THE BLINDSPOT STRATEGIST
Most leaders have blindspots they can't see, gaps between how they perceive themselves and how others experience them. These aren't weaknesses to hide. They're opportunities to leverage.
Traditional leadership development treats blindspots as deficits to fix. We take a different approach. Through our proprietary methodology, we help leaders identify, understand, and strategically transform their blindspots into competitive advantages.
This reframe changes everything. Instead of asking "What's wrong with me?" our clients learn to ask "What is this situation asking of me?" That single shift transforms how leaders approach development, relationships, and high-stakes moments.
THE FORMULA
The 3D Authentic Presence (3DAP)® Formula
Define What - The External Realities
What is the reality of the situation in front of you? The role, the structure, the expectations, the deliverables, the dynamics you don’t control.
Discern You - The Internal Realities
What is the reality of your internal situation? What you’re thinking, feeling, and sensing — and why. Most of us over-weight one of the three and call it a read.
Decide Next - The Aligned Action
With both sets of realities in view, the question becomes: what is this situation really asking of me?
Our Approach
Our approach integrates the science of leadership development with 30+ years of real-world executive experience.
Through the registered 3D Authentic Presence (3DAP)® Formula — Define, Discover, Decide — we help leaders uncover the blindspots that silently shape how they’re perceived, and transform them into their greatest competitive advantages.
Neuroscience-Informed
Approach
Our methods are grounded in brain-based research on how leaders build presence, influence, and trust.
Owned and Certified
Instruments
The registered 3D Authentic Presence (3DAP)® Formula and 3DAP® Audit, plus certification in ECHO Listening Intelligence®, Birkman®, CliftonStrengths®, and Leadership Circle Profile® — each selected to meet your specific development goals.
ICF-Credentialed
Standards
All coaching adheres to the highest professional standards — Master Certified Coach (MCC) level.
Fortune 500
Experience
Every engagement is informed by 30+ years of senior-level talent management across seven industries — so your coaching is grounded in what actually works at the highest levels.
WHAT D2D MEANS
Transitions D2D — Discernment to Decision.
The name came in 2012, in the middle of one. A company I loved reorganized. Life had reorganized too. And I noticed that the hardest part was never the transition itself — it was the moment inside it when I had to choose, without enough information and without enough time.
I tried the softer version first. Discovery to Decision. It never held. Discernment is the harder word and the truer one: it’s what you do when the answer isn’t obvious, the stakes are real, and the decision is still yours to make.
Define the external realities. Discover your internal realities. That work is the discernment. Deciding is what brings you back to your real you — even in the chaos.
The name has described the method since before there was a book, a formula, or a registered trademark. I’ve been practicing it through my own transitions for longer than I’ve been teaching it — which is why I can sit with a leader in the middle of hers without needing her to have it figured out first.
The principles behind every engagement:
GRACE
DIGNITY
RESPECT
MEET THE FOUNDER
Sheila R. Carmichael, MCC, M.Ed.
Master Certified Coach | Leadership Consultant | The Blindspot Strategist™
Most leadership development focuses on what’s visible — skills, competencies, performance metrics. Sheila focuses on what’s not: the patterns, assumptions, and blind spots that silently shape how leaders are perceived and whether they advance.
With three decades of Fortune 500 talent management experience across seven industries, and senior executive roles at organizations including Ernst & Young, VF Corporation, State Farm, and Aramark, Sheila has spent her career on the inside of high-stakes leadership decisions — watching who gets promoted, who gets overlooked, and why.
She holds the Master Certified Coach credential and brings a practitioner’s depth that most consultants simply can’t. She is also the author of PRESENCE: Self-Coaching Strategies to Ignite Your Authentic Leadership and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Business Administration in Organizational Leadership.
Sheila founded Transitions D2D with a singular focus: helping VPs and Directors navigate the transitions that define careers — using the same blind spots others try to fix as the foundation for authentic competitive advantage.
Her signature question is simple: What is this situation asking of you? The answer always reveals more than the problem.
When she’s not in the coaching chair, you’ll find her on a Pilates reformer, listening to jazz, or planning her next passport stamp.