About Chris Roberts
1500+ hours of coaching. Expert in Integral Coaching harnessing the psychology and neurobiology of human development for profound transformations.
20+ years driving technology change. Expert in driving technology change across complex organizations.
Passionate about leveraging the science of adult development to address our most challenging social problems
What if our work was a pathway to personal growth?
In my life and work, I have felt a constant, intense calling that there is something more. Something more we could be contributing, something more we collectively could be creating — more impact, more innovation, more vibrancy, more evolution.
Yet in my own journey, I have often encountered the beliefs and structures that resist “more”.
I saw this in my experience as an Air Force Officer and throughout my 20-year career of driving technology transformations — tremendous energy was required for even minor change.
What is this gravity that holds us back? With the talent and resources of modern corporations, I can imagine the amazing impact in our world if we can just find a way to escape its grip.
I also felt this gravity in my own life where I found breakthroughs only when faced with great personal pain — overwhelming feelings of being stuck or alone. The loss of a job. A relationship unraveled. While every challenge allowed me to shatter old patterns and limitations, I wondered, “What if I could create a shift without waiting for painful experiences? What if I could grow intentionally? What if we all could?”
I decided to deepen and formalize my knowledge of both the science and the collective wisdom we have about human growth and development. I learned there is extensive research we can leverage to drive our development. I learned there’s a deep interiority that science can’t reach and can only be explored through introspection and practice.
All that study and research, all of those practices, have led me to my work as an Transformation coach, where I help people and teams rise above all that has been holding them back.
More about Chris
I love living in San Francisco with my husband Trey, and our two dogs, Monroe and Jefferson.
-
We each sense and desire a profound shift in aspects of our lives, work, and community.
Sustainable change happens when we re-imagine old beliefs and assumptions, get comfortable with disruption, and experiment with new moves.
Creativity and how we uniquely bring things into the world define our value and contribution, not our output.
We do our best work when we are fully human and fully ourselves at work.
Bureaucracy and power hierarchies stifle our natural human innovation and aliveness.
Leadership must be a creative, artistic, embodied expression of who we are.
-
There are things that energize and delight me — but nothing brings me as much excitement or fulfillment as helping others make the changes in their lives they most need and want.
There is no magic pill, secret, or one-size-fits-all solution to transformation. Personal development is hard work that can feel almost impossible alone, but with wise guidance and support it can happen. We really can become who we want to become. We really can get to places we always wanted to go, but felt stuck and unable to reach.
Basically, we can create the Profound Shifts we want to see.
The logo for Profound Shift is three nested circles. To me, they echo how change unfolds in stages.
We examine our current way of being and the limitations it brings.
Next, we envision a new way of being and the change that it represents.
Finally, we engage in the hard work of reflection, practice, learning, and adaption to replace the thoughts, patterns, habits and systems of the old way, with the thoughts, patterns, habits and systems of the new way.
Ideally we do this over and over again as we keep growing, adapting, and thriving throughout our lives.
-
I’m currently reading, Caste by Isabel Wilkerson (my running audio book), and The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate American by David Whyte.
What I’m currently training for: The Aids Lifecycle, a 7 day, 545 mile bike ride from San Francisco to LA.
My favorite guilty pleasure is a week in NYC seeing as much theater as I can.
I remodeled a single engine airplane (Piper Cherokee 6) and enjoy flying it on weekend trips. I once flew it from coast-to-coast landing only at small, almost hidden air strips.
My all time favorite books are The Shining by Stephen King, and Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hoffstader (a pretty obscure, but fun look at Artificial Intelligence)
As a city person, one of my favorite past times is simply walking through a brand new neighborhood to discover what secrets it offers.
-
Certified Integral Master Coach™️
Integral Coaching CanadaAssociate Certified Coach (A.C.C.)
International Coaching Federation (I.C.F.)Masters Business Administration (M.B.A), Organizational Development
University of California, BerkeleyMaster of Science, Computer Science
Air Force Institute of TechnologyBachelor of Science, Computer Science
U.S. Air Force Academy