Motivational Speaking
Lisa Fitzhugh
Past Keynotes

A collection of excerpts from past keynote speeches that touch on leadership, introspection, creativity, stepping up, and more.

Past Keynotes
Team Building
Lisa Fitzhugh
Adventure on the High Seas

This essay was based on a vivid and disturbing dream. It describes a large ship of adolescents trying to sail into a fierce storm, unable to harness the power of their collective courage and creativity to save themselves.  It speaks to what’s needed for any team to assemble well and survive such times. 

Adventure on the High Seas
Creativity
Lisa Fitzhugh
A Fool's Errand

In this essay, I highlight the essential role of the fool and his/her capacity to challenge our assumptions about what we accept as the truth, the key to any creative endeavor worth its salt. This may be more relevant now in 2025 than when I wrote it in 2021.

A Fool's Errand
Team Building
Lisa Fitzhugh
An Act of Imagination

During the pandemic we had different experiences of the lockdowns, the virus, and other people’s choices.  I encourage people to consider that we are, each of us, afraid of different things. So if something scary is happening ‘out there,’ it’s important that some people hold less fear, otherwise the collective nervous system would collapse under the strain. 

An Act of Imagination
Leadership Coaching
Lisa Fitzhugh
Leading From the Inside Out

How we lead is directly related to how well we tend to our inner emotional and psychic landscape. Whatever untended ‘business’ inside of us will be projected onto the people around us, especially if we hold more positional authority.   

Leading From the Inside Out

Retreat Facilitation Articles

Beautiful Retreat Locations

Whether it’s a Board of Directors needing to learn more about what makes each other tick or a team needing to get clear about their strategic objectives for the upcoming year, taking time away from the press of institutional demands is an essential investment for people seeking to collaborate.  

After 15 years, I have facilitated too many retreats to count.  Retreat facilitation is now one of my sweet spots.  I always spend time in advance getting to know all the participants, even for just a bit of time.  In this way I can combine what I know about their aspirations for the time together with the real-world challenges of the individuals sitting in the room.  I have witnessed a single day-long retreat catalyze significant change in a group with sustained and positive repercussions for their future together.

Here are just a few of my favorite retreat locations near Seattle, Washington where I live:

Whidbey Institute

I have led several retreats at Whidbey Institute on Whidbey Island located on the territory of the Lower Skagit, Swinomish, Suquamish, and Snohomish tribes in Washington State.  It’s surrounded by 100 acres of mature Pacific Northwest forest, has a diverse array of spaces for convening and sleeping, and puts a primary emphasis on healthy food, some of which is grown from their own garden.  I have retreated there on my own for a solo retreat and found the serenity on this bit of land to be unique. 

Seward Park Audubon Center

The Audubon Center at Seward Park in Seattle is a gem.  Tucked away on the building’s second floor is a warm library complete with working fireplace, to convene a smaller group of up to 12 people.  The staff are exceptionally welcoming and the park and lake surrounding the building provides a perfect escape for solo meandering between sessions.  

Mt. Baker Rowing & Sailing Club

Another prime Seattle-based day-long retreat location is the second floor of the Mt Baker Rowing & Sailing Club.  With a fabulous view of the lake, two balconies, a fireplace and plenty of space for a larger (up to 40 people) group, Mt Baker is a wonderful container for bringing groups together to learn and grow surrounded by the beauty of the PNW.  

Creativity Unleashed

Creativity Unleashed

“As facilitators, we were witness to a startling resurgence of power and energy, a deep longing to come home to ourselves, and a growing belief that we have everything we need to dream in a new world, with all the beauty we can imagine.  A few days after our return, one of retreat participants said she was feeling, ‘an unshakable seam of contentment’ that she had never felt before.”