ABOUT US
Who We are
The VAST Institute is a leadership, performance, and personal development consultancy that equips visionary leaders to leverage their true genius. Through a suite of offerings that range from bespoke coaching to online courses, we help people apply learned knowledge and deploy emotionally intelligent business practices that both enhance their professional reputations and generate profitable results.
When it was first launched in Seattle in 1988, VAST was a success coaching company, but it has since evolved into so much more. Now, everything we do, create, and offer is intentionally designed to help leaders and individuals transcend what they previously believed was possible. We understand that personal and professional development are inextricably linked, and our clients work on both simultaneously.
Through our keynotes, workshops, articles, and bespoke coaching, we help people accomplish great things in all areas of life with grace, ease, and generosity. The skills and perspectives they gain allow them to dramatically reduce their stress, improve their work-life balance, and increase profit.
Our team—led by founder and creative director Michelle Sherman—includes experts, advisors, and thought leaders who pool their knowledge to support VAST’s clients. Together, we have educated hundreds of high-performing individuals in intentional leadership, handling difficult communications, win-win business strategies, and more.
The VAST Institute exists to inspire leaders to act with unfettered optimism. We believe that through compassionate personal and professional choices, we can significantly improve our communities, the world, and ultimately our shared future.
Our Founder
Michelle Sherman
VAST Founder & Creative Director
Thought leader, Visionary coach, Author, Business strategist, Inspirational speaker, Cultivator of luminaries, Proponent of peace are just a few of the descriptors that highlight Michelle's illustrious work as founder of The Vast Institute. With a vibrant background serving a myriad of industries, Michelle’s unique perspective and depth of experience allow her to connect with clients from all walks of life—from C-suite executives to forward thinking individuals simply seeking direction and purpose.
A Visionary Coaching Pioneer
A pioneer and visionary in her field, Michelle founded VAST in 1988 out of her passion to help business leaders create a better quality of life. She paved the way for transformational life coaching before it was ever called “coaching” and became the household word it is today. Integral to her leadership, personal and enlightened coaching model, Michelle focuses on the wholeness instead of perfection—, creating innovative ways for clients to claim their personal power and access their most effective selves. Michelle is also known for her work with eccentric, brilliant minds, entrepreneurs and artistic leaders who launch new enterprises—helping clients create a vivid path toward realizing their dreams and goals. She assists leaders to create profitable outcomes that are currently beyond their imagination.
Practice Makes Proven Product
With more than three decades of coaching under her belt, Michelle has successfully guided thousands of executives and professionals with her proven Personal Integration methodology. Even the brightest leaders among us seek out VAST feeling stuck, unhappy, or uncertain on how to affect change; and regain their confidence, clarity, positive imagination; devising a customized action plan that take their lives and careers to the next level. Michelle listens and distills information to help clients get out of their own way with humor and ease.
Walking the Talk
With a background in social psychology and global business strategy, Michelle is continually working on self-improvement alongside her clients. She walks her talk and lives what she teaches. What makes her unique and different is her enthusiasm, extraordinary positivity, depth of knowledge, compassion and experience. These assets combined with her laser focus allows you to get to heart of previously elusive issues. You could call her fierce — in her relentless ability to help clients move forward. Michelle drills down to one's unique core of challenges in a kindhearted, inclusive and empowering way.
Why people choose to work with The Vast Institute
Upon meeting Michelle, you will quickly discover her uncanny ability to sparkle and see the best version of others before they can access it within themselves. This is evident through her words, thoughts and knowing glances (even over Zoom). Her sincerity, enthusiasm, positivity, and kindness amplify her ability to perceive the opportunity in every situation. Clients can feel it, and when receptive, it rubs off on them as they ultimately claim a quality of life previously beyond their imagination.
Michelle loves painting in watercolor, playing with prisms, and French champagne drenched with frozen blueberries. While life may not always be shiny and bright, Michelle proves that the sparkle is real and available to all, once we discover where to look.
Meet Our Team
Dr. Lori Adcock
VAST Advisor
Mike Ament
Managing Partner
Jim Cohen
VAST Advisor
Sergey Vesmanov Phd.
VAST Advisor
Kimberly Whitson
VAST Advisor
MANIFESTO
RESILIENCE THROUGH AUTHENTICITY
STRENGTH THROUGH AUTHENTICITY
LEADERSHIP FUELED BY AUTHENTICITY
KINDHEARTED LEADERS WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
There is light in this world. There is hope and beauty and phenomenal goodness. But keeping these forces in play takes conscious effort. We are their stewards. We are charged with fostering positivity in ourselves, in others, and across our precious, shared world.
To fulfill this sacred duty, we teach visionary leaders to imagine a better tomorrow, then apply themselves to building it. The VAST Institute offers leadership training with an enlightened strategy that employs respect, trust, and optimism to boost business, enhance professional relationships, and leverage previously untapped human potential. We encourage leaders to see business as an opportunity to make a positive difference in the world.
There is love in this world, but also pain and struggle.
The VAST Institute equips natural and aspiring leaders to transcend toxic cultures by cultivating their confidence, clarity, and imagination. We offer them a customized blueprint to create a life and leadership style that nourishes and enlivenes
them and those they influence. With their energy fully replenished, they are able to face their challenges with authenticity and integrity.
We believe that all people are valuable, sovereign, whole, and beautiful.
We believe that if we can imagine something, we can assuredly work together to create it.
We believe that conscious business and leadership can make a positive difference.
We believe that together, we can spread light, hope, beauty, and phenomenal goodness far and wide.
We believe that a peaceful and harmonious world isn’t just possible, but inevitable.
Ready to make a positive difference in your work and the world? We will show you how.
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR OFFERINGS
- If you are an individual seeking to improve your life, career, or relationships, discover Intentional Life Design® coaching and content.
- If you are a business leader, C-suite, or business owner seeking to transform the culture, strengthen your emotional intelligence, increase innovation and productivity, and infuse your work with more meaning, explore
Leadership Genius® executive coaching and team workshops.
- If you are a therapist, life coach, health-care practitioner, well-being specialist or visionaries seeking to learn the VAST process and apply it to your work, explore our Blueprint for Success Program®.
- If you would like to bring these principles and dazzling ideas to illuminate your next team meeting or event, explore our Keynotes or Contact Us for a custom keynote.
- If you would like to learn more about living with purpose and leading in socially and emotionally intelligent ways, browse
articles,
courses and
podcast episodes in our library of light