Experiences That Change How People See Themselves and Each Other
Michael Tertes creates highly engaging, experiential programs that invite people to discover something they couldn't see before, about themselves, the people around them, and what's possible.
Designed for leadership teams, organizations, conferences, retreats and communities.
A highly experiential program that changes how people see themselves and one another.
Every person affects the people around them. We shape how others feel, think, engage, and experience themselves.
Yet our impact on other people is largely invisible to us. It is one of the great untapped sources of information in organizations.
The Essence Experience turns that blind spot into a discovery. Through a series of carefully designed experiences, participants encounter themselves through the perspectives of others and discover qualities and ways of affecting people that may have been true about them for years, but that they could not see for themselves.
At the same time, they discover how much they know about the people around them that they have never articulated or shared.
People leave seeing themselves, one another, and what is possible between them differently.
Millions of capable people secretly worry they're not as smart, talented, or qualified as others think they are. And Impostor Syndrome doesn't just affect how people feel. It can quietly limit how fully they contribute.
When people are busy managing the fear of being found out, they may hold back ideas, avoid visibility, overwork, overprepare, hesitate to speak up, or pass up opportunities. The result is a cost to both the individual and the organization.
Rethinking Impostor Syndrome™ (RIS) is a highly practical, solution-oriented program that helps people understand what Impostor Syndrome is, why it happens, and how to navigate it. Participants leave with practical, immediately usable tools to address impostor-related feelings in themselves and others, helping unlock more confidence, participation, and contribution.
Rethinking Impostor Syndrome™ has been delivered to more than half a million people around the world.
What gets in the way of leaders being at their best, especially when the pressure is on?
We all have patterns that can undermine us when the stakes are high. We overthink. Avoid difficult conversations. Try to please everyone. Second-guess ourselves. Take on too much. Get defensive. Procrastinate. Or make decisions from fear rather than clarity.
Michael calls the part of us behind these patterns our Arch Nemesis, a.k.a. saboteur, gremlin, head bully, negative mind chatter. Left unchecked, it can quietly influence how leaders make decisions, communicate, take risks, navigate conflict, and show up when it matters most.
In this highly participatory workshop, leaders identify the specific, often sneaky strategies and tactics their Arch Nemesis uses against them. They learn to recognize when it has taken over and practice Michael’s five most powerful moves for interrupting those patterns.
The goal isn’t to eliminate your Arch Nemesis. It’s to stop letting it run the show, giving leaders greater freedom, clarity, and choice in how they respond, decide, and lead.
The most important part of a leader's impact may be the part they cannot see.
Most leadership development focuses on strengths, skills, behaviors, and performance. Leadership Essence explores something underneath them: the unique impact each leader has on other people simply because of who they are.
Through a highly interactive experience, participants explore the often invisible qualities that shape how others experience them, why people respond to them as they do, and what they uniquely contribute when they lead.
Rather than teaching another model of how leaders should behave, Leadership Essence invites participants to discover more of the leader who is already there.
Leaders leave with a new lens for understanding themselves, their impact, and what becomes possible when they lead from more of who they actually are.
“Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
— Howard Thurman