Star Dargin, PCC, CPCC, VC

Star Dargin has built a diverse resume across multiple industries and leadership positions before founding Star Leadership nearly twenty years ago. Star has led both domestic and international teams. Her roles have included Director of Engineering, Director of Project Managers, and International Program Manager.  Through her experience in such areas as the software engineering, project management, education, and products, she saw firsthand the negative organizational impact of unprepared leaders. Intelligence and potential are not enough; leaders often lacked the tools and self-knowledge they needed to be effective.  In response, she has developed her unique approach designed to equip leaders with the knowledge and tools needed to sustainably build cohesive, functional, positive, results-oriented teams.

Her approach and effectiveness have been honed through over 10,000 hours of coaching clients and delivering hundreds of successful workshops and facilitation.

A key pillar of Star’s unique approach is from a place of gratitude by integrating apparent opposites into a synergistic whole. By relying on the power of the word “AND,” conditions that might be in conflict can be opened and effectively combined. The result is a strong, rapport-building, innovative, and inclusive approach to team building and problem solving.  Her speaking style is engaging and thought producing on topics of gratitude, leadership, project management, and effective communication.

She is the author of many articles and the book, Leading with Gratitude:  21^st Century Solutions to Boost Engagement and Innovation. The book is the topic of many of her keynotes and is focused at leaders wanting to improve productivity of themselves and their teams. Star has been twice nominated for Business Coach of the Year by the International Coaching Federation of New England (ICFNE).

She holds a B.S. in Computer Science and has earned coaching certifications through the International Coaches Federation (ICF), the Coaches Training Institute (CTI) and the Virtual Coach (VC).  She is a past board member of the National Speakers Association (NSA-NE) and is affiliated with the Project Management Institute (PMI).  She taught master level project management for over 20 years at Boston University.

Clients: Mid to large businesses; top performing, middle to senior level professionals and independent business owners who are motivated to make intelligent leadership changes.

Star’s mission is to inspire leaders to implement gratitude processes, behaviors, and skills.

Fun Facts: Early in her career, Star had the privilege of working as an engineer in a speech technology research and development group and the last project she worked on was for Stevie Wonder – getting his synthesizer to talk to him. The voice from that product became the voice Stephen Hawking used. It is also part of radio history as Carlo’s voice from Charles Laquidara’s The Big Mattress Show on WBCN – Boston.

Personal: Star is happily married and living in New Hampshire with her husband Steve and their turtle, Leo. Their three adult sons, daughter in-law, and grandson live nearby.

Sample of Past Public Speaking Engagements:  

• ICF Global Converage – Unknown and Uncontrollable Challenges: Building a Gratitude-Based Culture
• BU Project Management Frontiers Conference – Leading with Gratitude
• SIM Leadership Conference – Gratitude for Leaders Tools
• NH High Tech Council – Agile and Project Management
• PMI NH – Difficult Conversations
• Oasis Center – Gratitude Assessment
• PMI RI/Maine – Leadership at the Movies, Lessons from Hollywood
• Professional Development Day, MassBay PMI – Team Coaching
• Central Mass – Team Coaching
• MASS ALFA – Coach, Lead, or Manage: Which Hat to Wear and When?
• PMI Global Congress – Managing Intangibles
• PMI Global Congress – Coach, Lead, or Manage: Which Hat to Wear and When
• Central Mass Project Management Chapter – Change: It Happens
• Renegade Writers New Hampshire – Goals and Dreams
• UMASS UMASS/Medical Lunch Series – Power Networking – May 2007
• Hewlett-Packard – Effective Decision Making: The Beginning of All Good Things – January 2006
• Boston University – Guest lecturer for Executive Briefing on Team Building – October 2004
• Leadership Style – October 2004
• Decision Making – January 2004
• The Nutfield Networking Group – The Dance of Survival, Success, and Significant Contribution
• Information Technology Training Conference – Decision Making Collaborative Style – June 2003
• Project Management Institute, Mass Bay Chapter – Co-presenter with Stefanie Heiter on Leading Virtual Teams – January 2003
• MassWIT (Massachusetts Women in Technology) – Moderator for Consultants Success Stories – May 2002
• Women in Networking – Discussion Leader for Networking Stories, Hints, and Tips – March 2002