It was a difficult moment in my professional career where I had to leave my comfort zone and take on new challenges. Palena with her kind and prompt approach was instrumental in navigating me through my concerns, fears, understandings and enlightenments. Our exchanges consistently facilitated learning and increased awareness of what were the gaps, perceptions and positive factors as well. A set of actions were always agreed upon during the sessions and additionally she would also send me great questions to continually help me with the management of said desired changes and achievements.

Rita Badiani, Project Director, Pathfinder International

I had the privilege to be in Professor Neale’s Geopolitics & International Business class during my MBA Programme. Professor Neale is by far, one of the most dedicated teacher I have had. I was looking forward to her classes every week because she always tries to bring out the best of each and every student of her class by challenging them, providing constructive critique for them to go deeper into their analysis. As a result, we always left the class knowing that we had learned something and we were improving. She always tries to provide interactive classes so everyone feels involved and interested. She gladly shares her amazing professional knowledge with us and provides human and professional advice. She is an amazing teacher that I highly recommend, who has inspired me and who made me feel that I had made the right decision by choosing the Geopolitics concentration for my MBA.

Jessica David, MBA at the American Business School of Paris 

Palena is an acute listener, with great warmth and empathy for her coachee. Sessions are focused, goals agreed at the outset, and gentle yet determined enquiry, challenge, humour and intuition, leads to clear actions, insight and learning. Palena helped me to hold myself accountable for my actions at all times. I learnt that trusting the process is key to the coachee achieving great results. Personally I found that pushing against self-imposed barriers can be liberating. I made progress with many of the topics that we discussed and having Palena as my thinking partner enriched the actions I took.

Wendy Russell, Managing Director, Harper Russell, Ltd

It has been a special experience and an honor to have had Pr. Palena Neale both as a professor and a mentor. As a student I had the privilege to learn not just from her extensive academic knowledge but also from her diverse and rich professional experience. As a mentor she not only thought me a lot about how to efficiently enter the professional world, but she helped me believe in myself. We all have our doubts and down moments, and she took the time to listen, understand and help me grow as a person. I sometimes felt like I was asking too much of her, but she always responded with honesty, kindness and rigor.

Pr. Neale is not just professor and a mentor to me, she’s an inspiration and am grateful.

Diane Domkam – Institutional Affairs Officer, Engie, France

I learnt that coaching is a helpful approach and can lead to self realization and positive thinking. I started understanding art of coaching and a distinct coaching style from Palena. She is wonderful person and I was very comfortable communicating with her even though we never knew each other before or ever met in person. The video calls helped and I realized distance does not matter if you have the right intention.

Shaonli Shaonli Chakraborty, Assistant Director, Swasti Health Catalyst

I had one of my most significant self-realizations in a session with Palena. If it weren’t for her incredibly thoughtful way of probing and reflecting, it would have taken me many more years to come to the same realization. Thanks to my sessions with Palena, I am able to work and live with a greater understanding of myself. This is a significant gift.

Emily Sullivan
Senior Manager, UNFoundation/Family Planning 2030

I really appreciated Palena’s listening skills, intuitiveness and adaptability. She demonstrates genuine kindness and empathy towards her interlocutors, mixed with useful and practical tools that promote self-reflection and realization. She places the human aspect above all and creates a safe space for expression. It was a very fruitful and enjoyable journey, the lessons of which will undoubtedly have lasting effects on my perception of my own leadership abilities and capacity to overcome difficult obstacles with strength and confidence. A very sincere thank you to Palena.

Anne-Laure Henry-Gréard
Country Programme Manager, Bangladesh, , Better Work Programme, ILO

Palena has a wonderful way of running leadership workshops. Attending her workshops reminded me of my personal and professional values, boosted my morale and helped me better support co-workers and clients. Importantly, her workshops are down-to-earth, fun and compassionate. Highly recommended (also for male leaders!).

Paul L. Janssen
MD MPH