Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Byrnes.
Hi Kelly, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My passion for business started early. At eight years old, I stocked shelves at a neighborhood store. In high school and college, I worked in restaurants, grocery stores, and retail, often learning about operations directly from managers after hours. Those experiences shaped how I still think about organizations today, from the front lines to leadership decisions.
After studying history and business, I began my corporate career at Sprint, then a Fortune 100 company, starting at the bottom and learning fast. That role gave me a strong foundation and exposure to leaders and mentors who invested in my growth. From there, my career spanned operations, marketing, strategic planning, client management, training, and human resources, taking me from Kansas City to Chicago and into increasingly senior leadership roles.
In Chicago, I worked in the advertising industry as an account management leader and later helped build HR capabilities inside a growing firm. After 9/11, when the industry contracted and my role was eliminated, I took a step that would shape the rest of my career: I launched my first company in 2002. That firm grew out of real client demand, including the agency I had just left, and it deepened my understanding of what it means to lead, build, and sustain a business.
I was fortunate to learn alongside generous mentors, talented colleagues, and strong teams who shaped how I lead and think about organizations.
Alongside my consulting work, I found my way into teaching. I began teaching in a business school more than a decade ago and eventually joined the faculty at Rockhurst University, where I earned my MBA and continue to teach leadership in the MBA program today. Teaching sharpened my thinking and reinforced the importance of bridging theory, evidence, and real-world application.
Across every role, one truth has stayed constant: when leadership and culture are unclear, people and performance suffer. Over time, I began to see the same patterns repeat across industries: capable leaders working hard without alignment, teams pulling in different directions, and cultural issues quietly undermining trust, retention, and results long before anyone named them as “culture problems.”
Those experiences led me to launch Voyage Consulting Group in 2016. The goal was simple but ambitious: help leaders see what’s really happening inside their organizations, make sense of it, and act with clarity.
Today, VCG works with organizations across healthcare, engineering, construction, architecture, technology, financial services, and beyond. Leaders come to us when growth feels harder than it should, when tension is rising inside the business, or when they know something needs to change but can’t quite name it yet.
What has been especially affirming is that the research now strongly supports what experience taught me decades ago. Leadership clarity, cultural health, and aligned teams are measurable drivers of performance, resilience, and long-term success. My work sits at that intersection, helping leaders turn insight into action and build companies that perform well because they are well led.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Early in my career, one of my biggest challenges was learning patience. I was eager to learn, eager to contribute, and often frustrated by what felt like unnecessary slowness. Over time, and with the guidance of strong mentors, I learned that pacing matters. Sustainable progress requires discernment, not just drive. That lesson continues to shape how I work with leaders today.
Later in my career, a more significant challenge emerged: helping leaders understand that leadership and culture are not “soft” topics, but core business drivers. Early on, that idea was often dismissed. I vividly remember presenting to a group of managers who openly mocked the suggestion that they would hit their targets faster by putting their people before their customers. At the time, the connection between how leaders treat employees and how employees serve customers was not widely accepted.
The data many leaders rely on today simply didn’t exist yet. That meant earning credibility the hard way, through results, business acumen, and lived experience inside complex organizations. I had to demonstrate, again and again, that leadership clarity and cultural health were directly tied to performance outcomes leaders cared about.
Those challenges ultimately strengthened my work. They forced me to ground every recommendation in reality, values, and measurable outcomes rather than theory alone. They also sharpened my ability to translate human dynamics into language senior leaders respect and trust.
One formative experience came while working at an advertising agency in Chicago. On the surface, the firm had all the perks that were considered progressive at the time. But what stood out most was not the environment, it was the intentional care for people. Leadership invested in development, career growth, and genuine connection, not just visible benefits. The result was a team that was engaged, resilient, and capable of producing strong work under pressure.
That experience reinforced a lesson I still carry: culture is not about perks or programs. It’s about how leaders show up, what they prioritize, and whether people feel seen, supported, and challenged to grow. That insight continues to inform my work with organizations today, helping leaders build cultures that support performance rather than distract from it.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Voyage Consulting Group?
At Voyage Consulting Group, we work at the intersection of leadership, culture, and performance. That intersection is where many organizations struggle and where some of the most meaningful opportunities for growth live.
Our work begins by helping leaders gain clarity. Many organizations sense that something is off, whether it shows up as stalled growth, leadership team misalignment, rising turnover, or decision fatigue. We help leaders excavate what’s actually happening beneath the surface, separating symptoms from root causes. From there, we work alongside executives to strengthen leadership clarity, align teams around what truly matters, and translate insight into action.
VCG’s work is grounded in experience and supported by data. What began decades ago as pattern recognition inside complex organizations is now reinforced by research showing that leadership alignment and cultural health directly influence performance, resilience, and financial outcomes. Over the years, this work has helped organizations launch profitable divisions, exceed billion-dollar growth targets, strengthen leadership engagement at scale, and build leadership practices that support sustained performance across global operations.
Our clients span healthcare, engineering, construction, architecture, technology, manufacturing, financial services, and professional services. While the industries differ, the challenges are often similar: growing complexity, faster change, higher expectations, and leaders who are expected to deliver results without burning out their people or themselves. A common thread among our clients is that they genuinely care about their people and their customers.
Ultimately, our role is to help leaders build organizations where people and performance reinforce each other rather than compete. When leadership is clear and culture is intentional, companies don’t just perform better. They are better equipped to sustain success, attract strong talent, and build workplaces people are proud to be part of.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
One thing that often surprises people is how much improv training influences my leadership work. Years ago, I completed and performed in Chicago’s Players Workshop improv program, not because I wanted to be on stage, but because I wanted to become a better listener and leader.
Improv teaches skills that are essential in today’s organizations: listening without pre-judgment, adapting in real time, staying grounded under pressure, and building on what others bring rather than reacting defensively. Those same skills show up every day in executive conversations, leadership team dynamics, and moments when leaders have to navigate complexity without a script.
That training reinforced something I’ve seen throughout my career: leadership is not about having all the answers. It’s about presence, clarity, and the ability to respond thoughtfully when conditions change. Combined with my executive experience and the growing body of research linking leadership and culture to performance, improv gave me a practical, human framework that continues to shape how I work with leaders today.
Outside of work, I’m grounded by my husband, our family, and time with the dogs we’re lucky to have around us. They are a steady reminder that leadership is ultimately about care, responsibility, and presence.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.voyagecg.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/voyage-consulting-group/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@navigateleadership
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellytylerbyrnes
