Entrepreneur, speaker, and facilitator dedicated to helping professionals achieve the highest level of self-mastery at work and in life.
Lara Darvie, Founder
Hi! I’m Lara.
A Bit More About Me
Bio
In my 20+ years in business, I’ve observed the good, the bad, and the ugly of leadership. Hired by a large corporation when I graduated college, I found myself working with a very difficult person – who turned out to be one of my most important “teachers”. This experience fueled my curiosity about human communication, inspiring me to study corporate and public communication and write my masters thesis on leadership in the workplace.
I worked with large Fortune 500 companies, medium-sized organizations, small companies, and also co-founded a successful business. One thing I observed across the board? Leadership skills were badly needed. My own included.
One day I left corporate America and moved from my home in NJ to Colorado to pursue my life’s work—as yet undetermined…
My fascination with leadership and human dynamics still very much alive I focused my energy on social and emotional intelligence—and, of all things—equine facilitated learning. How this would all pan out was still a mystery.
Until one day, it all made sense. A seemingly disparate set of skills, experience, and circumstances with plenty of switchbacks and dead-ends put me squarely on the path to—well, my path!
Emotional intelligence is what sets exceptional leaders apart from the pack. Horses, it turns out are masters of emotional agility and excellent leadership coaches. In retrospect, as a lifelong horse enthusiast, I always knew this on some level.
Today I’m fortunate to be doing what I’m meant to do here in this life, on this planet. Combining my corporate and entrepreneurial experience with an intensive study on emotional intelligence and horse wisdom, I’m able to share a unique and entirely alternative approach to self-mastery and team transformation.
This is my life’s work. I couldn’t be more excited to share it with you.
Social Intelligence At Work
Social intelligence is “the capability to effectively navigate and negotiate complex social relationships and environments”.
(These horses are wearing transparent fly masks - not blinders)
Where Are Your
Blind Spots?
Horses have two blind spots, one directly in front of them and one directly behind them. To their credit, they’re keenly aware of their blind spots. Humans? Not always. The beauty of working with horses is that they show us our blind spots, and they do it without judgement. The goal of this work is not to point out each others blind spots and “fix” them. The goal is to harness our instinctual patterns and make them conscious, allowing us to balance the five roles of leadership – dominant, leader, nurturer/companion, sentinel, and predator.
A New Model
Time for A Change
Have you noticed that the old forms of power – command and control styles – are no longer viable? Here, you’ll focus on a different form of power and leadership, one that emphasizes a balanced approach to the five leadership roles. You’ll learn:
- A revolutionary, nature-based leadership model
- How to identify and balance your ‘default’ roles/patterns
- Counter-intuitive tools for conflict resolution
When everyone on your team can balance all five roles – using them at the right time and place – the intelligence, creativity, and power of the entire herd are elevated.
Learn More
Our Mission
Our mission is to transform relationships – through leadership, social intelligence, and conflict resolution – using a model for human organizations adapted from those found among animals.
How It Works
Experiential learning with horses is a fast track to evolving your leadership skills. If you truly want to know how you show up, step into a round pen with a horse. Somehow practicing leadership skills with a thousand pound animal makes it easier to interact with a human of just about any size.
Why HorsePowered?
The nature-based orientation of this work brings a holistic element to learning; one that demands your full presence and participation in a way that few other learning models require… because horses will accept nothing less.