstrated off-the-charts accomplishments as individuals, families, and business teams. Nathalie is a powerful partner in the change process.
—Carole Berkson, Principal Strategist, Employee Development, Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Nathalie is a talented, insightful, creative, and mindful coach who gently prods at those areas that need to shift while supporting the individual. She asks the key questions that get at the heart of the issue. She has worked with many individuals and work groups in our global manufacturing group with excellent results. I highly recommend both Nathalie and her methods to improve performance.
—Susan Sweeney, President GGB, EnPro Industries Inc.
Nathalie arrived with a solid plan and worked tirelessly to achieve positive results with both the team and individuals she coached. I was so impressed with Nathalie’s work that I asked if we could expand the scope of her work. She is highly professional and friendly in her approach. She formed fast relationships with the team she worked with and has a high sense of integrity. I would recommend Nathalie to anyone who is seeking a true expert with a vested interest in their employees’ success!
—Carolyn James, VP Human Resources, Engineered Products Group, EnPro Industries
Nathalie is highly recommended. Nathalie took the time to understand me and my team, and we worked out unique plans and actions to improve ourselves, our team, and our company. Nathalie, as your coach, will produce results for years to come.
—George Judd, former President & COO, BlueLinx Corporation; current President & CEO, Snappy
Nathalie does great work. She is insightful as well as passionate. She will help management work better as a team around a shared vision. She will also help each individual reach their potential.
—Mark Fackler, former CEO/Founder, Stellcom Technologies; current CEO, FMBuilt Corporation
Nathalie a d’excellentes capacités pour analyser les forces mais surtout les points à améliorer d’un groupe qui le freine dans sa performance, son travail d’équipe, ses interactions. Sur la base d’interview du groupe/des membres (discussion, 360°), elle établit une stratégie qu’elle decline ensuite sous forme de plan d’actions détaillé et inscrit dans le temps. Elle a passé 1an dans notre groupe et les performance du groupe se sont largement améliorés en terme de resultats mais surtout de collaboration entre individus.
—Sebastien Chevallier, Plant Manager, GGB
I first began to work with Nathalie Salles as part of building my leadership team at the Shell Scotford Chemical Plant outside of Ft. Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada. She is truly one of the most remarkable people that I have met in my life. Nathalie is used to working as a facilitator/consultant with senior leaders and leadership teams. She brings a strong ethical, compassionate, yet demanding approach to her work. Nathalie was constantly pushing me, as the site General Manager, in a productive fashion to challenge my paradigms, fears, and beliefs to help create a better and stronger leadership team. As a side benefit, I believe that it made me a better person.
Nathalie was able to demonstrate an easygoing, personable, yet courageous side that instilled trust in everyone she worked with. By gaining this trust, she was able to ask the tough questions and challenge people to help uncover hidden issues that we were then able to resolve. Nathalie led us through the very deep and difficult conversations that needed to take place to help take us to a new level of performance. This took great leadership and courage on her part. She has the drive, personality, tenacity, and ethics that will make her a success in anything that she undertakes.
—Glenn Bucholtz, former General Manager, Scotford Chemical Plant and Geismar Plant
I have worked with Nathalie Salles since approximately 2001. She has worked as my coach, has designed and led programs to improve the leadership in organizations I have run, and has cofacilitated workshops I have attended. During these engagements, I have found Nathalie to be professional, focused on doing whatever it takes to get others to a higher level of performance, and tenacious in her follow-through. She demonstrates strong values and the highest ethical standards in her work. I have always found her to be ethical in her business practices, but most importantly, despite a close working relationship, she has always kept my confidence unless she had explicit permission to share information, and I know she has done the same for colleagues of mine that she has also worked with.
Despite being in stressful sessions together repeatedly, I have never seen her behave in a way that was not of the highest ethical standard. Nathalie led a program to improve the leadership performance of the Ursa Leadership team. I was the unit Operations Manager, and each of these individuals worked for me, but we had a set of business goals that seemed impossible to achieve. We needed a significant improvement in capability to deliver our targets. Nathalie worked with me to diagnose and design a custom program, which she facilitated on site over a period of six months. This meant working with a rotational team (only 50 percent were on location at a time) in a consistent way even though many were skeptical of the approach. She met all commitments and exceeded my expectations for quality of delivery and speed of improvement. Our team not only met our targets but exceeded two key targets for production and cost.
