💎 Speaking Case Study: The Science of Character Strengths — Using What’s Strong to Do What Matters
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Client Context: A professional association for project managers invited Ruth to provide a workshop at their conference.
Challenge: Project managers are often overwhelmed by constant change and hybrid work stress. They were defaulting to overused strengths (persistence, leadership, discipline) and losing empathy, humor, and perspective. Project managers are not usually identified as being at high risk of burnout, and yet Ruth hears all the time that they are indeed, burning out just as she did.
Engagement: Ruth delivered an interactive session using the VIA Character Strengths framework. Participants identified their top five strengths, mapped how they showed up under stress (through the lens of the Nervous System Economy), and learned to rebalance them for greater psychological safety and performance. They practiced spotting strengths in others using storytelling and deep listening.
Outcome: Post-event surveys showed over 80% of attendees planned to integrate strength-based practices into their workday, and more than half committed to a 7-day challenge of spotting strengths in others to build engagement. Research by Gallup has shown that awareness of character strengths is a launching off point for employees, and that managers who cultivate strengths are more like to have highly productive and resilient teams
Key Insight: Your strengths can save you or sink you — it depends on whether you use them from stress or stability.
Attendee Comments: "It was very interesting to learn about the top character strengths ... Also interesting to learn about the least frequently reported. I liked getting her favorite assessment ideas. I will get creative with sharing observations about what stands out about people I work with." Project Manager
"The first valuable element I learned was how to take someone's favorite color, their definition of their hero, and a proud moment and be able to identify strengths within moments." Project manager
"we wanted to take immediate action to "care for the world" and people suffering as COVID hit hard in early 2020. We immediately went to work collaborating on "United in Strengths" offering free in-depth weekly webinars focused on character strengths application,... We didn't stop bringing people together...and sharing resources until we hit more than 80 weeks in a row.", Ryan Niemiec, Director of Education & Research, VIA Institute on Character I strongly recommend Ruth
It was an absolute pleasure to have Ruth Pearce from Pearce Insights lead a training session during our recent strategy meeting for the NCPMI Board of Directors. Ruth's expertise in tailoring her presentation to resonate with our specific needs was exceptional. Her ability to speak in the language of her audience, adapting to our unique context and challenges, was not just impressive but incredibly effective. Damien Perez, NCPMI President
Other audiences: PMI Global Conference, Suffolk University Law School; Boston Scientific; Wellcoaches | Center of Coaching Excellence; Johnson Lambert; VIA Institute on Character; LinkedIn Learning, Cone Health, PMI EMEA Congress,
🌱 Speaking Case Study: The Science of Hope — When Hope Is a Strategy
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Client Context: Wellcoaches, Center of Coaching Excellence provides training for coaches in healthcare. They brought Ruth in for a workshop series as part of the members ongoing training. Participants had the option to attend an online session live or watch the recording. The other sessions were on Character Strengths, Bravery & Curiosity
Challenge: Attendees work with clients across multiple industries in various states of health. Often their clients have tried other ways to achieve their health goals. For these coaches, the standard understanding of hope as a passive and external resource, is not helpful because clients have to own their health journey. Focusing specifically on the strength of hope is not an obvious choice.
Engagement: Ruth led an experiential workshop exploring hope as a self-regulation and performance strategy. Using her bar prep experience as a metaphor for sustained uncertainty, she guided participants through Hope Mapping and introduced the Nervous System Economy (NSE) framework to help them recognize when their system was too depleted to problem-solve effectively.
Outcome: Participants reported a renewed sense of agency and practical clarity. They were excited to share real practical insights into hope as a learned skill and left with clear evidence, founded on research that hope is a valuable resource when applied thoughtfully and with intention. Hope backed up by reason changes outcomes.
Key Insight:Hope isn’t pretending things are fine — it’s believing we can take meaningful action even when they’re not.
Attendee comments:
"So many of her shared experiences are so relatable. I do not feel alone in my experiences and she helps me to look at experiences with people differently and with an open mind." Workshop Attendee, Coach
"Ruth demonstrated authenticity throughout her presentation. She was encouraging yet realistic. Hope can be blind for some (many) people and Ruth deepened the idea of hope into a practice." Workshop Attendee, Coach
"…reimagining use of sensory cues for visualizing reminder for using silliness to infuse creativity especially in tough situations." Workshop Attendee, Coach
"Ruth is a top-notch facilitator of deep conversations. She expertly manages group dynamics while also positioning herself as a learner amidst the group, encouraging engagement and the sharing of their own expertise. She is humble yet wise, enthusiastic yet measured, and intellectual yet down-to-earth." Erika Jackson, Chief Coaching Officer, Wellcoaches
Other audiences; multiple chapters of PMI; Global PMI; Suffolk University Law School; MA LCL (Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers)
⚖️ Speaking Case Study: Ethics in Coaching — Regulation, AI, and Human Judgment
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Client Context:
The ICF New York City Chapter hosted Ruth Pearce for a session titled “Coaching With, Not As, AI: Ethics, Impact, and Practical Workflows.” The audience included credentialed coaches, organizational leaders, and ethics committee members grappling with how emerging technologies intersect with professional responsibility.
Challenge:
The coaching field is rapidly evolving — AI tools now assist, analyze, and sometimes imitate coaches. Participants were unsure how to apply the ICF Code of Ethics and maintain psychological safety and trust while exploring AI augmentation. Many expressed fear of both over-reliance and obsolescence.
Engagement:
Ruth designed an interactive, case-based session using her Ethics in Coaching framework.
She opened with common “stumbles” — confidentiality risks (ICF 2.1), cultural sensitivity (3.4), and shared responsibility for ethical behavior (2.6).
