About me
I bring together two worlds that are rarely joined: leadership and high performance on one side, inner healing, energy and sacred tradition on the other. I have lived in both, and my work grows from where they meet.
At its root is my own healing path. I came to this work through my own history, not only through training, and I have experienced what becomes possible when old wounds are met with care. That path has long since become the ground I stand on.
I work as a coach, NARM therapist and psychedelic-assisted therapist. Those are the titles. Energy work and shamanic work need no titles; they simply are.
For many years I studied energy work with Lynda Caesara and other teachers of the traditions of the Americas. Learning to perceive energy has fundamentally changed, and continues to change, the way I see life. I am also deeply shaped by the plant medicine traditions of the Shipibo in the Peruvian Amazon and of the Taitas of the Putumayo in Colombia. Deep personal work with Ayahuasca/Yagé, master plants and sacred medicine has been among my most profound teachers.
Leadership is not theory for me. For more than 25 years I worked in strategy consulting at McKinsey and Oliver Wyman, most recently as Senior Partner, thriving on success and working countless hours. I understand the intensity of that world, its rewards and its price, and I still speak its language. Today I work with leadership teams as part of Cultivating Leadership and teach at universities.
My life rests on different foundations today. I have rebuilt fundamental beliefs about the world, left the hamster wheel behind, and live with a balanced approach to self-awareness and human connection, with warmth, humour and joy. Sharing what has been given to me, by opening a caring space for others, is my calling.
I am deeply grateful: for life, for my teachers and mentors, for the plant medicines and the people who carry their traditions, and for the many souls who have supported me along the way. I remain a humble apprentice to life, and curious, for the journey continues.
Life, with all its messiness and beauty, moves me again and again.
References
Trusted by experienced leaders and wise mentors:
Dr Jennifer Garvey Berger, CEO Cultivating Leadership, Author, Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps and Changing on the Job.
"Michael combines a brilliant mind and open and curious spirit with a full and loving heart (and perhaps a dash of mischief). There is the expression “well-rounded” to describe someone who is multidimensional, but well-rounded is not quite multi-dimensional enough to describe Michael. He engages at every level—with the facility of a deeply experienced consultant and business leader, with the sensitivity of a highly skilled therapist, and with the creativity of an artist. I feel expanded and also grounded by my conversations with him and lucky to have him among my treasured advisors.”
Amy Elizabeth Fox, CEO, Mobius Executive Leadership
"Michael is a seasoned advisor and a loving practitioner who has studied the path of the mature masculine, attuned relationship and the arc of healing earlier hurts. He can accompany his clients in intimate and profound processes of self-exploration, integration and expansion."
Zafer Achi, Partner at Cultivating Leadership, Ex-McKinsey Director
"Michael brings to life and to his clients an extraordinarily precious combination: hard-nosed, analytically grounded business acumen; playful embrace of uncertainty; and the caring touch of a practiced therapist. If I were given the chance to do it all over again, I would emulate his boundless curiosity, I would match his humble pursuit of learning, including on the spiritual path, and I would dream of seeing wisdom blossom so early in myself."
Paul Dunion, EdD, teacher, author - "My Days with Emma" and "Wisdom", modern mystic
"Rather than viewing psychological resistance as an impediment to human development, Michael Lierow sees it as an act of self-care. From such a perspective there is no need to struggle and fight with change. Transformation becomes an invitation leading to depth and meaning, ushered in by gentleness and acceptance."