About Mish

Over 25 years inside the work, not above it.

I didn't start out as a consultant. I started inside organizations, embedded in the messy reality of trying to make good ideas work.

Implementing strategic visions that sounded great in the boardroom but fell apart in practice. Trying to get teams aligned when everyone had a different definition of success. Making new systems work while old processes were still in the way. Leading change when people were exhausted from the last failed initiative.

Mish Sommers, founder of Bay Consulting

Over time, I learned that transformation rarely fails because people aren't trying hard enough. It fails because strategy, systems, and people get treated as separate problems, when they're one integrated challenge.

The work has taken different forms across my career: from guiding wilderness experiences and corporate training programs in Australia and Maine, to seven years in senior leadership at Outward Bound, a stint in the world of documentary filmmaking, to managing organizational change at a state agency alongside my consulting practice. The thread has been the same throughout: I tend to arrive at the moment something needs to change, figure out what's going on, and help the people involved build a way through it.

That's what led me to create Bay Consulting.

How I work

I listen before I prescribe. I want to understand what's happening in your organization before I have an opinion about what should change. That means asking questions, talking to your people, and paying attention to what's being said, and what isn't. People tell me they can see how much I care about their situation, and that matters to me, because it's real.

I bring structure, not rigidity. The frameworks I use (PROSCI, Kotter, CliftonStrengths, the Bay Architecture Assessment) are proven and well-researched. But I adapt them to fit your organization, your culture, and your constraints. I've never run the same engagement twice, because no two organizations are the same. If a framework doesn't serve the people in the room, I'll say so.

I build your capacity, not your dependency. The goal of every engagement is for your organization to be stronger after I leave than it was when I arrived. I train your managers to lead the work forward. I build frameworks your team can use without me. I'm not interested in creating a consulting relationship that goes on forever. I'm interested in doing the work well enough that you don't need me anymore.

Credentials

A learner by temperament long before I had the degrees to show for it.

Gallup Certified CliftonStrengths Coach PROSCI Certified Change Practitioner Northeastern University University of Maine

Where I've worked

Outdoor economy and recreation businesses, educational nonprofits, state government agencies, wellness practices, boatbuilding operations, professional services firms, documentary film production. Not consulting from the outside, but being part of the team, navigating real constraints, making decisions with incomplete information.

Beyond the work

I find peace and connection by journeying through the natural world: extended canoe trips on wild fresh waterways, long hiking trips through mountains and canyons, nights spent under the stars on coastal islands. I sailed across the Atlantic, along the Australian coastline, and through Southeast Asia as a teenager. I sea kayaked the full length of the Baja Peninsula with a friend in my twenties. I hiked, climbed, and backcountry skied in the Rockies in my thirties. Nowadays I explore the woods, trails, and waters of Maine and Australia, and travel to new places whenever I can.

Being in the natural world in this way is intricately linked to my professional work: it's another way to practice being in a place where the conditions are always changing, where you have to pay attention to what's in front of you and adjust, to manage risk at multiple levels, and where sustained effort matters just as much as a good plan. I learned to read my environment and trust the process way before I started using these skills in the workplace, and have found a background in working with people in challenging situations in the outdoors to be an excellent proving ground for managing the complex and unpredictable nature of organizational change.

The same purpose shows up in my volunteer life. I've mentored and served on boards for organizations helping young women find their footing and their people, most recently the Olympia Snowe Women's Leadership Institute and the Maine Women's Conference. Earlier, the Maine Women's Fund, Sundog Outdoor Expeditions, and community organizations from recreation committees to gear-share co-ops in both the US and Australia.

If something in this resonates, the next step is simple.

Thirty minutes. No pitch. Just a conversation about what's going on and whether it makes sense to work together.

Let's Talk