Why Kelly Kienzle Ditched the Corporate Mold to Serve Mission-Driven Leaders

After discovering the transformative power of leadership coaching, Kelly Kienzle took a bold leap from working within corporate frameworks to forging her own path. Through one-on-one and team coaching, she empowers mission-driven leaders to reclaim clarity, confidence, and strategic focus. In this Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur Spotlight, Kelly shares how a simple ATM deposit marked the start of her entrepreneurial identity—and how she's since evolved her approach to unlock faster, deeper growth for the clients she serves. Her story is a masterclass in alignment, authenticity, and the ripple effect of personalized leadership development.

Hi, Kelly Kienzle! Thanks for joining us today. Tell us about your business. Who do you serve, how do you serve them, and what's the impact that your business and work makes?

I help visionary leaders of mission-driven organizations move from being overwhelmed and over-extended to being energized and confident so that they have the freedom to focus on their organization's highest strategic priorities to advance their mission.  I support these leaders through one-on-one coaching, as well as team coaching.

Tell us about the moment you finally felt like you went from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur.

I distinctly remember the moment I felt I went from wantrepreneur to entrpreneur.  I had received my first payment for a client engagement and it was in the form of a live check (yes, it was a while ago).  I took it to the bank to deposit it at the ATM (I warned you it was a long time ago), and as I walked up to the machine, I thought about how many more times I would make this trip, what kind of leaders I would have served, and what kinds of challenges I would have helped them solve.  As these thoughts went through my head, the machine slurped up my check and made a very satisfying "ding!" as the check was cashed.  I felt I had truly become an entrpreneur as I heard that sound.

Describe the moment or period in your life/career that motivated you to make the entrepreneurial leap.

I knew I wanted to make the entrpreneurial leap when I learned about the field of leadership coaching.  I not only wanted to work with these leaders, but I wanted to work with them as a full partner, without the interface of a large, coaching company.  So I went off on my own to ensure I could tailor my coaching to exactly what my clients wanted to learn, and offer tools and frameworks that were specifically chosen to fit their needs and style.

Describe a tool, service, or software that has been a game-changer for your business. How does it contribute to your success?

One of the largest game-changers for my leadership coaching has been the use of the Leadership Circle Profile (LCP).  The LCP is a 360 tool that connects a well-researched set of competencies with the underlying and motivating habits of thought. It reveals the relationship between patterns of action and internal assumptions that drive behavior.  In other words, the LCP goes to the source of behavior to bring about greater and deeper behavior and mindset change.  And that has helped the leaders I work with make advancement in their leadership growth faster than most.

We know that success is very often a non-linear path. Tell us about a failure, pivot point, or lesson that changed your course or direction and helped to get you where you are today.

I remember a failure early on when I forgot to consider the perspectives of others.  I was facilitating a day-long retreat for a large team going through enormous change.  I had talked only to the HR business partner beforehand, so I went into the retreat assuming that everyone else on the team felt the same way about the change.  Not by a long shot.  As I tried again and again to engage the team in a conversation about the change, I realized that everyone felt differently about the change.  Since that day, so many years ago, I always conduct interviews with all key stakeholders or team members before designing their retreat.  And I am always impressed by how the variety and scope of perspectives that unfailingly exist.

What unconventional strategy did you employ that significantly impacted your business?

An unconventional strategy that I have used in my coaching work is to rarely give straight-up advice to my clients.  To give advice would be to minimize their intelligence, experience, and innate wisdom.  Instead, we engage in a deep conversation about their greatest challenges, explore what would be their most desired future state, and then craft specific ways in which they can reach that state.  Because we build this path based on their wisdom and experience, they gain not only a better outcome but the reassurance and self-confidence that they know how to do it again and again.

What’s something you wish you knew sooner that you’d give as advice for aspiring or newer entrepreneurs?

I wish I had understood how the price of coaching is based not only on your time, but also on the cost it would be for the client to do the work themselves or hire someone else to do it.  And most importantly, the cost should be based on the value that you are delivering for the client.  How many work hours are you saving them? How many difficult conversations? How many unwanted departures of their staff?  These are the intrinsic values to your work when you are delivering meaningful, high-quality coaching.

Want to dive deeper into Kelly's work? Check out the links below!

• Visit Open Circle Coaching's website: opencirclecoaching.com
• Connect with Kelly Kienzle on LinkedIn: Kelly Kienzle