Testimonials

"Elena Jensen is a marvelous executive coach. She utilizes her deep understanding of applied neuropsychology and compassionate communication to help leaders better understand their capacities and their responsibilities. She helped me greatly with thorny interpersonal dilemmas, vexing institutional issues, and complicated ethical quandaries. All the while maintaining strong positivity and encouragement; I looked forward to each session. Without a doubt, Elena helped me be my "best self" as a leader and helped me lead with clarity and conviction."

Donald Matthews, MD
Chief, Anesthesiology
UVM Medical Center, VT

"Elena’s coaching does several things for me. She gets me out of my own head and helps me to see other perspectives about situations I’m thinking about. She calls me out when I start to rationalize or justify things. She teaches and guides me with stories, studies and readings that are educational and enlightening. She is honest and clear in her opinions. She is ethical. And at the end of the day, she is my biggest cheer-leader, encouraging me to be my very best self—the one she knows I can be."

Patricia Fisher, MD
Chief Medical Officer; Hospitalist
Ocean University Medical Center, NJ

"Elena is an amazing coach! Her approach to executive coaching is to develop attributes and instill confidence in the individual to lead skillfully and with compassion. This executive practice is essential for any individual with a leadership role. The work is challenging and requires continued practice; however, the benefits are far reaching and impact not only your direct employees but everyone in your respective communities. Elena imparts her wisdom in a genuine and effective way. She intentionally does not promote longitudinal coaching and instead provides the foundational skills to become an impactful leader independently. Her wisdom is felt beyond the formal coaching sessions; she is like a genie in a bottle that I can call upon any time, and I find myself channeling her daily."

Christa Zehle, MD
Senior Assiociate Dean for Medical Education; Pediatric Hospitalist
UVM Larner College of Medicine, VT

"I must admit I was a bit hesitant about doing executive coaching when it was recommended for me. I was not sure what I would gain. Boy, was I wrong. Elena changed my life. Working with her taught me that you can achieve success with compassion, potentially the only worthwhile endeavor for leadership. Elena helped me evolve my primitive emotional responses to a more sophisticated level. I have perspective now. I have the tools to be a flawed human with a willingness to improve. I cannot encourage anyone in medicine enough to reevaluate what compassion can do for you both in leadership and direct patient care. Elena’s commitment to my learning has endured long after our formal coaching. She truly lives and breathes compassion teaching at the roots of good pedagogy: to bring out from within."

Jose F. Abad, MD
Vice Chair of Clinical Operations and Analytics; Family Physician
University of Pittsburg School of Medicine, PA

"In my role as a palliative care physician, conversation researcher, teacher and healthcare leader/manager, I come into contact with many skilled communicators. Elena is among the most effective, intuitive, compassionate and clear communicators I have ever met. Her skill and presence have helped me to navigate many challenging situations with confidence. She has an uncanny way of welcoming me to (re)evaluate my own perspectives, consider those of others with care, and to work to understand what the "right thing (or things)” to do are in any situation."

Bob Gramling, MD, D.SC.
Holly and Bob Miller Chair in Palliative Medicine
UVM Medical Group, VT

"Having Elena in my corner as my Executive Coach has been a game changer. Elena has a special knack for helping highlight broader perspectives, homing in on communication skills, and fostering the talents one possesses to be more efficient and collaborative. She is incredibly knowledgeable in philosophy, neuroscience, communications, business and other areas and is able to apply them to life circumstances such that she has been able to help elevate me as a person and therefore a more effective leader. She has often been a guiding light, whether navigating through big or small periods of change. I hold Elena in the highest regard and cannot express my gratitude enough."

Amy Lynn Teleron, MD, FACP
Medical Director, Main Campus Operations
Cleveland Clinic, OH

"Elena came into my professional life at the right time. As my executive career was advancing my usual pitfalls were getting in the way for me to unleash my potential and truly to be honest with myself. Through her kind, humble and delicate way of asking me smart and sometimes hard questions, Elena pushed me to listen to my deeper self and continues to help me improve my self-awareness. Elena is a smart down to earth human being full of empathy and compassion."

Dragos Banu, MD, FACP
Co-Division Chief, Primary Care; Internist
UVM Health Network, VT

"My sessions with Elena had a significant effect on my work and my approach to relationships with my coworkers. Specifically, she gave me several frameworks to use to focus my energies and understand how I think and behave. This has led to an increased understanding of the motivations of others, increased empathy and most importantly, increased productivity on my part. Many people noticed the improvement, especially in my approach to complex projects that involve multiple individuals with diverse viewpoints. Personally, she has provided a path to increase my understanding of myself, providing a critical but non-judgmental approach to help me learn more about myself and those around me. My experience with Elena has led me to engage her to work with several key leaders in my organization, which has elevated the quality of our interactions, as well as our mutual perception of our mission and responsibilities to each other."

