Own Your Evolution

I spent a lot of years watching people underestimate themselves and telling themselves "no" without even truly considering what's possible.

Capable, accomplished, self-aware people who somehow couldn't see what everyone around them could see clearly. People who had all the ingredients but had talked themselves out of using them. People who knew something needed to change but could not quite name what or how. People willing to tolerate "okay" when being truly fulfilled was well within their grasp. They knew they were capable of (and wanted) more, but couldn't see or remove the hurdles in the way.

This is the work I am pretty sure I was born to do. I know this because it fulfills me, ridiculously so. It's magical what happens when you align your work to what you're good at and you put your whole heart into it.

I am Kim Johnston. I am a coach, a mentor, and advisor, depending on what the moment calls for. I am the person who will probably ask you the question everyone else has been too polite to ask. Possibly tense in the moment, but valuable in the long run. People say I am intuitive and bold, compassionate and inspiring. I see people clearly. Quickly. I help people find the thing underneath the thing, the real question underneath the suspected problem, the real want underneath the stated goal. And I help you build from there.

I have, as they say, been around the block. I also understand what it means to be a woman navigating this particular world at this particular moment. The double standards, the invisible labor, the conditioning we are all carrying whether we can name it or not. I don't work around the reality. I work with it.

Why I Do This Work

After such a long corporate career, I hit a wall. I realized that over time I had stepped further and further away from what I actually enjoyed. I think it happens to the best of us who are driven by achievement. When I finally noticed, I had to get real with myself and embarked on some deep reflection.

I came to terms with the fact that I had succeeded in getting a job that wasn't at all right for me. This was a massive gut punch, because it took a lot of work to get there. But in that reflection, the good news was that I also realized that my first love was still alive and well - coaching and mentoring. I enjoy helping people unlock their potential, dream about the kind of career and life they really want. I love helping people get out of their own way, get clarity on their options, and courageously pursue and achieve it.

I had been coaching and mentoring for a very long time as a part of every role I held, and so the pivot wasn't super dramatic. It was more about what I stopped doing that really changed things. I struck out on my own and haven't looked back.

I called my company The Delta because the delta symbol of a triangle is the change symbol. It's the difference, the shift, what is or needs to be different. That's where the transformation happens and I love the idea of standing in the void with someone, leaning into that liminal space, and figuring out what their delta needs to be.

What I Bring

I bring 25 plus years of corporate leadership experience to this work, including nearly a decade at a 100 billion dollar company. I ascended to the C-suite, and had the opportunity to work in a variety of industries and phases of business. The cool thing about that is that I have experienced all the levels, I have navigated the changes. I understand the politics, the dysfunction, the challenge of growing your career and weight of performing at the highest levels. And probably one of my most valuable assets is that most of my roles included assessment, developing capability, and leading people. Cool backstory, huh?

In terms of my coaching qualifications, I hold a Professional Certified Coach credential through the International Coaching Federation. This is currently the most widely recognized standard in the coaching profession and includes pretty intensive classroom hours, training, independent assessment, and mentor coaching. I am also a trained meditation and mindfulness mentor. For clients who are curious, there is a dimension of this work that goes beyond strategy and planning, a way of getting still enough to finally hear your truest internal voice. Many clients come in skeptical and leave with a practice they did not expect to want, but now love.

I work with people at every crossroads, in every industry, at every stage and level of career. Common themes across my clients is not a particular circumstance. It is a feeling. That something is off, or that something more is possible, or both.

I have never had a client who did not get somewhere meaningful. Not one. Because what they need is always already in there. My job is to help them find it, and then build something real from it.

What It's Like to Work with Me

I am extremely direct. Warm. A little quirky. I have a quickness and sense of humor that is likely to relax and disarm you.

I move fast because I see things quickly and am great at helping you discover what's keeping you from experiencing what you're after.

I am fully present and grounded. I will make you think. And at some point I will likely ask you something that stops you cold because it was just exactly what you needed to hear in order to break through.

I text my clients. I show up between sessions. I am genuinely invested in where you are going and I genuinely care about you getting there.

Somewhere along the way, usually when you least expect it, you will find yourself knowing exactly what you want and how you're going to get there. I don't say this as a promise, more as an observation. Because it always happens.

That is the moment I live for.

Meet Laura. She Makes Everything Better.

What an absolute gift it was to meet Laura Martinez, our Director of Client Experience. I first met Laura as a client. I supported her as she made a massive career transformation. As we celebrated her success and closed out our engagement, we agreed to stay in touch and what developed next was an amazing colleague relationship. It wasn't long before I realized what an absolute asset she would be to The Delta, and I was fortunate that she agreed.

Laura brings more than fifteen years of HR, coaching and mentoring experience in companies ranging from scrappy startups to some of the biggest names in tech. She is warm and intuitive, creative, smart and real. She's usually the first person you'll talk to, and she loves nothing more than listening for what you're really circling around and matching you with the right program. She also knows firsthand what it's like to work with me as a coach and mentor.

Laura will tell you that coaching changed the way she saw her career and herself. She knows firsthand what it feels like to do the reflective work, craft a plan and make a meaningful change that leads you to a place of true fulfillment. That's what made her a believer in the work we do here, and what inspired her to join The Delta. She loves helping people start the first steps that lead to amazing outcomes.

When she's not supporting with clients, you'll find her doing lots of magic behind the scenes as well as co-facilitating gatherings in The Hearth, our community space, where she shows up with the same warmth and directness she brings to every conversation. Witnessing and enabling growth and development light her up, and it shows.