HBD

Human
by Design

Global

Human by Design is a belief and a practice: that in an age of accelerating AI and relentless optimization, the greatest challenge is remaining deeply human in the process; it means designing the conditions that allow judgment, trust, curiosity, and relationships to shape how people work together.

The work is designing strategies and experiences that help leaders, teams, and organizations navigate complexity and the human side of change — creating the conditions where technology and humanity don't compete. They compound.

— Sharon E. Reed, Founder and Principal, HBD Global.

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Sharon E. Reed
Misfit puzzle illustration
Philosophy

You can't outperform
a bad fit.

Most performance problems aren't talent problems. They're alignment problems — between people and roles, strategies and structures, stated values and lived experience. And they operate at every level: the individual, the organization, and the broader stakeholders it serves.

HBD Global helps organizations see the system clearly, facilitate the hard conversations, and build the conditions for people and strategy to move together.

Areas of Practice

Where I do
my best work

Each designed for a specific kind of stuck.

Complexity rarely respects organizational boundaries. By looking across the landscape, I help clients surface hidden tensions and see the opportunities — and breakage — they might otherwise miss.

When the room is smart but stuck.
Your leadership team is talented. The strategy is sound. And yet something keeps not moving. Meetings produce agreement but not action. The obstacle isn't competence — it's something beneath the surface that no one has named yet.

When the model that got you here won't get you there.
Something has shifted — in your leadership, in your structure, in the world your organization is now operating in. There may have been departures. New voices at the table. A transformation still in motion with no clear landing point. You can sense what's needed before you can articulate it. That's exactly when outside eyes matter most.

When everyone knows and nobody is saying it. (What's the elephant in the room?)
There's a question underneath the question. Everyone in the room feels it. No one is asking it. The longer it stays unnamed, the more energy it quietly consumes. That's usually where I start.

The Work

These moments share something in common: the obstacle isn't information or intelligence — it's what's operating beneath the surface that hasn't been named, seen, or moved yet.

01
Executive Facilitation & Stakeholder Alignment
When the system needs alignment.

Working together, we clarify where you're trying to go, whether the right people are aligned, and what's standing in the way. We create the conditions for trusted conversations that move decisions forward — not just meetings that end with good intentions.

02
Strategic Advisory
When your organization is at an inflection point.

Together we examine your organization, leadership, governance, and strategy — and whether they're built for where you're headed. Sometimes that means reframing the problem. Sometimes it means navigating difficult tradeoffs. The goal is better judgment and stronger decisions.

03
Leadership in Complexity
When leaders must navigate uncertainty, change, and human dynamics.

Together, we develop leaders and teams with the capacity to navigate complexity, disruption, and change — so decisions hold under pressure, not just in the room. Includes the Disruption Simulation — a signature team experience that reveals how groups actually function under pressure.

*Individual advisory and transition support available for senior leaders

How the Work Moves

From insight to impact.

I partner with leaders and teams to navigate complexity, align around what matters, and build the capacity to lead — with decisions that hold and outcomes that follow.

A facilitated working session: five people leaning into conversation around a table, one mid-laugh

This is what convening sounds like…

1.
Context
See what others miss.
Clarify the system, the tensions, and what’s actually at play.
2.
Alignment
Focus what matters.
Bring leaders into shared understanding and direction.
3.
Convening
Enable real conversation.
Create the conditions for honest dialogue in critical moments.
4.
Development
Build lasting capability.
Equip leaders to navigate complexity — and carry results beyond the moment.

From there, the work changes hands — implementation belongs with the teams best suited to execute and operate at scale.

Real change happens when people are seen, aligned, and equipped to lead. Human by design. Business by outcome.
Range & Record

Thirty years, one throughline.

Not a client list — a record of range. The throughline across three decades has been the same: helping people navigate complexity together, wherever the room happens to be.

30
Years
Cross-sector strategic practice — start-up, corporate, government (local, state, federal), international development, and civic leadership.
3
Continents
Direct experience translating strategy and building alignment across cultural and organizational lines.
6
Industries
Client work spanning Energy, Consumer, Financial Services, Technology, Retail & Wholesale Distribution, and Professional Services.
Mexico City skyline showing dense urban development and architectural range

