Active Choices, Inc. is a strategic advisory and training firm dedicated to creating strong leadership and authentic Positive Energy Workplaces through our proprietary IEP (Intentional Energetic Presence®) Method®. Our proven impact model helps organizations build cultures of alignment, resilience, and sustainable success.
Since 2002, we have been helping organizations cultivate psychological safety, foster honest conversations, strengthen collaboration, and develop positive energy leadership. Through strategic discovery, training programs, executive retreats, keynotes, and enterprise-wide initiatives, we partner with clients to drive real and lasting change. Learn more about our methodology here.
Our mission is to help people and organizations show up with greater clarity, ease, and alignment.
By building resilient leadership and fostering a productively contagious culture, we empower leaders to create a meaningful, positive impact in the world.
Our clients say we build creative leaders, make people better, and get people having honest conversations.
ACI was founded in 2002 by Anese Cavanaugh who saw the essentialness of Showing Up, self-awareness, honest reflection, being present and intentional, and taking care of ourselves in relationship to healthy leadership and creating a positive impact in the world. Over the last twenty years in working with organizations big and small and business leaders of all kinds, Anese created the IEP Method® (Intentional Energetic Presence®) to support clients in integrating some of the most essential components of leadership, well-being, accountability, integrity, and energy management into one model.
In 2021, after working with organizations in both cultural “triage” and “optimization” modes, she created the Positive Energy Workplace Initiative® to give companies a framework for creating not only solid business results, but more importantly, authentic (not toxic) positive energy and well-being in the company and people. Seeing the effects of this work on others, and experiencing it for themselves, she and her team have an insatiable hunger and drive for paying this work forward.
How We Work
There are multiple ways we help clients create usefully contagious leadership and authentically Positive Energy Workplaces. Our offerings range from individual leader support to team and group development, all the way to enterprise-wide solutions. Our company partnerships include the proprietary ACI Client Journey, which begins with a Discovery Phase and energy diagnostic options — assessing needs and designing an engagement strategy to optimize your experience and results.
The best way to proceed is to contact us for an Exploratory Conversation to see how we might partner together.
Paying It Forward
We do our best to pay this work forward in multiple ways and we do it in community. When you participate in this work with me, you pay-it-forward, not only with the people you love and lead, but in supporting others. We contribute 10% of our annual profits to supporting food security and our Impact Scholarship Fund which expands access to our programs to leaders from traditionally underserved and underrepresented groups, or who’ve been significantly impacted by the pandemic, for whom paying full fees in our programs would be prohibitive in helping them get the support they want/need.
When Companies Partner with Active Choices, Inc.
Leadership Misalignment
Your leaders are stuck in infighting, struggling with accountability, or facing communication issues that threaten a critical project or team dynamic. You need to realign them quickly so they can focus on the right priorities and move forward effectively.
Communication Breakdowns
A major client was lost, or a key project stalled due to unclear collaboration, ineffective communication, or a lack of honest feedback. You need immediate solutions to regain momentum and prevent future breakdowns.
Employee Engagement
Your Employee Engagement Surveys have revealed concerning trends in one or more business units, signaling the need for real action — not just another short-term fix.
Cultural Optimization
You’re investing in training and cultural change initiatives, but they’re not working as intended. They feel like a “flavor-of-the-month” effort, aren’t delivering ROI, or — worse — employees are going through the motions without genuinely showing up, costing time, energy, and credibility.
High-Stakes Moments
You have an upcoming executive meeting, conference, or leadership onboarding for 10+ new leaders. You want to ensure participants show up clear, present, and intentional — maximizing impact from the start.
Leadership Readiness
Or maybe the overall energy of your company feels scattered, anxious, or exhausted. You need to cut through the noise, refocus, and create a culture that drives results and feels good.
ANESE CAVANAUGH
CEO + Strategic Advisor
Founder of The IEP Method® and The Positive Energy Workplace Initiative®
Anese Cavanaugh is the CEO of Active Choices, Inc., creator of the IEP Method® (Intentional Energetic Presence®) and the Positive Energy Workplace Initiative® and a strategist and advisor to leaders and organizations around the world. She is devoted to helping organizations support their people so they are able to show up and bring their best selves to the table, create significant impact in their lives, and create (authentic) positive energy workplaces and cultures. Anese is a keynote speaker and author of CONTAGIOUS CULTURE: Show Up, Set the Tone, and Intentionally Create an Organization That Thrives (McGraw-Hill, 2015), CONTAGIOUS YOU: Unlock Your Power to Influence, Lead, and Create the Impact You Want (McGraw-Hill, 2019), and THE LEADER YOU WILL BE: An Invitation (a leadership storybook).
As a leading voice on intention, energy, and presence in leadership and culture, she helps people unlock greater leadership potential, collaborate more inspiringly, create more openly, intuit more bravely, and lead more joyfully and effectively. She holds a degree in Kinesiology as well as multiple credentials in coaching, training, facilitation, and relationship systems that support her in bringing a breadth of knowledge to clients in order to meet them where they’re at and best pair the team with the optimally fit engagements.
Top innovators and executives in companies including Ford Motor Company, IDEO, Zingerman’s, Cooper, GM Financial, Vistaprint, 15Five, Fitbit, Vivayic, Kaiser Permanente, BNY Mellon, and others have engaged with Active Choices to strengthen team health, maximize leadership impact, and optimize company culture. In addition to appearing in publications like Harvard Business Review, The Huffington Post, CEO.com, Forbes, the NY Times, and others, Anese writes a column, “Showing Up” on Inc.com, blogs regularly for subscribers of ActiveChoices.com, and speaks on stages (in person and virtually) around the world. Learn more about Anese here.
ACI CLIENT SUCCESS + SUPPORT TEAM
JENNY WILEY
Director of Programming + Community Growth
PAYTON PRATHER
Operations + Marketing Specialist
JENNIFER PROUHET
Events Specialist
ACI FACULTY + PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION TEAM
Our training team is a collaborative group of certified coaches, facilitators, strategists, teachers, thought leaders, practitioners, and therapists, with a breadth of experience in healthcare, corporate, military, education, design, finance, tech, and many other industries.
We work together to create the co-designed outcomes you and your organization need and desire.
Ready to Learn More?
- Anese can be found on podcasts, in columns, on (virtual) stages, on our blog, and in social media. You can also learn more about the IEP Method® in Anese’s books.
- View our events schedule to find when Anese will be on stage, sign up for a live training, and view a sample of current programming in the IEP Method® Community.
- For media boilerplates, headshots, and other handy information head over to the press kit.
- Read what others have shared about working with Anese and experiencing our programs.
- View examples and details for our experiential keynotes, workshops, and events.
- To schedule an Exploratory Call to see how this work can serve your organization, reach out here.
- View our Frequently Asked Questions for partnering with the ACI Team.