Rossella Derickson

Author and Starting Over Crossroads workshop leader

Conflict and harmony, the foundation of an Italian American, that’s me. I’m a biochemist who couldn’t stand working in a laboratory so I segued over to “people” jobs - sales, marketing, coaching, organizational effectiveness. That last one was difficult because people in groups are very hard to herd. I founded Corporate Wisdom working with labor unions to high tech/biotech companies. Leading a Silicon Valley HR/OD network gave me access to the best and brightest in organizational effectiveness at Google, Intel, Oracle, Adobe, and Genentech.

 

As a Performance and Culture Strategist at Stanford Graduate School of Business I worked with teams that had been merged, had lost members, gained new bosses. I advised leaders and their team members on how to navigate change. Leadership is not for the timid. For me, it was second nature. As a little girl playing with Barbie, I imagined myself as a jet-setting executive. That dream came true.

Life for me swings in seven year cycles of starting over – marriage, divorce, children, widowhood. And dating when you are ages 20, 40 and 60 – yikes! I was figuring out “who am I” at each juncture. I became legal guardian to two precious teenagers. It’s been my pride and joy to see them make their way in the world with a level of assurance beyond their years.

And now I am co-authoring a dual memoir, Starting Over: Two women reveal those crossroads that made them and sometimes broke them. With this venture, I get to start over telling our stories and those of others around the world.

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