Meet Rick Torseth

CEO, Consultant
and Coach

Rick in Philly 10.18

Helping clients build leadership capacity.

I have been coaching leaders since 1992. If it’s accurate that we learn best from our failures, then I have been on a robust learning journey for nearly thirty years.

I have focused my coaching practice on leadership because leaders have extreme influence on people. They have an outsized responsibility to guide, lead and build organizations that do good in the world and that do well by the people who work in those organizations.

Choosing to lead shouldn’t hurt a career and shouldn’t hurt the person. But it happens. I believe my responsibility is to coach first to my client’s potential and talents and keep reality in the conversation. If we do that, life gets better and leading is more fun.

I am fully committed to professional and adult development. I returned to school when I turned 50. I have a master’s degree from Oxford University and HEC Paris which focuses on building leadership adaptive capacity to thrive inside this disruptive world.

I am the current Chair of the Change Leaders; the alumni community of graduates from my master’s programme. I am a partner in ImpactBasis, a Netherlands based consulting and coaching firm focused on helping organizations execute social change. I’m in this work for the duration because I know how to help leaders.

I am married to a wonderful woman who gracefully endures my change process. My daughter lives in New York and relishes teaching me life lessons as often as she can.

Testimonial

I wanted to become a better leader and improve my emotional intelligence. Rick has a very unique way of helping you self-reflect and be more accountable. He always clarifies what you have communicated before offering any advice and makes you feel better than you think you are. As a result, I became more confident in taking some important work-related decisions and reclaimed the responsibility to drive my own growth.

– Safyia Ibn Garba

Manifesto

manəˈfestō/ noun

a public declaration of policy and aims

Here are a few ideas that inspire me to work harder each and every day.

  • Courage is the first attribute.
  • Relationships are primary; everything else is derivative.
  • The only way to mobilize people is around purpose.

To see more of what inspires me, visit the Manifesto page.

Manifesto
“It’s not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old; they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.”
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
“I am always doing that which I cannot do in order that I may learn how to do it.”
Pablo Picasso
“How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top.”
Yvon Chouinard, FounderPatagonia
“Being aware is more important than being smart for a leader.”
Will Schutz, Author and CreatorThe Human Element

Leaders that I’ve helped come from the following organizations:

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The world leader in addressing issues of global health and global development needs

Tableau

Helping people and organizations to better understand data to make impact

Generations for Peace

Dedicated to sustainable conflict transformation at the grassroots level through empowering volunteer youth leaders