About

Dr. Lisa R. Withrow – partnering with leaders for what’s next.

Clear Transition Strategies was founded in 2020 after 20+ years of full-time teaching in leadership development and conflict management in a graduate-school setting.

Ph.D · ICF-PCC · GPCC · IMI

An innovator at the intersection of leadership research and real-world practice.

With a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies and three certificates from Cornell University’s S.C. Johnson School of Management in Executive Leadership, High-Performance Leadership, and Change Leadership, Lisa carries an up-to-date portfolio of trends, research and challenges facing the worlds of not-for-profits, small businesses and higher education. She is also a trained leadership and trauma-informed coach and mediator – for the times when conflict has possibility to change the energy and direction of personal lives or the life of an organization. Finally, she is an ordained minister with a curious and open-minded worldview.

Lisa’s home base is the Akron–Cleveland corridor, Ohio, though most of her connections are online, nationally and internationally.

Core Credentials

Built on rigorous training.

  • Ph.D. – Leadership Studies
  • ICF-PCC – Professional Coach Certification, International Coach Federation
  • GPCC – Gestalt Professional Certified Coach
  • IMI – Certified Mediation Trainer (CMT) and International Mediation Institute
  • Trauma-informed Coach certificate
  • Neuroscience and Transformation Coach
  • Cornell – Executive Leadership certificate
  • Cornell – High-Performance Leadership certificate
  • Cornell – Change Leadership certificate
  • Ordained minister (M.Div) in the United Methodist tradition

Additional Training

Tools for thinking and change.

Conflict Dynamics Profile (CDP)

Myers-Briggs (MBTI)

Appreciative Inquiry

Theological Worlds

Positive Intelligence Coaching

Neuroscience of Change

Trauma-Informed Coaching

InnerMBA

Inter-cultural Development Inventory (IDI)

Experience

A certified Gestalt leadership coach, consultant and mediator.

Lisa is a Gestalt coaching instructor, trained team coach, trauma-informed coach (certified), organizational consultant for scenario-building, planning and conflict transformation, ordained minister, veteran international presenter on leadership and innovative learning, and a leader of cross-cultural immersion experiences in Russia, Central America, southern Africa, and Europe. She is often called upon to co-create new possibilities for organizations in the midst of conflict or transition/liminal space.

As a Coach

Improves strategic or personal focus and accelerates the development of individuals, leaders, and teams. Coaches for performance improvement and competency-building, facilitates scenario-building for emerging futures, and brings a unique perspective to how internal and external partnerships can be leveraged creatively. Individual clients find integrative decision-making through change.

As a Consultant

More than 26 years of leadership experience – from family-business customer interface to executive academia (director, dean, vice president) to faith organizations. Strategic planning, team dynamics, program development, liminal change work, narrative budget management, and transition initiation with attention to conflict management and diverse voices.

As a Mediator

A certified mediator using workplace mediation and mediation training for individuals and teams who are unable to move forward through conflict.

As a Teacher

Develops tailored, engaging online and in-person workshops for teams, organizations and groups – helpful tools alongside powerful questions for focus, mobilization, and creation of positive change. Affiliate professor at Bexley-Seabury in Chicago and Administrator for the doctoral program (DMin) at Iliff School of Theology.

Selected Publications

Sample of book publications

The Liminal Loop: Twelve Tales of Transformation (contributing author)

Choice Magazine – From Surviving to Thriving: Coaching as Disruption in Disruptive Times

Crossing Thresholds: A Practical Theology of Liminality (co-author)

Leadership in Unknown Waters: Liminality as Threshold to the Future (author)

Alienation and Connection: Suffering in a Global Age (editor and co-author)

At a Glance

Credentials

Ph.D. – leadership studies; Certified Coach – ICF, Gestalt; Certified Mediator – CMT, IMI.

Coach

For individuals, leaders, and teams working with transition – holistic decision-making, performance, value, vocation, team management and enhancement.

Consultant

Conflict management, scenarios and strategies, onboarding, team focus and effectiveness, diversity, mobilizing change.

Teacher

Workshops for teams, groups and organizations – change, conflict, team dynamics, emerging futures, neuroscience.