coaching & consulting

fourth house

About             Adrien

I’ve long had a colorful relationship with work.

I’ve had more jobs than I can count on all of my digits, from one of the largest charities in the U.S. to a one-acre farm in my hometown. I’ve been a cabinetmaker for a tiny woodworking studio, a culture and operations strategist for a global multi-stakeholder cooperative, a food tour guide, and a deputy managing editor for an online publication. You might have guessed that I am very good at pivoting.

Part of the reason I’ve had such a patchwork career is that I am relentlessly curious about the world and the people in it. For me, work has often been a way for me to feed my interest in, well, everything.

I’ve long had a colorful relationship with work. 

I’ve had more jobs than I can count on all of my digits, from one of the largest charities in the U.S. to a one-acre farm in my hometown. I’ve been a cabinetmaker for a tiny woodworking studio, a culture and operations strategist for a global multi-stakeholder cooperative, a food tour guide, and a deputy managing editor for an online publication. You might have guessed that I am very good at pivoting.

Part of the reason I’ve had such a patchwork career is that I am relentlessly curious about the world and the people in it. For me, work has often been a way for me to feed my interest in, well, everything.

Meet Your Coach

Another reason, however, is slightly less rosy. Most of us have to work (including me), and our interactions with our colleagues, bosses, direct reports, collaborators, clients, etc. wield a huge influence on how we see ourselves and structure our lives. In U.S. culture, our work is supposed to tell us who we are.

But at many points in my career, who I felt I was butted up hard against the constraints of my workplaces, whether structural or social. The curiosity that made me skilled at identifying patterns and coming up with novel ideas became a liability in places more interested in compliance than innovation. The desire to focus became an obstacle to workplace socializing if I put my headphones on in an open office. For a long time, showing up to work meant confronting the little voice in my head saying, “What the hell is wrong with me?”

As a student of sociology, I knew that question was a red herring. I have long been obsessed with the relationship between individuals, organizations, and the culture at large, and I knew that relationship was always in flux. That dynamism offers all of us immense power to foster change, whether personal, organizational, or systemic. It’s all interrelated.

Over time, I began focusing on very different questions: What kind of culture do we need so that everyone may thrive at work? What systems and structures could support and reinforce that culture? What kinds of support do people need to cultivate the stamina and skill required to center their professional lives in an ethic of care, justice, and reciprocity?

Now, as a coach and consultant, my work focuses on both the personal and the structural.

I work with entrepreneurs to create equitable and imaginative workplaces that are aligned at every level with a sense of purpose and integrity. And I work with people in career transition to cultivate your power, honor your desires, and celebrate your skills so that you are well-resourced to navigate our current culture of work from a place of wholeness.
Another reason, however, is slightly less rosy. Most of us have to work (including me), and our interactions with our colleagues, bosses, direct reports, collaborators, clients, etc. wield a huge influence on how we see ourselves and structure our lives. In U.S. culture, our work is supposed to tell us who we are.

But at many points in my career, who I felt I was butted up hard against the constraints of my workplaces, whether structural or social. The curiosity that made me skilled at identifying patterns and coming up with novel ideas became a liability in places more interested in compliance than innovation. The desire to focus became an obstacle to workplace socializing if I put my headphones on in an open office. For a long time, showing up to work meant confronting the little voice in my head saying, “What the hell is wrong with me?”

As a student of sociology, I knew that question was a red herring. I have long been obsessed with the relationship between individuals, organizations, and the culture at large, and I knew that relationship was always in flux. That dynamism offers all of us immense power to foster change, whether personal, organizational, or systemic. It’s all interrelated.

Over time, I began focusing on very different questions: What kind of culture do we need so that everyone may thrive at work? What systems and structures could support and reinforce that culture? What kinds of support do people need to cultivate the stamina and skill required to center their professional lives in an ethic of care, justice, and reciprocity?

Now, as a coach and consultant, my work focuses on both the personal and the structural.

I work with entrepreneurs to create equitable and imaginative workplaces that are aligned at every level with a sense of purpose and integrity. And I work with people in career transition to cultivate your power, honor your desires, and celebrate your skills so that you are well-resourced to navigate our current culture of work from a place of wholeness.

In astrology, each person has a placement called their North Node, or a sense of purpose or calling in life, that occurs in both a sign and a house. Think of a sign like a character and a house like a setting or backdrop where that character lives and breathes. It’s the relationship between the sign and the house that gives a person’s North Node its particular flavor.

My North Node is in Aquarius in the Fourth House. Aquarius is the sign most associated with social justice, innovation, rebelliousness, and humanitarianism. The Fourth House is the house of home–our roots, traditions, and sense of belonging. It is the foundation from which we form our social values and seek to build community. 

In a culture rooted in alienation, I believe it is an act of justice to help people come home to themselves so that we may build relationships rooted in true connection and care.

what does fourth house mean?

spending time with my wife
walking my dog dory
botanical illustration
teaching woodworking
weightlifting

spending time with my wife
walking my dog dory
botanical illustration
teaching woodworking
weightlifting

Besides coaching, I love...

"I believe it is an act of justice to help people come home to themselves so that we may build relationships rooted in true connection and care."

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