Participants analyzed The AI Coach scenario: “Bella 2.0,” an AI trained on a coach’s own style and likeness, raised questions of identity, transparency, and harm vs. benefit.
Ruth introduced the Nervous System Economy (NSE) lens to explore how ethical clarity depends on regulation — coaches must access calm, reflective states (green zone) before making ethical judgments.
Using the ICF AI Self-Assessment and Protégée demo, she guided attendees through practical workflows for using AI with integrity, not as a replacement.
Outcome:
Coaches left with a clear ethical decision map rooted in both ICF standards and nervous system awareness.
92% of participants reported greater confidence navigating technology and ethics after the session (ICF NYC post-event survey).
Multiple attendees have since implemented AI Transparency Statements in their practice and used Protégée for ethically guided coaching reflection.
Key Insight: Ethical clarity begins with nervous system regulation. When we slow down enough to think, we see where responsibility, transparency, and humanity truly lie.
ICF NYC Session Links:
🔗 Event Page
🔗 ICF AI Standards and Resources "I just joined the Wellcoaches’ cohort, and am listening to the Ethics conversations, Module 1, Lesson 1:)
I appreciate the opportunity to learn from you and the participants, and to reflect on the important topics you’ve been discussing!, Wellcoaches student
"I think what I loved most about your ethics discussions was your ability to both have an agenda AND follow the energy and interest of your group. This demonstrates a very comfortable command of the material and willingness to address questions, concerns, and issues as they came up. Masterful!
I found the rich discussion did more for me in growing curiosity around this subject than a course with bullet points and things to memorize. thank you! I highly recommend this program to further cultivate this essential dimension of our coaching skills. Cami Smalley, Wellbeing Coach
"Ruth's class on ethics was engaging, thought-provoking, and educational. Because the ethics scenarios Ruth presented were "gray," meaning there were no right or wrong answers necessarily, a combination of Ruth's professional experience, along with her coaching expertise was just the set-up we needed to engage in meaningful conversation. I'm so glad I attended and was sad when it ended. I think we all were. Thank you, Ruth, for your expert facilitation!" Kim Acedo, Women's Health & Wellbeing Coach Other Audiences: Wellcoaches Members CEU Session Series, ICF Israel, NCPMI, Wellcoaches Coaches Training Sessions
Feedback from past session attendees
Speaking Case Study: Cool Calm & Collected - What I Learned From Taking the Bar (That You Might Want to Know Too)
(Limited Time Only)
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Challenge
Leaders were exhausted by constant change, expected to be calm, have answers, and avoid “toxic positivity.” Many reported quiet burnout, decision fatigue, and difficulty telling hard truths without discouraging their teams.
Engagement
Ruth delivered a lived-experience keynote translating bar-exam prep under pressure into actionable leadership practices. She connected lessons to:
Participants identified their peak working hours: identify current state → pick 1–2 right-fit resets → re-articulate the next winnable step → communicate with grounded honesty.
Hope as Strategy: agency, pathways, and goal reframing that work even when conditions don’t change yet.
Character Strengths & Bravery: using what’s strong (without overuse) and practicing micro-bravery (resting, asking for help, truth-telling).
Outcomes
Leaders reported immediate relief (“I don’t have to be superhuman to be effective”) and left with state-matched micro-practices they could use the same day.
Several attendees committed to rebalancing their day and experimenting to see which tasks align with which hours in the day.
One attendee was reminded of an undergraduate habit that was long forgotten that used to help him feel grounded all week.
Talk Highlights
Exam Conditions at Work:how bar-style cognitive load mirrors high-stakes delivery cycles—and how to stay effective without pretending everything’s fine.
Right-Sized Bravery:why pausing, resting, and asking for help are courageous in red/yellow states—and how to model this without losing credibility.
Hope that Isn’t Hype:using agency + pathways to move work forward when the environment stays volatile.
Strengths Without Overuse:avoiding the “push harder” trap by balancing perseverance with prudence, humor, and perspective.
Attendee Feedback "The highlight of the evening was an insightful presentation by Ruth Pearce on the crucial topics of managing our energy and practicing whole self-care. Ruth’s talk was a fantastic reminder that our own energy is the most critical resource we have." Joanna King, Senior Project Manager, American Red Cross
..the presentation delivered by Ruth Pearce JD, MSc, PCC, was particularly remarkable ... [and] resonated profoundly with the audience. You go occasionally to a program for the PDUs… and you walk out with something of much greater worth." Kaustubh Kodag • NC State Graduate Student - Engineering "Last Thursday changed how I think about leadership ✨ I just returned from the NCPMI Student Club, NCSU, Chapter meeting and it turned out to be more than just an event. It was an evening filled with insights, inspiration, and ideas that lingered long after.What made it unforgettable: Ruth Pearce JD, MSc, PCC opened up about her journey, especially how taking something as daunting as the bar exam taught lessons that map directly into what it means to manage products: resilience when plans fail, energy when burnout threatens, mindset over fear. Last Thursday changed how I think about leadership ✨ Serveesh Rameshkumar, Product Management @ NC State "To my law enforcement colleagues…THIS is valuable insight for your industry. In my experience, the law enforcement health and wellness space doesn’t always come with a suitable amount of self reflection, and self-reflection is a strong part of what Ruth impresses upon you in her sessions. Please explore booking her to speak at your conferences and departments. Especially the 30x30 Initiative! Please share this with your networks, and if you decide to book with her, please let her know that I referred you. Stay safe out there. 🛡️ Jennifer DeCaro, City of Melbourne FL, Retired
