For over two decades, Karen Gilhooly was the secret weapon behind one of the world’s largest banks. When a division was gasping for air—plagued by toxic culture, vanishing morale, or evaporating profits—she was sent in like an emergency responder. Not to manage. Not to consult. To revive.
Her results earned her an unofficial title: the Engagement Paramedic. She was the leader you called when everything else had failed. Her tool kit? Energy. Clarity. Momentum. She turned apathy into acceleration. Teams that once crawled began to sprint.
But then she met Michael.
When the Hero Doesn’t Want to Be Saved
Michael wasn’t just another employee. He was a senior executive—a CEO-level leader with a legendary track record. He had built global teams, driven results, and inspired loyalty. But when Karen arrived to turn his team around, she didn’t find a man in crisis. She found a man who had quietly resigned on the inside.
No resistance. No rebellion. Just… nothing.
Karen threw everything at him: inspiration, strategy, accountability. None of it worked. And then, standing on a high-rise balcony with the Chicago skyline behind them, Michael spoke a sentence that shattered her framework:
“This job isn’t worth it to me anymore.”
There was no anger. No drama. Just clarity. And in that moment, Karen realized something powerful: he didn’t need another motivational tactic. He needed permission to choose.
Why the Two-Bucket Model Fails
Karen had spent her entire career operating on a false binary: people were either engaged or disengaged. The leader’s job was to get them from one bucket to the other.
But Michael introduced a third state:
Not committed. Not combative. Just drifting. Leading a team that didn’t share his vision. Managing in a siloed system pulling in opposite directions.
That moment gave birth to The Three Bucket Leader. It wasn’t just a framework—it was a reckoning. Because most people don’t operate at the extremes, they exist in the middle. And nobody teaches leaders what to do with the gray zone.
When the Paramedic Becomes the Patient
Karen didn’t fully grasp the cost of drifting until it happened to her. She was still delivering. Still showing up. But somewhere along the way, she stopped choosing.
Her husband saw it first. One night, he made dinner reservations and had a server record the entire meal. When Karen watched the video, she didn’t recognize herself. Her voice was sharp. Her face was drained. Her joy was missing.
She had become her own case study.
And that’s when she knew: disengagement doesn’t always look like rebellion. Sometimes it looks like going through the motions with no spark left.
From CPR to a Playbook
The Three Bucket Leader isn’t written from the mountaintop. It’s written from the recovery room. Karen doesn’t present herself as the flawless expert. She’s the leader who got it wrong, course-corrected, and now helps others avoid the drift.
Her workshops are the practical extension of that journey: no-fluff, no-theory, high-impact environments where leaders confront the real cost of coasting. It’s not about pushing harder. It’s about helping people see clearly enough to choose again.
From Crisis Calls to Cultural Revolution
Karen’s story isn’t about heroism. It’s about honesty. She moved beyond putting out fires to designing a framework that prevents collapse. She stopped treating symptoms.
She diagnosed the system.
And in doing so, she gave leaders something they’ve desperately needed: a way to name the silent disengagement that drains performance, erodes trust, and kills innovation.
Because once you know the third bucket exists, you can’t lead the same way again.
You only have two choices: All In, or All Out.
