Leadership in the middle
Middle management is getting crushed right now as many employers cut costs in the post-COVID era. I've spent 20+ years in middle and senior management roles from small, scrappy nonprofits to a tech company with over a million people. Regardless of the organization’s size or sector, bad management and leadership have the same harmful effects.
I help managers transform themselves, their strategies, and their systems, so they start to love their work again and deliver inspiring results.
Meet Inger Brinck
Inger Brinck has over 20 years of experience leading and managing people, teams, and complex projects and operations in the social, public, and tech sectors. Until she learned a specific management system, she often struggled to understand how to effectively lead and manage, especially when organizational priorities were unclear or frequently changed. After adopting a structured management system, she and her teams were able to deliver high-value results more quickly
Her passion for helping others led her to the stage and the classroom to share her model for building and sustaining a high-performing management system and activating leadership in everyone.
Inger is a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and has taught different aspects of management and leadership to hundreds of people including doctoral students. She was awarded an instructional fellowship from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Government Excellence and their coaching and consulting clients include Yale University, Global Energy Monitor, Results for America, the City of Seattle, and the City of San Jose.
Inger is a sought-after expert in developing effective management systems that deliver remarkable results for people, teams, organizations of any size. If you’re looking for someone to catalyze excellent management within your organization or team, Inger is the answer.
Inger's Keynotes
In the Shadow of Leadership: Why we need great managers and how to become one
For decades, business has celebrated leaders while sidelining managers. Middle managers are frequent targets of layoffs, despite being the backbone of daily operations and employee engagement. This 50-minute keynote reframes management as a critical, value-driving role. Participants will learn how to transform themselves, their people, and their management systems to consistently deliver incredible results.
Revenge of the Middle Manager: use this framework to outperform your boss!
This is an uneasy time to be a middle manager. Middle managers comprised 30% of white-collar layoffs in 2023 and 2024, up from 20% in 2018. This 50-minute talk gives managers an effective, practical framework to excel as a manager and as a leader and deliver extraordinary results.
Calling all managers: apply this value-driving framework to deliver extraordinary results
For decades, business has celebrated leaders while sidelining managers. Middle managers are frequent targets of layoffs, despite being the backbone of daily operations and employee engagement. This 50-minute keynote reframes management as a critical, value-driving role. Participants will learn how to transform themselves, their people, and their management systems to consistently deliver incredible results.
Testimonials
“Before Inger’s talk, I hadn’t thought about the differences between leadership and management. I finally feel like I understand my role and can have greater impact.”
“Inger Brinck is the real deal. She can navigate facilitation and training like no other. When I have a difficult service to untangle or some management challenges, she is my first call.”
Sandra Ball, Sr. Manager, City of Seattle
Brian Elms, author of Peak Performance and CEO and Founder of Change Agents Training
"Inger trained my team, along with several other departments in structured problem solving. She’s an exceptional facilitator who helped a diverse group come together around a complex challenge that spanned three separate, siloed city agencies. She created a process that kept people engaged, built shared understanding, and led to real progress.
What sets Inger apart is her ability to combine empathy with rigorous analytical thinking. She is kind, caring, and genuinely listens to people, while also being able to unpack complex issues through inquiry, data, statistics, and continuous improvement methods. She moves comfortably between the human side of change and the technical side of solving difficult problems. I would gladly hire her again."
Leah Tivoli,
King County Executive
"I had the pleasure of working with Inger Brinck as a consultant supporting me on an HRIS project. She was a great partner who brought insight, patience, and a strategic perspective to the work. Inger helped us think ahead, strengthen our change management approach, and identify ways to measure user adoption.
Her recommendation to establish a survey baseline early in the project gave us valuable insights and helped us track progress over time. She is a thoughtful listener, collaborative, calm under pressure, and brings practical strategies to help move projects forward.
I would gladly work with Inger again and highly recommend her for any project management or consulting engagement."
Monika Frankowski,
HRIS Analyst
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