What others say

Strategic Convening & Alignment
“One of the skills I admired most about working with Sharon was her ability to visually map out strategies and connections. She’s very good at distilling a lot of information down to its essentials and presenting it clearly to a diverse audience. She’s also a bridge builder, constantly looking for opportunities to connect people and ideas that benefit everyone, not just her own position, always keeping the bigger vision in view.”
Rob Phocas, Executive Director, Southeast Sustainability Directors Network
Global Leadership and Stakeholder Strategy
“Sharon’s ability to navigate high-level U.S. and China meetings, combined with her ability to rapidly adapt and exceptional knowledge of clean energy, urban planning, Chinese customs, and cross-sector collaboration, was instrumental to the success of this program.”
Martin Shoenbauer (Ret.), Director of International Operations, U.S. Department of Energy · Former Executive Director, U.S. Department of Energy China Office
Sharon Reed at a U.S.-China bilateral delegation meeting, MOHURD
U.S. Department of Energy–MOHURD Ministerial Roundtable, Beijing
Facilitation & Design
“We asked Sharon both to help our organization redesign a leadership development program and to then act as the program’s group facilitator and the participants’ individual coach. Sharon mastered everything we tasked her with, often with very abstract instruction from our organization.”
Michael Martinez, Partner, Grier Wright Martinez, PA · Past Co-Chair, Mecklenburg County Bar Leadership Institute
“Sharon brought to the table not only an extremely confident and engaging ability to facilitate this group of 30 emerging and developing leaders, but also a wealth of knowledge from which our program emerged. I was personally challenged and stretched, and the growth I experienced under Sharon’s leadership has become a part of the DNA of my personal and professional journey.”
Robin Turner, Past President, CREW Charlotte
Sharon Reed facilitating a team problem-solving activity
Leadership Transformation
“During facilitative sessions, I have watched as Sharon challenges perspectives, reframing a discussion to reach either a solution, a common vision, or strategic course of action. She is approachable, sharp, and a natural-born leader. I am a better leader in great part thanks to Sharon.”
Kristen Beamer, Chief Marketing Officer, McKim & Creed
“Spending time with Sharon and having her help me reframe the way I view my values and strengths was nothing short of life changing. She provided me with a solid direction on how to highlight my particular strengths, while reframing the way I view what I thought were my weaknesses.”
Jeremy B. Tomes, Founder and Board Chairman, Prime Contractor Supply · Bar Leadership Institute participant
“Sharon’s enthusiasm and encouraging attitude eased the difficulty involved with performing a deep self-reflection. Her focus on authenticity showed me how my unique personality affects my professional and personal relationships. Sharon provided direction on how to focus my particular strengths, skills, and insights to complement those of others to achieve favorable outcomes.”
Brandi Drake, Charter Communications
Sharon Reed facilitating a women's leadership program
Publications

Published work &
editorial contributions

Author
Walking the Heart Path
Bite-sized bits of wisdom on living and leading from the inside out
Bronze IPPY Award · Gold Living Now Book Award
Warren Publishing Available through Warren Publishing
Author
You Can't Outperform a Bad Fit
In development
Author
Guided Reflections on Becoming an Authentic Leader
A leadership workbook developed for reflective practice and adapted for client engagements, including the CREW Charlotte/KPMG women's leadership program and the Mecklenburg County Bar Leadership Institute. Originally a Heart by Design publication, now carried forward through HBD Global.
Co-Editor
Deloitte Human Capital Trends — Financial Services
2021 & 2023
Co-Editor
Voices of Change
Released at the United Nations Headquarters during the 60th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW60)
Contributing Author
Innovation Series
McColl Center for Art & Innovation · Charlotte, NC
HBD Field Notes

Notes from the crossroads.

Observations on leadership, ethics, complexity, and what it means to remain human by design.

Five Lenses
Context
Zoom out. See the whole.
Movement
Navigate complexity.
Direction
Choose with intention.
Journey
Travel the path.
Insight
Notice what matters.
HBD "
Audio interview
coming soon

Coming fall 2026 — dispatches from three decades spent working at the intersections of strategy, human systems, and the problems frameworks alone cannot solve.

Notify Me When It Launches
About

Sharon E. Reed
Principal, HBD Global

Sharon Reed is a strategist, convener, and bridge-builder with thirty years of experience working at the intersection of organizational strategy, human systems, and complexity.

Her career spans Fortune 50 consulting at KPMG and Deloitte, international development with UN Women and the US Department of Energy, civic leadership as Executive Director of Charlotte's International Cabinet, and independent practice through HBD Global.

Raised across Australia, Singapore, and the UK before returning to the US, Sharon brings a genuinely global lens to her work — one shaped by direct experience of how cultural context shapes leadership, decision-making, and organizational life.

She is the author of Walking the Heart Path (Bronze IPPY Award · Gold Living Now Book Award) and is currently working on her second book, You Can't Outperform a Bad Fit. She holds an MA in International Affairs from Florida State University.

Sharon lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with her husband Thom and beloved doodle, Buddy. She is a lifelong visual thinker who draws inspiration from art, music, meaningful conversations, travel, nature, and the big ideas that elevate humankind.

In her creative time, Sharon designs inspirational art and giftware under her proprietary brand, Heart by Design. Booksellers and retailers interested in carrying her work can reach out directly.

Sharon E. Reed
Sharon E. Reed — Principal, HBD Global LLC
Photo: Piper Warlick Photography
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Let's Connect

Ready to work
at the intersection?

HBD Global is accepting new engagements for fall 2026. If you're navigating a moment that requires both structural clarity and human attunement, let's have a conversation — as trusted partners in the work.

Let's Begin a Conversation