Kay Peterson is the founder of the Institute for Experiential Learning, a board-certified coach and an organizational development consultant. Kay lives as a lifelong learner and brings an approach of curiosity, creativity and inspiration to her clients. Her previous career roles have included: clinical nurse specialist, sales manager, start-up entrepreneur, family-business owner, CEO, and president of a healthcare and library board. It was not until Kay “learned how to learn” with experiential learning that the lights went on regarding how people change and develop. Now, Kay delivers a creative and direct approach to help leaders and professionals to reach their highest potential at any point in their careers within organizations that are deliberately using the power of learning and development to thrive. She applies the values and ideas of experiential learning with clients and in her own life.
Kay’s goal is to put experiential learning on the agenda of every organizational change and development effort and anyone looking to enact personal change. Her research on learning flexibility is contributing to the already vast body of evidence about the power of learning to transform lives. Together with David A. Kolb, Kay has developed a new Team Learning Report that promotes team effectiveness by helping team members to identify their strengths and link them to the team learning process, and helping teams to employ a shared model of team learning. With Kolb, Kay has also developed a Learning Style Flexibility Profile 360° Assessment that promotes personal and professional development by measuring skills associated with the Learning Styles of the Kolb Learning Style Inventory 4.0.
Kay designs and delivers custom programs for individual development and team effectiveness to support those who are working to simultaneously become more competitive and collaborative. She has worked with professionals in health care, law, service, finance, manufacturing, management, engineering, IT, education and non-profit settings. Kay also serves as a Master Coach at Case Western Reserve Weatherhead Executive Education.
Kay earned a Master of Science degree in Positive Organization and Development and an MBA from Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, a Master of Nursing degree from Emory University, and a Bachelor of Science degree from Vanderbilt University. She is a board-certified coach and Professional Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation. She has earned a Certificate in Appreciative Inquiry in Positive Business and Society Change, a Certificate for Developing Leadership through Emotional Intelligence for Coaching and Sustainable Change, and is certified in the Hay Group Emotional and Social Competency Inventory and the Leadership Circle. Kay has completed post-graduate training at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland in Gestalt Coaching, Training and Somatic Studies. Kay completed the coaching program in Adult Development at the Center for Leadership Maturity. Her current research explores the difference in individual contributors and leaders at different points in their legal careers through a lens of learning style. Her work in experiential learning has been published in Harvard Business Review Guides, Forbes, TD Magazine, OD Practitioner and the Journal of Experiential Learning. She has co-authored two books with David A. Kolb titled How You Learn is How You Live: Using Nine Ways of Learning to Transform Your Life (Berrett-Koehler, 2017) and How You Learn Is How You Live: Personal Development Guide (2017).
Kay can be reached at peterson@experientiallearninginstitute.org.