Amber Vanderburg is a highly successful entrepreneur and the founder of The Pathwayz Group, a renowned business and leadership coaching firm. Amber has a passion for helping others reach their goals and achieve their dreams. A multi-award-winning international businessperson and keynote speaker, Amber founded The Pathwayz Group in 2019 and, since then, has worked with hundreds of clients from all over the world. Her programs are thoughtfully devised to help people make meaningful changes in their lives and businesses. Through her coaching, she helps them identify their goals, overcome obstacles, and create a plan of action to reach their desired destination. Amber believes that with the right guidance, any organization can make its dreams a reality.
In an interview with Aspioneer, Amber shared some insights from her journey that led to her success. Below are the highlights of the interview:
Creating positive workplaces
Amber Vanderburg: “The Pathwayz Group is an international learning and development organization that facilitates interactive sessions to increase teamwork, leadership, and engagement. At The Pathwayz Group, we believe that direction, not intention, determines our destination. We help teams get on the right path, in the right direction, to move toward their desired destination. The Pathwayz Group is unique in its facilitation methods and approach. I come from a unique background in academic instructional design, sports coaching, corporate HR learning and development, and a family of educators. This experience is reflected in our engaging curriculum design. In addition to the curriculum, our experienced global team applies learning and business strategy for long-term results. The biggest problem we solve is team performance in the workplace. We focus on three areas of workplace challenges: efficiency, effectiveness, and enjoyability. We specialize in leadership development learning journeys (front line, middle, and executive), communication/performance feedback learning, and collaboration upskilling. In the end, our mission is to uplift communities through positive workplaces.”
"I believe that success is not measured by what you achieve but by who you become. I hope the legacy will be that I lived out my faith, welcomed others with open arms, and helped uplift communities."
A journey of discovery
Amber Vanderburg: “I started in corporate HR for a large company and worked in a variety of facets like employee relations, recruitment, comp, and benefits, HR project management, HR generalist, and the like. Upon graduation with my MA in Organizational Dynamics, I quit my job in HR and moved to India to work as the only American, only female, and only Christian academy football (soccer) coach for the Paris Saint Germain Academy and Adidas Gameday Academy. I continued in talent and curriculum development. After my time in India, I moved back to the US and became the HR Director for a national leadership development company. I started my keynotes and workshops with a focus on team performance. I stepped down as HR Director and started my own company, The Pathwayz Group, and have loved this journey. I love my team. I love my job. I love the meaningful work we get to do every day.”
Work as a Team. Win as a Team
Amber Vanderburg: “I believe that leadership is a muscle, and it has to be practiced. I strive to direct the pace and direction of the company. I care about my team and am very intentional about making sure people feel valued and welcomed. We have fun together, and it’s amazing to see people grow in their skills. That being said, when it comes time to work, I challenge my team. My team members have been stretched and challenged to grow in areas they never imagined before. I think a helpful mindset is that a great leader is a greater servant; it is up to me to listen, truly listen, to my team, adjust my leadership style to the personalities and needs of different team members and situations, and be a resource wherever I need it. I think an important leadership lesson for any leader is to be authentic. I think sometimes we have an idea of a specific leadership style that is the only standard: “You can’t be a better version of someone else, you can only be the best version of yourself.
A risk worth taking
Amber Vanderburg: “When I was working as the HR Director for the leadership development company, I was at my dream job. I loved the company. I loved the people I worked with; I loved the vision and impact; and I loved my specific job. I had no intention of leaving. Quitting one dream that has guarantees and a fairly clear future for one that is so ambiguous was the biggest risk I have ever taken. And in the beginning, I wondered if the risk was a mistake. Starting a business is challenging. Today, I am so glad that with the help of my family, friends, mentors, and team, I continued to chase this bigger dream to make a bigger impact than I ever imagined before.”
Harnessing the power of Great Role Models
Amber Vanderburg: “My favorite HR expert is Patrick Lencioni. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is his most popular book, and it’s wonderful. His other books are equally transformational in the field of HR. I believe that every HR leader should read “The Ideal Team Player” and his other accompanying work. I love how he simplifies ideas into easily digestible action steps.
While not an HR professional, Carol Burnette inspires me as a woman leader. I could write pages and pages about how much we could learn from her. Not only was she an icon as America’s funny lady in “The Carol Burnette Show”, but she also taught us incredible lessons in the way she ran her business. While the title of the program was “The Carol Burnette Show,” the program was hardly a one-woman act. Carol graciously and generously shared the stage with talented actors and actresses, she was not intimidated but rather championed and celebrated the success and talents of her fellow cast mates. She challenged her cast mates to develop their craft and share their talents on stage. She understood that the show’s success depended on more than just her cast and gave overwhelming praise to her writers, costume directors, props department, and stage crew. When it comes to HR, Carol is the standard for leading and empowering people to achieve greatness.”
Success and growth is the only plan
Amber Vanderburg: “I believe that success is not measured by what you achieve but by who you become. I hope the legacy will be that I lived out my faith, welcomed others with open arms, and helped uplift communities. I want to see The Pathwayz Group continue to grow and our people thrive. I have goals for our online learning, our facilitator team, and our global reach. For topics such as performance feedback and collaboration, we have recently built industry-specific learning for healthcare, technology, and energy.
The plan is to continue to grow our team, our content, and our reach. We understand that many people spend more time with their work than their actual families, and we have a sense of urgency to help organizations create an enjoyable place. The stress, experiences, values, and relationships in your workplace overflow into every other aspect of life. We plan to continue in our mission to uplift communities through positive workplaces.
