About

Pavese Insights Lab

The work begins where the usual playbooks stop.

Most leadership breakdowns aren't performance failures. They're identity mismatches between who someone has been and what the work now requires.

That gap has a name, a structure, and a pattern that shows up reliably across career stages, industries, and leadership types.

I'm Dr. Liz Pavese, organizational psychologist, researcher, and advisor. I've spent nearly two decades inside and alongside high-growth organizations, startups, consultancies, enterprise tech and healthcare — not as an outside observer but as a senior leader who lived the same inflection points my clients now bring to me.

My work is grounded in behavioral science and built around a proprietary framework for understanding how identity transitions unfold — from the first signals of friction to the work of building a new operating system. That framework is what makes this practice structurally different from coaching or consulting as most people experience it.

I work with senior executives and corporate leaders at inflection points, founders navigating identity compression as their companies scale, and organizations where leadership identity drift has become a systemic problem.

The approach is structured, direct, and grounded in research. There is no reinvention narrative here, just rigorous thinking about what's actually happening and what moves it forward.

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My Credentials

  • Ph.D., Industrial/Organizational Psychology

  • ICF Credentialed Executive Coach

  • 19 years across Workday, Qualtrics, CoachHub, Limeade, & Healthfirst

  • Speaker: ATD, SHRM, Gartner ReImagine SIOP, Workday Rising, and more.

  • Author, The In-Between (forthcoming) Contributing author, The Coaching Buyer's Guide & The Ethical Coaches Handbook (Routledge)

Full Bio

Who I Work With

High-performing Professionals in Transition

People at career crossroads who need clarity, not hustle — and want to move forward without repeating old patterns.

Across roles, industries, and stages, the common thread is this: I work with high-capacity individuals and leadership teams at moments where who they are becoming matters as much as what they do next.

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Women Leaders & Entrepreneurs

Operating in complex systems who want authority, alignment, and sustainability — not burnout or over-accommodation.

Founders, Startup Leaders, & Executives

Navigating identity shifts as the company grows, leadership pressure increases, and earlier ways of operating stop working.

  • "I was fortunate enough to work with Liz over the course of a year. She helped me navigate territory that has always been challenging for me - salary negotiations, assessing new career opportunities, what leadership can look like as an introvert. One of my favorite things about working with Liz is her ability to redirect the conversation, guide, and question my assumptions in order to help recenter myself and my truths. I have several practices and tools that came out of our work together that have been central to how I’m moving forward."

    —Lara A., Sr Research Associate

  • "Your time, expertise and support with our Strategy Session was invaluable. Having you on board made us more organized and accountable and I'm looking forward to working more on the Vision and Strategic position to get them to a place we're all excited about!"

    –CEO of a Fine Arts Gallery Group

  • "When I faced difficult situations, you demonstrated remarkable emotional intelligence in recognising exactly when I needed encouragement to build confidence and when I needed to be pushed beyond my comfort zone. This allowed me to gain new perspectives that would have remained inaccessible had you only focused on validation."

    —Jyoti M., Principal ML Engineer

  • "Liz was my coach during a significant transition in my career when I struggled with imposter syndrome. She created space for me to reflect by using intentional pauses and strategic questions. She also pinpointed patterns she observed, which helped me become more self-aware. Through her coaching, I was able to feel more confident in my new manager role and left with a clearer vision on how I wanted to show up. "

    —Minni K., Organizational Effectiveness Manager

  • "The strategy overview you prepared and shared on the first day was essential to helping us understand the scope and purpose for product strategy; and your facilitation throughout the workshop helped us narrow our focus and walk away with the foundations of a new strategic direction for [product]. "

    —Ken K., Sr Director, Product Management