The lion era of leadership is so over.
Welcome to the pack.
Everything we've been taught about getting ahead - dominate, grind, and whatever Elon Musk means by "extremely hardcore," - works great…
For about five guys and their mega-yacht and rocket addictions.
That's the lion way. Selfish. Whoever makes the kill, keeps it.
Painted wolves do the opposite. They hunt together, they win four times as often, and the whole pack shares in it.
That's the kind of leadership we're building here.
Braver, more joyful, more you.
A pack of changemakers making this world better. One person, one room, one decision at a time.
Organizational psychologist. Business school professor. Author of Painted Wolves. A decade-plus of research on how women lead, why the old model keeps failing them, and what it actually takes to build something better.
Your brilliant bestie with a PhD who actually knows her sh*t. Championing the changemakers, the pack builders, and the women who've been told the room wasn't designed for them and showed up anyway.
I'm Dr. Kelsey Medeiros.
But you can call me Kels.
I’ve partnered with organizations including:
A safari guide once told me something that haunts my dreams (in a good way).
"Businesspeople always talk about how leaders should be like lions. It's a terrible analogy. Lions are selfish. Leaders should be more like painted wolves. They hunt in packs. They share the kill with everyone. We should be building leaders like painted wolves, not like lions."
-Joe, safari guide
I have not been the same since.
Turns out he was completely, scientifically, right. Painted wolves succeed at their hunt 80% of the time. Lions? 30%. But, we've spent a century telling leaders and executives to lead like some of the worst hunters in the bush.
In the words of the Backstreet Boys, tell me why?!
So I wrote the book. Built the framework. And now we're building the pack.
I've spent a decade researching why women keep hitting the same walls inside organizations, and why the old leadership model is so stubborn even when we know it's failing.
Then I wrote Painted Wolves. Because here's the thing — everything we've learned about leadership has been studied through the lens of men.
So I asked a different question: what happens if we ignore them for a sec and only look to women?
Turns out, quite a lot.
So now there's a book. A framework. And a pack where you belong.
Here's the short version of what I actually do.
You know exactly how you’d change.
You can see it. The way you'd do it better, the difference you're meant to make. It's right there.
So what's stopping you?
It's the voices. The ones that say who are you to, that whisper not yet, not ready, not you. The ones that make the brave thing feel terrifying and the safe thing feel responsible.
I call these voices the committee of assholes and they meet in your head rent-free, usually around 2am, and they are so good at their job you've started mistaking them for the truth.
So you stay. Capable, exhausted, and exactly where you started.
But here's what the committee cannot survive:
A room full of women screaming YAS. YOU GO. I FEEL THAT. A pack that believes in your thing louder than you doubt it, that cheers so fucking loud the committee of assholes can't get a single word in.
That's what's been missing. Not more grit. Not another plan.
A pack loud enough to drown them out for good.
But now you’ve found us.
Every wolf finds their way in differently.
I'm a painted wolf in a world still obsessed with lions. I'm here to make an impact and I'm done doing it alone.
Tell me about The Den & The Painted Wolf Academy
My people are ready for a different model. I want to bring Kelsey in and actually change something.
Tell me how to bring Kelsey to a stage or my team
