Shannon Aicklen

I worked for more than 23 years at the Tulane National Primate Research Center leading teams, managing operations, and keeping complex systems running before stepping into a university-wide role supporting the WaveWorks systems implementation. That path gave me an education in organizational change that no certification can fully replicate. I know what it costs to lead people through uncertainty, because I led people through it for two decades before I ever called it coaching.

I am a Certified Gallup CliftonStrengths Coach and a Tulane University Leadership Institute Certified Leadership and Resilience Coach. I currently serve as Senior Business Analyst in the Office of Project Management and Strategic Consulting. In my coaching work, I partner with emerging and mid-level leaders who are stepping into something new: a larger role, more responsibility, or the challenge of learning how to lead inside a complex organization.

I coach people to get clear on what matters, trust their strengths, and move forward when things feel uncertain or overwhelming.

My coaching is grounded in CliftonStrengths and more than two decades of operational experience. I am direct, practical, and honest. I help clients identify what is in their control, surface patterns that may be slowing them down, and take steps that feel genuinely possible. Clients have told me I make things feel manageable, ask questions they did not know they needed, and help them lead from their strengths in ways that change how they show up.

I graduated from the inaugural TULI Emerging Leaders Program in 2021 and have coached within ELP and ILP since 2022. That dual perspective, as a program graduate and a program coach, gives me an unusual vantage point on what leaders in these programs are actually navigating and what it takes to move through it.

My coaching focus areas include strengths-based leadership, leading through organizational change, emerging and mid-level leadership development, career transitions, and navigating complex institutions.

I hold a Certified Gallup CliftonStrengths Coach credential and a Tulane University Leadership Institute Certified Leadership and Resilience Coach certification.
Outside of work, I am a lifelong learner who has not forgotten what it felt like to be new. That experience shapes how I coach: I hold space for uncertainty without rushing past it, because I know that working through it is how leaders actually grow.