When I am interviewing and assessing new prospects for our team of consultants and coaches, I look for skills that will enable our clients to successfully access and grow the strengths of ALL the people on their staff. I also look for emotional intelligence, a solid track record, and the ability to find creative solutions through context shifts.

Along the way, I learn a lot of other fascinating things about these folks.

This summer we brought four absolutely top-notch consultants onto our team, and I want to introduce them by telling you about some of their more unusual accomplishments. See if you can guess who did what. To find out if you have guessed right, click on the link embedded in the person’s name, and check out their full bio.

Who Am I?

Gloria Steinem said my book Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men “could save the humanity of many young men – and the sanity of their friends and parents.” I also served as an expert witness for the U.S. Department of Justice in the successful anti-sex discrimination cases at the Virginia Military Institute and the Citadel.

Who Am I?

I accepted a two-year volunteer role as fundraiser and construction manager (neither of which I had experience in) to accomplish a $1 million transformation of an empty building into additional premises for a hard-pressed local pet-rescue organization. When the project was done, 1,500 people came to our grand opening.

Who Am I?

I started my career teaching English literature and women’s studies. Twenty-odd years later, I became known for founding a carefully curated and influential annual list of Top Companies for Executive Women. When I started, there were just 10 companies that qualified. Then 15, then 30. Now we have 50. When you set a standard, the best people leap to meet it.

Who Am I?

I was the first executive director of Challenge Day, an internationally critically acclaimed youth violence-prevention program for middle and high schools that was showcased on Oprah and then became the centerpiece for MTV’s “If You Really Knew Me.” I sit on the board of Lynne Twist’s Soul of Money Institute, and am married to a singer-songwriter, who is also an anti-bullying facilitator with Soul Shoppe.