Nathalie has a quiet style, but she is highly effective across a broad spectrum of audiences. I have seen her with senior leaders and hourly technicians. She is effective with both. I have also personally experienced just how forceful she can be when she has a point to make and one does not pay attention. Her persistence, confidence, and delivery style make her impossible to ignore. She always has a well-thought-out message, and she clearly delivers that message, often quite courageously. Nathalie is a quick study and adapts well to new environments. In working with her, she has had to learn enough of our business to relate to the issues and to be credible with our employees. She has done that quickly and effectively.
In summary, I’ve worked in this industry for almost 30 years. I have had the privilege to work with thousands of people on five continents. I have rarely encountered anyone as value driven, as committed to delivery, and as able to make a difference wherever she goes.
—Chris Sistrunk, VP Production Assets, Shell Upstream Americas
360° Feedback
I have been very fortunate to have some executive coaching made available to me through Nathalie Salles at Abundant Strategies. Nathalie’s coaching techniques involve a 360-degree review that is like no other that I have seen. Nathalie has been very helpful to me in acting on my plan to ensure steady growth and progress. This has been a very effective process, and Nathalie’s expertise, knowledge, and professionalism have facilitated that process. Nathalie is an absolute pleasure to work with!
—Paul Roden, VP Washington Operations, Fairbanks Morse Engine
I must start this off by saying I never met Nathalie in person, yet we know each other so well! Allow me to explain: I heard rave reviews of the 360 feedback process that Nathalie had provided other Shell colleagues with whom I have worked, so I decided to give it a go. I am so happy I did! Nathalie set up a structured interview process with over a half dozen people I worked with. She conducted in-depth interviews, and rather than just give me a bunch of raw feedback, she very insightfully synthesized the results into key themes. We spent a number of hours by phone going over the feedback and putting together an action plan. How satisfied was I with what was delivered? I was so impressed that I, in turn, recommended her to a number of my direct reports as an excellent development vehicle. In summary, Nathalie is a pleasure to deal with. She is very intuitive and insightful. She is a consummate professional in her field, and I am very happy to provide a strong recommendation on her work.
—Bill Rothwell, former VP Innovation & Technology, Shell Global Solutions; current SVP Business Development, Calysta Energy
Executive Coaching
Nathalie was my personal coach for a number of years. She is able to listen with deep caring empathy, all while pushing you to create better business results and a better life for you and those around you. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I am a better man for having worked with Nathalie in particular!
—Rik Glover, former Sr. Engineering Manager, Fairchild Semiconductor; current VP of Operation Integration, AdvancePierre Foods
Over the past year, I have had the opportunity to work with Nathalie Salles on my professional journey. As my executive coach, she has provided guidance that has helped me navigate various obstacles and opportunities. She has challenged me to search deeply within myself in a safe and comfortable environment that has allowed me to release my full potential as an executive. Her coaching techniques, thought-provoking questions, and calming personality have resulted in a successful client relationship. Working with her has been an extreme pleasure, and I would highly recommend her to any organization or executive looking for a coach to help them grow, develop, and stretch.
—Warren Marshall, VP of Manufacturing, Fairbanks Morse Engine
Nathalie has the unique skills and intuition to speak the truth that comes across as learning and not as judging. She describes both the positive and the challenging areas of leadership skill and possesses the ability to have a learning dialogue that gets to heart of the issue(s). Furthermore, she has knowledge of how the executive leader works and the dynamics that the executive faces and is able to facilitate learning from that position of expertise. I have learned a lot from her as well as grown professionally and am grateful for having her as a coach.
—David Torrance, former VP / General Manager, Plastomer Technologies; current President, Renaissance Executive Forums Dallas
The support and insight she has provided me have been outstanding. She is thoughtful, balanced, dedicated to her work, and interested only in bringing out the best in people. She has been a delight to work with, and I look forward to her continued excellent support and assistance in the future.
