Helen Samson Mullen

About Helen Samson Mullen

With warmth and curiosity, Helen Samson Mullen coaches her clients to come home to themselves, align with their unique blend of strengths and values, clarify their intentions, and lead with vulnerability and courage. She invites her clients to lean into emotional agility, mitigate stress, show up for difficult conversations, and seize the opportunities in the challenges. She supports her clients in honing awareness of mindsets, behaviors, and actions as well as the impact they have on their influence, wake, and legacy.Helen encourages her clients to define their own success metrics. A mindfulness geek with a background in physiology, she brings an evidence-based perspective to leadership and wellness strategy. Leveraging the pLink Leadership® methodology, she is gently tenacious in service of each client’s growth, providing an empathetic presence with genuine levity.After earning her Ph.D. and experiencing life in academic medical research, Helen entered the corporate world as a Fortune 50 executive before founding her own consulting business for pharmaceutical, medical, and biotech companies. Her extensive cross-cultural experience includes assignments throughout Europe, Australia, and the United States. After she experienced profound leadership coaching herself, she pivoted to a career in coaching and has been a part of pLink Leadership from its early days. Helen’s clients choose her because of her kind, calm, gentle tenacity, deep listening and analytical approach.Born and raised in northern England, Helen now lives in Wilmington, Delaware, with her husband, two children (when they return from university), and goldendoodle.TESTIMONIAL“You were a tremendous resource. During our sessions, I always found our time well spent and worth every minute.” ~ Telecomm Executive

Experience

1. Senior Executive Coach

   Plink Leadership

   Jul 2013 — Present · Wilmington, DE, US

   As a coach for pLink Leadership, Helen takes the science of positive psychology and applies it to the business world. In doing so, she helps shape positive leaders to create a better world. Two of Helen’s favorite quotes are from Mahatma Gandhi: “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” and, “In a gentle way you can shake the world.” Helen’s style of coaching is gentle and powerful, empathetic and intuitive. She works with clients to increase their awareness and agency while aligning with their strengths and values so they may use their unique blend of superpowers for maximum positive impact, personally and professionally.“My clients know that I see what’s best in them. They also trust I will be honest with them. There’s no fixing. My work is partnering with my clients in service of the achievement of their most important outcomes, in line with their purpose and vision.”CASE STUDIES→ BUILDING TEAMSA vice president asked Helen to help a team that was struggling and mired in criticism. An event was designed around Brené Brown’s body of work, and it helped the individuals and the team build a common language and start to trust each other. They became a high-performing team and overcame obstacles in creative and productive ways. “I learned to start with the most generous assumptions.”100% of the evaluators believed they could use this new knowledge to be a more effective leader. → EASING A POWER STRUGGLEIn times of enormous change for organizations, Helen helps leaders step into their own agency and walk with courage. In a merger, senior leaders were vying for power while teams tried to establish a new normal. These leaders were doing their best to guide teams and help them maintain a positive outlook while dealing with ongoing uncertainty both within and outside the organization. Helen helped them maximize impact by understanding what was in their circle of influence and how to motivate their teams despite the conditions outside of their control.

Education

• Newcastle University

  BSc (Honours), Physiological Sciences

  1989

• Newcastle University

  PhD, Physiological Sciences

  1993