leadership consultants Playing to our passion

Our Story

About Us

We have worked together in various capacities and combinations for more than 20 years. The major reason we just can’t quit each other is how creative, collaborative and fun it is to join forces. The Messy Truth About Leading People gives us a chance to distill our experiences and insights to offer new services to clients.

A common thread for each of us over the years is our dedication to doing meaningful work and bringing out the best in people. Like you, we have worked at companies that were driven more by revenue than by developing talented and effective leaders. That was hard. We struggled to conform.

With The Messy Truth (TMT), we push away all the noise and clutter about leadership to focus on the essence. We believe if you get these three things right (know yourself, understand others, create meaningful connections), everything else will fall into place.

Meet the Team

I’m a story listener and storyteller. People fascinate me and I have a long and interesting career helping people untangle their stories so they are freed up to write new chapters. I’ve been fortunate to live and work in different places, to immerse myself in different cultures and companies, to learn different languages and ways of seeing the world and to marvel at our collective humanity and zaniness.

My own journey has been rich; loving family member, prolific writer, expert leadership and team coach, decent enough leader, dear friend, irreverent human being. My soul will always come alive for Motown (my home town), great jazz, Alvin Ailey, meditation, water and my most cherished loved ones.

Nicki Roth

I work with executives and their teams on interpersonal dynamics so that they can do their best work. I have many years of experience working with people from multiple countries, cultures, industry sectors, and roles including: first-time CEOs, functional executives moving into general manager roles, entrepreneurs trying to scale their business, and subject matter experts who are individual contributors taking on team leadership roles.
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I also spend a good deal of time as part of the executive coaching faculty at the MIT’s Sloan School of Management, where I coach and facilitate in MIT’s Leadership Center, and at the Executive Education Center. I really enjoy researching at the intersection of psychology, anthropology and sociology where I write about leadership, including: The Experience of First Time CEOs, How Founders Learn To Let Go and Grow Their Business, and Sexual Misconduct is a Failure of Leadership.
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My wife and I have three lovely children, and we live near the sea in Massachusetts.
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Gavin Fenn-Smith

I believe that leadership is about creating the conditions for those around you to thrive. It is through this value-centered, people-first lens that we will create fully human workplaces where people flourish while doing great things together. My mission is to support leaders in leveraging their own values to lead with authenticity and purpose both individually and collectively.
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I bring over 15 years in the Leadership Development space, and have worked within and alongside leaders in numerous domains, including technology, bio-tech/pharma, education, social enterprise, corporate real estate and the sports industry. I am part of the coaching faculty at MIT’s Leadership Center at the Sloan School of Management. My career started facilitating conversations about the intersection of leadership and social justice and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging therefore remain central pillars of my coaching and consulting practice.
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I live on the North Shore of Massachusetts and spend my free time trail running, Stand Up Paddle Boarding, trying to be a CrossFit athlete, and cuddling with my Wheaten Terrier, Tugger.

Meghan O. Mahoney

I have a passion for helping companies expand and better reach their market. Instead of focusing on all of the letters after my name, now I focus on the difference I can make through the work that I do.

A marketer at heart, I work with businesses to plan and execute custom marketing and creative strategies. I do this here at The Messy Truth Leadership as well as for my freelance clients.

Rhea Welch

Business inquiries

Nicki Roth

+1.857.256.1078

hi@themessytruthleadership.com