Michael Karlsrud, M.Ed
Executive Mentor • CEO • Speaker • Founder of Powered By Ü
I’ve spent my life in leadership, building businesses, working with executives, guiding teams, and walking alongside individuals who carry significant responsibility.
Over time, I noticed something consistent: leaders rarely struggle because they lack ability. They struggle because they rarely have a place to step out of their role and be honest.
My work grew from that understanding.
I don’t approach leadership as a problem to solve.
I approach it as a human experience shaped by pressure, expectation, identity, and choice.
The leaders I work with aren’t looking to be fixed.
They’re looking for clarity, steadiness, and perspective.
They want someone who can sit with them without an agenda and help them hear themselves again.
My life and career have prepared me for this work in one simple way:
- I know how to hold space.
- I know how to listen.
- I know how to tell the truth kindly.
- And I know how to help leaders find their way back to themselves.
It’s a conversation and a relationship built on trust, presence, and honesty.
If that’s what you’re looking for, I’d be glad to talk.
What if everything you ever wanted was just on the other side of a conversation?
I HAVE WORKED WITH CEOS, C-SUITE EXECUTIVES, AND COMPANY FOUNDERS TO KNOW…
Leaders experience stress to a degree few can relate to.
Isolation
It can feel lonely at the top. Having an experienced mentor in your corner can help simplify the complex issues you’re wrestling with which decreases your stress.
Imposter Syndrome
Even though they have the top seat, even seasoned leaders often feel scared their employees or board of directors will figure out they’re winging it.
Decision Fatigue
It’s common to be too close to a situation. Many of my executive clients feel unsure about decisions on critical issues and enjoy having an objective perspective.
Work-Life-Balance
Most leaders work long hours and struggle with work spilling into every area of their lives. Michael gives them proven stress relief and life balance practices that truly work.
Authenticity
Leaders often feel like they live in a “fishbowl.” They worry about being judged in their community and often feel unsure about who to be at and away from work.
Self-Doubt
Negative mind chatter is a human condition that can undermine even the most confident leaders. Michael helps his clients quiet their doubts and tune into their strengths!
Conflict Difficulty
Effective advisors are skilled problem-solvers who can help the advisee identify solutions to their challenges, think strategically, and develop action plans.
Productivity & Focus
Advisors should be adaptable, able to adjust their approach based on the advisee’s evolving needs and circumstances.
“It is not the critic who counts…
Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
— THEODORE ROOSEVELT
April 23, 1910