—Ken Walker, President, EnPro Industries
In the domain of executive coaching, Natalie stands out as a professional with extreme abilities and insight into sustainable alternatives for effective leadership habits. Her abilities to diagnose organizational and individual barriers and opportunities for high performance are excellent.
—Bruce Holmes, CEO, NextGen AeroSciences
Nathalie enables us to see how we create our lives through our beliefs and actions. Nathalie was my coach for one year during the time I was establishing the service organization. She was instrumental in helping me during a major organizational and cultural change. I would highly recommend Nathalie.
—Carolyn Pineda, VP, Sabre
Nathalie is a fantastic coach whose caring continues after the session ends. She is extremely dedicated to her work. Nathalie’s life is devoted to leaving the world better via people and the environment. She simply has made me better by giving me a few new tools, methods to approach problems, and a better understanding of myself. I really enjoy working with her, and my life is better as a result of her coaching.
—Eric Vaillancourt, President, Garlock Sealing Products
Coaching helped me establish clear goals and implement a balanced approach to achieving them. Nathalie is a warm and genuine person with wonderful insight and a great skill for gently holding me accountable to my goals.
—Mike Rauth, Senior Director, Fairchild Semiconductor
Nathalie is an astute coach who knows how to connect on a personal level to build trust, deliver constructive critique with grace and grit, and come up with creative techniques to push personal and professional development. In short, Nathalie has helped me advance into a professional space I hadn’t imagined I would be in a year ago.
—Matt Streng, Senior Advisor Youth Development, Mercy Corps
Nathalie has had a profound influence on my life. Through the tools and techniques that she has shared, I have become a more complete person—not only as a leader at work but as a father, husband, and friend. Her laid-back, ‘chill’ approach to teaching and learning is infectious. She has inspired and coached me through the separation from my ego and the renewal of my spiritual self. It feels a little strange to ‘recommend’ Nathalie. The fact is this: If you are ready for Nathalie, Nathalie will most certainly find you. ‘Don’t seek the truth. Just cease to cherish opinions.’
—Shaun Fuller, Director of Business Development, Fairbanks Morse Engine
The time I spent with Nathalie has really open my mind and allowed me to continue to work on myself. She has provided me with great tools and a new thought process that continues to help me drive my self-awareness in order to understand my ego drivers. From the first day, I felt a connection with Nathalie, which allowed for open and authentic communications.
—Richard Farbaniec, Global Segment Manager Fluid Power, GGB
Nathalie is a dedicated coach who puts her client’s agenda first. She demonstrated great empathy, while making sure we kept my objectives in mind. She helped a lot in clarifying by creating goals and breaking them down into actionable tasks. Nathalie is easy to work with. I am happy to recommend her as a life/career coach.
—Curt Mandell, Senior Consultant, Expressworks International, LLC
I have worked with Nathalie as my coach for four years. Nathalie provides me with a unique perspective on difficult situations on both a professional and personal level. Nathalie will also force me to confront difficult situations head on.
—Dave Dalton, VP, BlueLinx Corporation
Natalie’s capability as a career coach is superb. More profound is the long-lasting impact of her coaching and her willingness to extend herself well beyond the norm to provide truly transformational support. Natalie’s personal skills, her business acumen, and her humanity make her both a wonderful resource and a tremendous value.
—Sherry Borener, Director, government agency focused on aeronautics
Nathalie is professional, passionate, and insightful! She helped see some really difficult things from a different perspective that made change a little easier.
—Jeff Wyatt, CEO, Venchurs
I have had the privilege to work with Nathalie in two different capacities over the last 10 years. She has been a resource for me as a coach and an environmental partner/advocate in our own personal growth and education of others about ‘our’ impact on people and the planet. As a coach, Nathalie has good listening skills and is very empathetic and intuitive but can be direct when needed or is appropriate. As a project partner and environmental advocate, she inspires/challenges people to find new ways of thinking, seeks to understand what drives behaviors, and works to develop people, education, and communities of thought so that others join the work to protect our environment and those that live in it.
