Barbara Waxman, founder of The Odyssey Group, is passionate about building leaders’ personal and professional skills so they can thrive while increasing their ability to manage complexity and maximize their effectiveness. With over two decades of experience coaching CEOs, C-suite leaders, and entrepreneurs, Barbara utilizes a holistic approach to help clients lead and communicate authentically, sustain high performance, and expand their influence and impact.
Barbara is a highly sought-after coach, workshop leader, and keynote speaker who works with leaders from across the country and abroad. She is a part expert coach, caring truth-teller, strategic thought partner, and accountability advocate, and she buoys her approach with compassion, honesty, research-based expertise, and a light heart. Her experience as a Gerontologist and coach has culminated in the proprietary transformative coaching model and her science-based Five Essential Elements © process.
Barbara has worked in the automotive, financial services, health care, nonprofit, and technology sectors, among others. Barbara serves as an Advisory Council Member for the Stanford Center on Longevity, an Advisory Board Member for Stanford Lifestyle Medicine, a faculty member at Chip Conley’s Modern Elder Academy, and an angel investor in the Active Aging and Longevity Fund with Portfolia. She has appeared on CBS This Morning and has been featured in Marin Magazine, Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global, Next Avenue, and is a frequent podcast guest.
Barbara recently authored How to Avoid Burnout, Provide Exceptional Care, and Enhance Work-Life Integration, a chapter in the upcoming book The Successful Health Care Professional’s Guide: Everything You Need to Know But Weren’t Taught in Training (Springer Publishing). Barbara is also the author of two books examining aging, including The Middlescence Manifesto: Igniting the Passion of Midlife.
Barbara holds master’s degrees in Public Administration and Gerontology from the University of Southern California and is a graduate of Colgate University. She earned her coaching certifications from the International Coach Federation and The Hudson Institute. Originally from New York, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, Scott, and is thankful to have her adult children not too far away.