By: Anne Power

Award-winning leadership consultant and international keynote speaker Jacqueline D. Young introduces FIERCE™, a six-month private executive leadership experience for high-achieving women. Delivered through The MindShift Coach™, the program applies her MindShift Leadership Method™ to address unconscious behavioral patterns, emotional conditioning, and stress responses that can contribute to perfectionism, over-responsibility, and exhaustion, particularly during midlife.

FIERCE combines leadership psychology, nervous system regulation and individualized coaching to support women in developing greater self-trust and clearer boundaries within Young’s signature Calm Authority leadership framework.

“My position is that midlife does not have to represent decline, loss of relevance, or a woman becoming less capable. For many women, it may be the point at which they stop giving their authority away,” Young says.

Addressing Leadership Patterns Among High-Achieving Women

FIERCE addresses a challenge Young has encountered throughout her career. The qualities that help women succeed professionally can also contribute to exhaustion.

Competence, diplomacy, emotional awareness, and anticipating others’ needs often earn recognition. However, when these qualities become tied to identity, approval or personal worth, setting boundaries can become increasingly difficult.

Young considers this challenge particularly relevant during midlife, when changing priorities and professional demands may prompt women to question long-standing expectations. For women conditioned from an early age to be agreeable, accommodating, and responsible for everyone else’s needs, professional success can come with an unspoken willingness to tolerate circumstances they would never encourage another woman to accept.

Midlife can interrupt that pattern, creating a moment to ask, “Is this still what I want, or have I simply become very good at being who everyone else needs me to be?” Young’s approach examines how these learned behaviours continue influencing leadership decisions and how women can begin making those decisions with greater awareness and choice.

A former CEO, Young brings more than 35 years of experience in education and executive leadership. Her career progressed from classroom teacher to principal and ultimately director of education, serving as CEO of an Ontario school board responsible for more than 15,000 students and thousands of staff.

Her understanding of these challenges also reflects personal experience. Despite decades of managing complex organizations, Young encountered the physical and emotional toll of sustained vigilance and over-responsibility. Her subsequent study of hypnosis, human behavior, and unconscious responses contributed to the development of her leadership approach.

Young holds a master’s degree in counseling and earned Certified Clinical Master Hypnotist and Master Trainer credentials through the International Association of Counselors and Therapists in 2025.

Inside the Six-Month FIERCE Leadership Experience

FIERCE applies Young’s MindShift Leadership Method™ through a six-element process: Focused, Intentional, Embodied, Regulated, Clear, and Empowered.

The process examines the habits and automatic responses influencing how women handle pressure, make decisions, and exercise authority. It emphasizes translating greater self-awareness into practical changes in boundaries, emotional responses, and leadership behavior.

Central to the program is Young’s Calm Authority framework, a leadership approach combining steadiness under pressure with clear boundaries and intentional action.

Following an initial consultation to establish fit, participants begin with a MindShift Leadership Assessment™ designed to identify patterns influencing their leadership.

The six-month private experience includes two 60-minute individual coaching sessions per month, along with personalized voice note and email support between sessions.

Through this structure, FIERCE focuses on understanding the underlying influences on leadership responses and applying that awareness to professional situations. The experience addresses patterns associated with perfectionism, emotional conditioning, and over-responsibility.

Building on Young’s Executive Leadership Experience

FIERCE extends the body of work explored in Young’s signature keynote, From Good Girl to Fierce Leader, which examines how early expectations around being agreeable, capable and dependable can follow women into positions of authority.

Her leadership approach draws on professional experience, counseling, and advanced training in clinical hypnosis to examine the unconscious patterns influencing behavior and decision-making.

Young’s work has received industry recognition. She was named among Grit Daily’s Ones to Watch for 2026, syndicated on Apple News, and The MindShift Coach™ was recognized as one of CEO Vision’s 10 Best Companies to Watch 2025.

The introduction of FIERCE brings Young’s MindShift Leadership Method™ into a structured six-month private experience focused on helping high-achieving women develop Calm Authority through greater self-awareness and intentional leadership practices.

More information about FIERCE™ and the MindShift Leadership Method™ is available at the-mindshift-coach.com.