Catherine MACQUART-MARTIN

Inclusive Leadership Coach I ACC

Where conversations shape leadership.

I coach leaders in intercultural, diverse, and high-stakes environments.

When trust is fragile, complexity is real, and decisions are made under pressure, the quality of conversations becomes a measure of leadership.

What I've observed

Diversity can strengthen a team — but not by magic.

In intercultural and high-stakes environments, it can widen perspectives, sharpen thinking, and strengthen decisions. It can also produce misunderstanding, silence, friction, or polite misalignment.

That is why I focus on conversations.
Because diversity may be visible on paper.
But inclusion is decided in each conversation.

Defining experiences

The journey that shaped my work

This perspective was forged across sectors, cultures, and borders — where communication was never neutral.

Reading the room

Working across cultures taught me that communication is never only about clarity.

It is also about trust, timing, and what people feel safe enough to say.

A smile does not always mean agreement. A serious face does not always mean resistance.

This is why my work centers on reading beneath the surface and creating more open, workable conversations.

Shifting my posture

Leadership taught me, again and again, that no team should be led in the same way. Two moments made that especially clear.

With a team of experts, my role was to create the conditions for talent to flourish through mutual challenge.

In another context, transformation required a different posture, a clearer frame, and stronger shared accountability.

That is why I care so much about alignment, decision quality, and leadership that creates real engagement.

Coaching deeper change

As a trainer and trainer of trainers, I saw how much strong learning can unlock.

I also saw its limit: understanding does not always change behaviour.

In a difficult professional relationship, I realised that what needed to shift was my own level of consciousness — including my shadow.

That is what drew me more fully toward coaching: the place where awareness changes posture — and posture changes everything else.

The compass that emerged

Across cultures, through leadership, and in coaching, the same four capacities kept returning.

Not as a theory. As what leaders need when conversations, decisions, and relationships become more demanding.

That is how my Compass took shape: 

Presence, Courage, Connection, and Clarity.

Presence

Your inner anchor in a moving landscape. Choosing how you show up instead of running on autopilot.

Connection

Turning presence into belonging and contribution, so people feel seen as humans with contexts, not just as resources.

Courage

Daring to name impact, values, and fairness without turning people into the problem.

Clarity

Making roles, expectations, and decisions explicit so people can move together without guessing.

Strengthen the conversations that shape trust, alignment, and decision quality in complex, diverse environments.

Space to grow

A rigorous practice

I work with experienced leaders with depth, structure, and rigor.

My approach has been shaped at the intersection of leadership, coaching, training, and intercultural work. It is grounded in Co-Active Coaching, enriched by Narrative Coaching, and continually strengthened through ongoing learning, mentoring, and my commitment to the ICF Code of Ethics.

I am ACC-certified by the International Coaching Federation (ICF). The ACC credential recognizes a coaching practice that is rigorous, reflective, and grounded in experience.

ACC badge

This combination allows me to support sensitive conversations, difficult decisions, complex team dynamics, leadership transitions, and alignment challenges — without resorting to vagueness or ready-made answers.

Turn complex leadership moments into clearer moves.

Coaching creates the space to examine what is happening beneath the surface, strengthen your leadership capacity, and act with more presence, connection, courage, and clarity.

More broadly

Catherine Macquart-Martin conference

When the situation calls for it, I also contribute through training and speaking — giving teams a shared frame, more accurate language, and stronger conversations.

Presence. Connection. Courage. Clarity

When complexity sets in, leadership is measured by the quality of conversations.