Meet the Author

Sara Lobkovich

J.D. NBC-HWC (she/her)

I spent the first two decades of my career feeling like a square peg in round corporate environments, constantly thinking: "There has to be a better way." As a naturally strategic thinker who sees patterns others miss, I found myself repeatedly frustrated by unclear expectations and constantly shifting goalposts.

If you're anything like me, you've experienced that moment of clarity when you realize you're working harder than everyone else just to understand what success looks like. Maybe you've felt that pang of recognition when you notice systemic problems that others seem to ignore, or experienced the unique frustration of having brilliant ideas that somehow get lost in translation.

Sound familiar? Read on, or drop me an email to connect.

A partial team photo of the team of talented strategists I had no business leading during my creative days. Their talent made me want to be a better leader, and led to today. Clockwise from lower left: me, Andrew, Julie, Derrick, Xuyen, Olivia, Paul, and Stephanie.

My Turning Point

My turning point came when I stepped into executive leadership roles and realized I could use strategic frameworks to create clarity not just for myself, but for my entire team. I became fascinated with the intersection of strategic planning and human behavior change—specifically how we can transform visionary ideas into measurable impact without sacrificing our wellbeing or authenticity.

This journey led me to develop the No-BS OKRs methodology and Connected Strategic Framework, approaches that have now helped over 2,000 coaches across more than 300 global organizations, including Fortune 100 companies. As a board-certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC), I've been able to uniquely integrate evidence-based behavior change principles with strategic planning to create systems that work for real humans—especially those who think differently.

My Strategist Glory Days

Yellow sticky notes on a mirror, with six women's faces reflected (mine is mostly obscured because I'm taking a picture.
I'm on the left smiling, resting my head on Jen Anderson's shoulder; Jen has a huge smile on her face and her arm around me. We're both wearing shirts with narwhal on them. Jen was one of my longest-term strategic partners.

Ironically, I didn’t fully embrace the title of “Strategist” for myself until I’d left the field where so many of us do our life’s work: advertising and creative agencies. I’d had a “Strategist” title for much of my career with very little understanding of what that meant. When I landed at POSSIBLE (which has since been gobbled and assimilated into a large mega-agency) it was in a content strategy role, continuing the trend of my last few jobs. At POSSIBLE I saw brand planning, and brand strategy up close and personal, and seeing (and ultimately being part of) that work was where I found my place. Even after I’d moved out of “content strategy” and into “strategy,” for some of the biggest brands in the U.S. I still felt imposter syndrome — like I wasn’t a “real strategist.”

To this day, Amanda Nicol is my strategy hero. From left to right, Jen Anderson, Amanda Nicol, me, Stephanie (who I was deployed to Coca-cola in Atlanta with for an extended tour).

It was only after I’d left the field that I got my hands on a copy of Mark Pollard’s beautiful mess of a gift of a book, “Strategy Is Your Words,” that I realized: I am a strategist. (I am a strategist more than I am just about anything else that I am.) That book, the collaborators shown above (and the many not shown above), and the connections I’ve made since leaving the field with other progressive strategic thinkers helped me find my way through the imposter syndrome and systemic roadblocks to fully embrace that title for myself. And part of my mission — and reason for writing this book — is to make your path less friction-ful, if you are “one of us.”

You Are A Strategist

My book, "You Are A Strategist," is the result of years spent refining strategic frameworks with organizations and individuals who, like you, are tired of traditional approaches that favor performance over progress. It's written for the changemakers, the analytical thinkers, and the status quo challengers who know there's a better way but haven't yet found the frameworks to make their vision reality.

You're in the right place if you believe strategic planning should be accessible to everyone—not just those in positions of power or with traditional business backgrounds. And if you're ready to transform your insights into undeniable impact while honoring your authentic self, I wrote this book specifically for you.

The book cover is blue with black and white copy on the front. The white is squiggles that get progressively more organized from the first messy one to the last organized frilly one. The title is: You Are A Strategist: Use No-BS OKRs to Get Big Thing
Sara is smiling and laughing at the camera, wearing a black suit jacket, and appears to be on stage.

Where else to find me:

I’m personally most active on YouTube, my Mastodon server, thinkydoers.social, LinkedIn, and Bluesky, with mostly professional updates cross-posted to the other channels.

A few of my favorite things…

Books:

What Inspires Me:

  • Going for walks (no joke, it really works)

  • Connecting with other people who are “wired differently,” especially multiply-neurodivergent people like me

  • My “other life” in motorcycle racing

  • The two analog zones in my office: my watercolor painting table, and my writing table that has only an Hermes 3000 antique typewriter on it

Serendipity:

  • I love your dog. My soul dog passed away a few years ago, and my travel schedule is no life for a dog, so for now, I love yours (and your cats, too).