Working By Design

Better by design.

iStock-974079490.jpg

 Our Mission.

Possibility.

We ask what is possible.

Purpose.

We focus on what is important.

Service.

We figure out how to make it happen.

How We Do It.

Championing what is possible.
Questioning what is assumed.
Exploring what gets in the way.

iStock-120478076.jpg

Our Coaches

“Stay in it.”

 
Jane Harrington

Jane Harrington

Founder Jane Harrington
That’s some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten, from a fellow race car driver telling me that if I hang back, I might miss the wreck but I’ll also miss the opening.

I go for the opening, and my work shows it. I’m an educator, attorney, organization development specialist and professional coach. I’ve worked with and for organizations like Yahoo, National Geographic, Safeway, Comcast, the University of California, WestEd, California State University, various state agencies, diverse non-profits, passionate artists, and small start-ups.

Practicing law was a dream I made come true, but in that work, I saw a gap. With organizations, it seemed like everything was okay—until it wasn’t. Then they’d call in the attorneys to clean up the mess. Now my phone rings with the question “How can we do this better?” instead of “Where did we go wrong?”.

Learning drives me. I have an MA in Organization Development, a JD in Law, an MA in Education Technology, and a BA in Art History and English. I’m a certified coach through the International Coaching Federation. I wonder “why” about everything, not because I doubt, but because I want to know more and better understand.

Doing pushes me to my learning edge. I’ve raced stock cars around circle tracks, sailed boats through the Delta, guided rafts through class V waters, snowmobiled backcountry Nevada, night dived the Barrier reef, climbed to mountain tops and snow-camped the Sierras. Figuring things out and making them happen engages me. And travel informs me; experiences in Rwanda, Kenya, Vietnam, Cambodia, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Panama, Mexico, Venezuela, and Italy expand my sense of the world, and who we can be in it.

Trying inspires me. I have failed, and learned, and I draw on all of those experiences in my work now. My path is only hindsight.

Possibility, purpose and service guide my work. I am an advocate for the best version of you. I champion what is possible, question what is assumed, explore what gets in the way, and encourage you to stay in it and achieve your highest aspirations.

 

 
 

“Do the thing.”

 

Jody Cummings

Senior Partner Jody Cummings
As a coach, Jody helps his client identify “the thing” that will change the game, and then support them to do it.

Jody has focused his career on getting people the healthcare they need. His early career work was in international health, including working for Planned Parenthood on access to reproductive healthcare in Latin America and the Caribbean.

When he experienced his own health crisis with cancer in his early 30s, he shifted his focus to a more local and personal sphere of influence, becoming the National Executive Director of two different Sarcoma cancer non-profits helping raise awareness and fund research.

His advocacy work took him to Kaiser Permanente, where he now serves as an Executive Coach and Consultant--working with Executive Physicians and Administrators to develop their skills and behaviors to support others. In addition to coaching, he also supports strategy execution and deployment.

He holds a Master of Public Health from Tulane School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, an Masters in Business Administration from Drexel’s LeBow School of Business, and a Bachelor's Degree in Spanish from the University of California, Berkeley. 

 
 
 

Our Location.

We’re located in Sacramento, California and work virtually around the world.

 

 
 
 
 
iStock-579119736.jpg