Barbara Rapaport:

A person who passionately believes the answers are always in the room.

About Barbara.

What I Do.

Through my coaching and consulting firm, Real­-time Perspectives, I work with organizations and individuals to create the appropriate context for the answers in the room to surface. I guide local, national and global clients to reflect deeply on where they want to go ­­ and help them say aloud what’s getting in their way.

Whether I’m working with emerging leaders or an executive team, I’m a coach, consultant and collaborator.

In my previous role on the Executive Management Team at Steelcase, Inc., I was inspired to create my “real-time” approach to leadership development. I successfully engaged senior leaders in immediate and ongoing development activities as they grappled with current business challenges. This created a solid foundation for enhanced performance and strategic agility. Today I use my signature ability to connect with professionals, at every stage of their career, to develop the next generation of competent and confident leaders.

What I Believe.

My consulting practice is grounded in the principles associated with Harvard Professor Robert Kegan’s Theory of Adult Development, which suggests that, regardless of family background, intelligence, age or job title, how you know about the world is as critical as what you know about it. In other words, your assumptions and filters determine how you assign meaning to the world and your role in it. The theory defines this as your “meaning ­making system.”

I integrate this theory across my consulting practice because I have seen how the framework, thoughtfully applied, accelerates the discovery of (sometimes previously hidden) beliefs that limit rather than expand your potential.

I believe in developing specific strategies that support you in stepping back, reflecting and thinking outside of yourself before assigning meaning to an action or event. By using this process, I’m able to help you shed the dangerous assumptions and filters that are making you feel dissatisfied, overwhelmed or undervalued.

Marc Whinnem, Vice President of Operations | Hospitality Business Network Solutions

“Barbara was very adaptable to my style of thinking. I could tell that her personality and her style was different than mine, but she was able to really help me understand, and definitely set me up for success with the tools she provided me to self-reflect and reframe conversations.”

Zachary Verhulst, Managing Principal | Pure Architects

“Barbara shares tools that empower me to manage my emotions and normalize my fears. She  continues to remind me that how I relate to my “ideal” self is totally within my control. The fingerprints she has placed on my life continue to make me a better father, husband, and colleague. Her legacy will always live among the ripple effect of my interactions with others.”

My Background.

  • Certified by the Grand Rapids Chamber as a Diverse Business Enterprise, is the only West Michigan certification program offered to minority, veteran, women, and LGBTQ+ owned businesses.

    Certified to teach the Immunity to Change™ coaching process, alongside its authors, Dr. Robert Kegan and Dr. Lisa Lahey of Minds at Work (Boston, MA)

    Certified by Minds at Work to administer the Subject-Object Interview, an assessment used to determine an individual’s stage of adult development (based on Harvard Professor Robert Kegan’s Theory of Adult Development)

    Certified by The Leadership Circle to administer several leadership and organizational culture assessments; the one employed most frequently is The Leadership Circle Profile™

    Certified by Hogan Assessments to administer personality assessments that are used to support talent acquisition and talent development efforts

  • Facilitations

    Three custom-designed leadership workshops – “Leadership Advantage,” “Leading Edge,” and “Leadership: An Inside-Out Perspective,” Grand Rapids Chamber, Grand Rapids, MI

    “Rising Women Leaders,” Huntington Bank, Grand Rapids, MI

    “Immunity to Change™ Coach Certification Program,” Minds at Work, Boston, MA

    “Immunity to Change™,” Executive Integral Leadership Program, Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN

    “Immunity to Change™,” Lookstein Center, Bar Ilan University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Guest Lectures

    “Organizational Culture,” Graduate School of Education, Western Michigan University, Grand Rapids, MI

    “Adult Development Seminar,” Business Economics Residency, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Speaking Engagements

    “Empowerment,” keynote speaker for Open Systems Technologies, Grand Rapids, MI

    “Leading the Culture of Your Choice,” Energize Your Business Conference, Grand Rapids Chamber, Grand Rapids, MI

    “How to Maintain Personal Resilience in the Midst of Life’s Noise and Chaos,” Women in Manufacturing, MI

    “Conflict Resolution,” Girl Scouts of Michigan Shore to Shore, Walker, MI

    “What’s at Stake when Women Hold Back,” Jewish Family Services of Greenwich, CT

    “Why You Might Consider Being Your Own Best Friend,” Athena Leadership Forum (sponsored by the Grand Rapids Chamber), Grand Rapids, MI

    “Navigating Complexity,” Acrisure, Grand Rapids, MI

  • BA in American Studies, Douglass College, New Brunswick, NJ; elected to Phi Beta Kappa Society

    MS in Rehabilitation Counseling, Boston University, Boston, MA

  • Advisory Board, The Keynes Centre, Cork, Ireland

    Board of Directors, Paws With a Cause, Wayland, MI

    Board of Directors, Jewish Federation of Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids, MI

  • Reimagined by: Barbara Rapaport, 2021

    With extraordinary self-awareness, Reimagined toggles back and forth between Rapaport’s adult cancer journey and the childhood trauma that gave rise to false beliefs. Her story beautifully illustrates a truth many of us live with: that our childhood demons are never very far away. But with courage and fortitude we can gain the perspective necessary to acquire what’s long avoided us: radical self-acceptance.

    Leadership Coaching Toolkit by: Barbara Rapaport, 2019

    A series of four workbooks designed to help you identify some of the underlying beliefs that are likely impacting your leadership effectiveness but are not yet on your radar. Knowing what these beliefs are means you can do something about them. The workbooks also guide you in defining a Leadership Purpose and learning how to apply thoughtfully curated leadership skills that will help you develop on an accelerated basis. The workbooks are part of the syllabus in several of Barbara’s workshops.

  • National Small Business Association (NSBA), named to Leadership Council, 2024

    West Michigan Literacy Center. Community Engagement Award, 2023

    Grand Rapids Chamber’s Center for Community Leadership, Distinguished Community Trustee, 2019

    Efficacy of Immunity to Change Coaching for Leadership Development, The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Inna Markus, Sage Publishing, 2016, Vol. 52(2) 215-230
    Recognition for role in “masterful delivery” of Immunity to Change™ coaching to the client group identified in the study.

    Immunity to Change by: Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey, Harvard University Press 2009
    Recognition for role in providing “preparation suggestions” for Chapter 10

    Helping Educators Grow by: Eleanor Drago-Severson, Harvard Education Press 2012
    Recognition for role as author’s “coach” in the Immunity to Change™ Coach Certification Program

Who I Serve.

As founder and president of Real-­time Perspectives, Inc., I have coached hundreds of established executives and rising leaders locally, nationally and internationally. I have been privileged to serve more than 100 client organizations, including Fortune 500 corporations, educational and health care institutions, professional service organizations, government and nonprofit agencies and young entrepreneurs. Some are tasked with facilitating extremely complex global public-private partnerships; others face performance challenges that often keep them awake at night.