Developing Great Leaders At Work & Home
So you achieve success in business, relationships, and mental health — without burnout.
Triple Specialist: Business, Relationships & Mental Health
Trusted By Leaders At
Plus leading universities & professional associations.
Our Impact
DK Leadership's coaching, keynotes, and programs now reach professionals, entrepreneurs, and families across USA, Canada & Europe.
About DK Leadership
At DK Leadership, our vision is simple: develop great leaders. Our goal is to help 100 million people, for free, learn to lead from the Middle Chair, so that they achieve success at work AND at home, without burnout. That's the whole business, in one sentence.
We teach one leadership framework to get you there: The Three Chairs™. It's a simple method to build confidence by learning 5 Leadership EQ Skills so you can lead yourself, your team, and your family, from “the Middle Chair”.
You've likely seen it in action: 20+ years as the leadership and relationship expert on national TV, including LIVE with Kelly & Mark in New York, our WSJ bestselling book, and a TEDx talk on Three Chairs watched over 5.5 million times. We teach it on stages around the world, and power it through Success Intelligence, our Leadership Operating System, our masterminds, and our upcoming “The Dr. Karyn” podcast.
If you're ready to achieve success in your business, relationships and mental health, you're in the right place.
Connect With Us
About Dr. Karyn
Dr. Karyn is a WSJ bestselling author, a World's Top 10 TEDx speaker (2022), and a triple specialist in Business, Relationships, and Mental Health — helping leaders and families succeed at work and home, without burnout.
She's the creator of The Three Chairs™ and co-founder of Success Intelligence: Leadership Operating System.
Dr. Karyn has spoken to over 500,000 people across 17 countries, from networks like YPO, EO, and TIGER 21, and has coached inside celebrity Jesse Itzler's business mastermind and developed an EQ curriculum with Wharton professors for family businesses. A regular on LIVE with Kelly & Mark in NY, with 20+ years of national TV experience including GMA, Cityline, and Forbes. Her own show, “The Dr. Karyn” podcast launches fall 2026.
A Doctorate in Marriage & Family Therapy and 25+ years as a therapist and business coach earned her an RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Award nomination. She and her husband and business partner of 25 years — plus twin teenagers and 2 fur babies — live by a work hard, play hard philosophy, with hobbies like design, tennis, running, and surfing.
About Dr. Brent
An entrepreneur, strategist, and technology enthusiast, Dr. Brent Penner joined DK Leadership in 2018 to help scale Success Intelligence, the Leadership Operating System. Since then, he's been instrumental in launching Dr. Karyn's engaging, practical leadership tools, expanding their reach across USA, Canada and Europe.
While Dr. Karyn is the face most clients see, Brent is the one executing behind the scenes, leading their high-performing team and overseeing systems, operations, and product delivery. His focus: building efficient, scalable, and tech-powered solutions that create real impact for clients around the world.
A retired chiropractor and former competitive rower, Brent brings a rare blend of precision, drive, and innovation to everything he does. Yes, he's married to Dr. Karyn. When he's not optimizing systems, you'll find him skiing, running, building something, or planning the next family adventure.
Our Commitment To Giving Back
At DK Leadership, we believe everyone deserves the chance to lead with confidence, no matter their background or starting point.
That's why we support leadership development in under-resourced communities. Through our partnerships, we've built a school in Haiti with World Vision, sponsored school leadership events across Canada for over 20 years, and supported the Muskoka Woods Youth Foundation for more than a decade.
In 2018, we partnered with Covenant House to bring leadership tools to youth transitioning out of homelessness. Using our Three Chairs™ framework and 5 Leadership EQ Skills to sit in the middle chair, we developed a program to help them grow in confidence. A McMaster University study found a “significant increase” in participants' self-esteem and sense of purpose after doing our programs.
With the right tools — and a hunger to grow — anyone, at any age, can learn to sit in the middle chair, develop a confident mindset and become a great leader.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded DK Leadership? +
DK Leadership was founded by Dr. Karyn Gordon — a WSJ bestselling author and World's Top 10 TEDx speaker (2022) — 30 years ago. Her husband, Dr. Brent Penner, who leads operations and product, joined in 2018 to help scale Success Intelligence, their Leadership Operating System.
What is The Three Chairs™ framework? +
The Three Chairs™ is a leadership confidence framework Dr. Karyn created after studying the research behind the three mindsets we all have — insecure, confident, and arrogant — and how each one impacts decision-making: goal-setting, communication, performance, and mental health, etc. She started teaching it to high school students, then expanded into leadership development for businesses 20+ years ago, and realized it applied at every age. To help people sit in the Middle Chair and learn the confident mindset, she teaches 5 Leadership EQ Skills. She wrote the book “The Three Chairs,” which hit the WSJ and USA Today bestseller lists, then gave her TEDx talk on the topic, which ranked in the World's Top 10 globally in 2022.
What is Success Intelligence? +
Success Intelligence is DK Leadership's Leadership Operating System — the program organizations use to teach the 5 Leadership EQ Skills and install The Three Chairs™ framework across their teams, to develop great leaders and achieve their business vision.
What programs does DK Leadership offer? +
DK Leadership offers Success Intelligence for organizations, High Performance Reset for professionals, and Find Your Dream Career for youth and career pivoters. On the relationship side, there's 1:1 Coaching, Marriage Intensives, the Marriage Mastermind, and the Women Entrepreneur Mastermind.
Who does DK Leadership work with? +
DK Leadership works with global entrepreneurs, professionals, CEOs, and organizations across the USA, Canada, and Europe, including Coca-Cola, Magna, YPO, EO, and TIGER 21.
Does Dr. Karyn still work with marriages and families? +
Yes. She reserves a few hours each week for coaching — not only business teams, but marriages and families too. She offers 1:1 coaching, marriage intensives, and marriage masterminds.
Are there free resources to get started? +
Yes. Start with the Leadership EQ Scorecard, which highlights your 5 Leadership EQ Skills. Watch Dr. Karyn's TEDx talk, which includes free discussion guides for families, schools, and teams, tune into her upcoming podcast, “The Dr. Karyn,” launching this fall, or join our newsletter for weekly leadership tips.
Let's Build Great Leaders Together.
Whether it's helping your business or family — we'd love to hear from you.