William Jeffries, PhD
Provost, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Vice Dean for Medical Education
Geisinger College of Health Sciences, PA

"I was profoundly moved and changed by the experience of coaching. I was able to shift my thinking and recognize the leader I want to be- both what I want to do and how I want to do it. Not only did I learn how to examine some of my insecurities and maladaptive responses to stress, I was able to better understand the ways in which I can rely on my deep desire to care for others. I found the work with Elena to be intensely moving and helped me to see the ways in which I can lead with integrity and compassion. Acknowledging my values around choice and self-determination, I more fully understand how I could serve my team more effectively."

Anna L Benvenuto, MD FACOG
(Former) Chief Medical Officer; OB/Gyn Physician

"Elena has extended my professional life significantly. Her interests in neuroscience, empathy and nonviolent communication coupled with a genuine desire to help people, made her the very best executive coach I ever had. She is real, sincere, and direct."

Claude Deschamps, MD
(Former)President UVM Health Network Medical Group; Thoracic Surgeon
Arizona Medical Board, AZ

"Elena has so profoundly changed my approach to Leadership as well as my professional career. I have taken many Leadership courses as well as had Executive Coaching before which were helpful to learn the foundational components. Elena challenged me to define WHY I do Leadership and to refocus on the joy that it brings me. She provided the support and tools to focus my work on human interactions, which arguably is the most important part of Leadership. She is an incredible coach, human, and teacher. I feel very fortunate to have been able to spend dedicated time learning from her."

Natasha Withers, DO FAAFP
AVP, Medical Director, High Value Care; Family Medicine Physician
UVM Health Network, VT

"My time with Elena ended several months ago. As I reflect on my course, I am struck by how the work has become a daily practice and continues to influence me as a person, provider and leader. The approaches I learned are always within reach and, on a good day, as natural as breathing. They generalize to any setting and would benefit anyone who wants to be a more effective leader of themselves and others. Of course, there is always more work to do. My understanding continues to deepen and I’m glad to have a foundation for ongoing learning. I’ve gained more than can be captured here, so will end with heartfelt gratitude. Working with Elena was the best kind of hard work!"

Beth Forbes, MD
Division Chief, Pediatric Specialty Center; Pediatrician
UVM Medical Center, VT

"Through my work with Elena Jensen I came to better understand what I actually wanted, as opposed to everything I knew I didn’t. The distinction is important to understand, to let go of what is holding you back and to move in a forward, positive direction and embrace what is possible. There is something for every leader that works with Elena: Compassion, connectedness, discovery, science, strategy, and accountability. You will gain insight into how your courage, your compassion – how you show up – can and will make a lasting impact on those around you and ultimately yourself. I consider myself fortunate to have the opportunity to have worked with her."

Jill Federico
Network Director, Epic Clinical Applications; Nurse and Cancer Survivor
UVM Health Network, VT

"The timing is exactly as it should be. I was, at first, nervous about engaging with a coach and having a predefined endpoint. But as the journey progresses, you’ll see that it is how it is intended to be, and it will feel like a natural transition. Shift happens. I was fixed like concrete in my ideas of who I was and how I operated as a leader. Then Elena asked simple questions and pointed out conflicts in my thinking that I couldn’t logically respond to. I was caught in my own arguments of how the world worked and saw that my views were flawed. I saw a way to get out of the mindset that trapped me where I was and gave me an avenue to a new way to see things. It hurts a little. I was comfortable with my beliefs and how I managed risk, opportunity and uncertainty. Then I learned how to navigate these circumstances AND effectively communicate with others during and around change. I carry with me several takeaways that I get the honor of sharing with colleagues, direct reports, and even my own supervisors. I can see things that I had previously not been able to appreciate and understand the impact of. I’m incredibly grateful for what I have learned and who I have become as a leader."

Christine Werneke
President, Home Health and Hospice
UVM Health Network, VT

"The current way we work is full of distractions: email, text messages, articles with tips on strategies, short-cuts to success etc. Working with Elena helped me strip that all away. She helped me to understand the value in getting clear about my intentions, letting go of the outcome, being grounded in the present, and working to leave others better off. I find myself using the lessons I learned from her at work and at home. Elena is highly-skilled and I would recommend her as a coach to anyone looking to explore ways to be better as a human, not just as a leader."

Jesse Moore, MD
Associate Professor of Surgery; Colon and Rectal Surgeon
UVM Medical Center, VT