—Teresa Hetrick, Venture Integrator, Shell Oil
Nathalie is amazingly genuine and sincere. She not only listens to what you say but also to what you don’t say. She always shows empathy and caring, and also has the strength to suggest and challenge new and potentially difficult growth opportunities.
–Pam Foye, Project Analyst, Shell Oil
Nathalie has an exceptional level of insight that she shares in a way that is life changing. She guides others in such a natural way, you feel as though you are talking to a trusted lifelong friend.
—Shiloh Kelly, former Corporate Marketing and National Sustainability Lead, BlueLinx Corporation; current Chief Marketing Officer, CHI
As a CEO, there was no better investment I made than the time and money spent with Nathalie and her team. I highly recommend her and would be happy to provide a reference over the telephone.
—Murat Armbruster, former Senior Fellow, The Carbon War Room; current CEO and Founder, CoEfficient, LLC
Nathalie is very helpful in understanding what is driving a person to do dysfunctional things, and ways of looking at people to enable you to better understand what is going on, and how to knock down barriers to moving forward on your personal goals for yourself or goals for your company. She is also very passionate about her work and a very caring and compassionate person. I would highly recommend Nathalie for helping coach you and your company to address the human dynamics issues that you have at work or at home. She has been a tremendous help with myself, my family, and my coworkers.
—Darryl Delano, Product Line Director, Fairchild Semiconductor
Nathalie has been my coach and mentor in my growth journey. Her expertise, personal care, insightfulness, and dedication have made tremendous differences in my personal and professional growth. Working with her has been wonderful.
—David Hinton, Deputy Director, government agency in the aerospace/aeronautics industry
Nathalie Salles is thoughtful, patient, insightful, and courageous in her approach to her work. On a personal level, she has integrity and a sense of humor, which helps when you are dealing with very serious issues. I look forward to working with Nathalie again in the future and cannot recommend her more highly.
—Kim Spencer, VP, ISCA Technologies, Inc.
Nathalie was my leadership development coach. She was a true partner as I worked to improve my leadership skills. She challenged me when I needed a push and made sure I took the time to learn key lessons along the way. I consider her as one of my most trusted friends today and would recommend her to others.
—Joe Allaben, Corporate Director, Flint Hills Resources
Nathalie was (and always will be) my coach. She could not be any better in all aspects, and I was so fortunate to have met her in my life. Nathalie, as a coach, is perfect.
—Thomas Mende, President, Klausner Trading Usa
Nathalie has tremendous passion and talent for helping people overcome their challenges and move toward their goals. Her skills in active listening, creative troubleshooting, and fearlessness with respect to constructive critique are superb. I witnessed in her a commitment to go beyond the call of duty, time and time again, and learned from her the power one has within her or himself to create change starting with oneself.
—Robin Fletcher, Executive Coach
Nathalie is a great coach! I learned in depth about myself, my patterns of behavior, and their effect on my goals. Nathalie helped me to see how I was preventing myself from success and to see ways out of the patterns. I highly recommend Nathalie.
—Terry Johnson, Director, Fairchild Semiconductor
I’ve known Nathalie for over eight years and worked with her as a coach for three years. Working with Nathalie had been a profound experience. She challenged me, helping me create structure and accountability to myself, my team, and my family. She helped me identify the true motivations behind my thoughts and actions and built this framework for coaching around them. Her approach was respectful of my nature, but never shy. We debated and discussed openly and at ease and reached many new conclusions together. She helped me to see the complexities of my life in plain terms, understand them, and feel empowered to work on improving them. I am thankful for my coach, Nathalie. Anyone would be lucky to work with her and draw from her inspiration and wisdom to find improvement within them.
—Melvin Ferebee, Manager, space technology project office at government agency
Nathalie is a very insightful and intuitive coach. As a colleague I have enjoyed collaborating with her on the many teams we worked on from Shell, to NASA, to Fairchild Semiconductor. Nathalie is skilled at narrowing in on the challenges needing to be addressed individually and organizationally. I highly recommend her as a coach and consultant.
—Laura Gates, Leadership Development Speaker, Learning as Leadership