Kat Tansey is an inspirational teacher, coach and author who has trained thousands of people and consulted with over fifty corporations to help them meet the challenges of change.  She began her coaching career in the seventies, translating the mysteries of computer technology for her clients to help them overcome their fear of the unknown and become proficient and empowered users of high tech.  

Kat found her role model early in life – the girl sleuth so popular when she was growing up, Nancy Drew. She didn’t just read about Nancy Drew, she was Nancy Drew – always curious, seeing everything as a mystery to be solved, finding immense joy in putting the pieces together to solve a puzzle, any puzzle.  Combine this with the fact that Kat grew up in Kodiak, Alaska when it was still a territory, and you have captured Kat’s essence – Nancy Drew in Pioneerland.

While studying for her MBA, Kat was puzzled by the difference between what management books said happened in organizations and what she had experienced moving up the ladder in real life, so she developed a class for UCLA’s Management School on then relatively obscure topic of Organizational Power and Politics. This highly successful offering combined classroom instruction, guest speakers from business, small group work, journaling, and individual coaching into a powerful experience that helped enrollees make sense of and transform their often painful organizational lives into rich and rewarding growth experiences.

After twenty years of helping people and organizations change, Kat created and co-authored Winning the Change Game, based on a Change Model she developed. Her model is as pertinent today as it was twenty years ago, a reflection of her ability to capture the essence of any process and create a visual model that can be broadly applied. When corporations began merging and downsizing in the late eighties, Kat was brought in as Vice President of a thriving outplacement firm. She adapted her Change Model for coaching executive clients through the often difficult transition of dealing with loss, anger and uncertainty to emerge with confidence and enthusiasm about new directions in their lives and careers.

Then, after many years as a dynamic, energetic champion of change, Kat herself was faced with a big one – she was literally laid flat by an unknown illness which would later become known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She began a lonely chapter in her life, her own journey into the unknown, where in order to get well, she needed to learn how to shift from doing to being. Her new book, Choosing to Be: Lessons in Living from a Feline Zen Master, is the heartwarming story of how Kat found her way back to an active life. In her book, she tells how she discovered a new way of seeing the world, and learned that being is more important than doing, because you can’t always do – but you can always be.

As a result of her own profound experiences with personal change and her years of experience in helping scores of individuals cope with their own transitions, Kat was recently selected as the Exceptional Wisdom scholar on personal change.  In this role, Kat will continue to research and write about the latest developments in the subject of personal change, an issue ever more important in view of the accelerating pace of change in our society.  Her latest book, Walking with Wisdom, is scheduled for publication in late 2009.

Kat’s current passion is helping women discover the magic of midlife. In addition to providing teleseminars and one-on-one coaching, Kat has teamed up with her good friend, Nancy Marriott, to provide a group coaching program to support and empower women in connecting with the joy of life.  Kat and Nancy are also the co-hosts of a weekly talk show, Finding the Magic in Midlife, which airs every Thursday afternoon on Exceptional Wisdom Radio.

Kat lives with her partner, Greg, in the small community of Ojai, California, where she enjoys reading, writing, kayaking, and taking long reflective walks along Southern California’s beautiful coast line.

Praise for Kat's Latest Book

Cats, meditation, and the quest for inner peace—what could be better! Choosing to Be is an intriguing guide to Buddhist meditation and philosophy, with a special twist. Read it and be inspired.

Carol Kline, co-author
Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul

 

Choosing to Be is destined to affect millions of lives. This captivating and inspiring story illuminates a surprising, yet simple pathway from inner turmoil to inner peace. Kat Tansey is every bit as wise as her eclectic team of Buddha masters.

Mary E. Allen
The Power of Inner Choice

 

We could all live more joyful lives if we learn the lessons in Choosing to Be.

Aurora Winter
From Heartbreak to Happiness

 

Kat discovers and uses Buddhist meditation to free herself from the bonds of depression. Along the way, she gains the incomparable experience of no thought and resumes her life's journey. Choosing to Be is a smart, well written story of finding the key. You'll want to keep it on your book shelf so you can read it again and again.

Howard Eaton
The Mystic

I have lived with several Zen masters – all of them cats.

Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

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