July 6, 2006, Niki was involved in a near-fatal auto accident (struck from behind by a hit and skip driver.)  When the paramedics arrived, Niki was unconscious, and had to be pulled from her wrecked vehicle by the "jaws of life."  Once they were able to retrieve Niki from the vehicle, she was placed in a helicopter and taken by life-flight a nearby trauma unit.  Niki was placed on life support and the doctor's diagnosis said; "she probably will not make it through the night." The doctors told her husband to call the family because the prognosis was not very good.  Niki spent the next three days in a coma and twelve days in the Intensive Care Unity. After miraculously waking from the coma, and unable to speak, Niki communicated with her family by etching out her words with pen and paper.  Niki spent the next two and a half months in the hospital. After her hospital stay, Niki was not out of the woods yet, she then spent another two and a half months in a nursing and rehab facility learning to walk again, and regain the use of her limbs. After rehab, Niki would return home nearly six months after her near fatal accident to begin the process of getting her life back in gear! 

 

That experience shaped the business woman that we know today. Niki has been able to take dying organizations and bring them back to vibrant life! She has coached and mentored leaders who were struggling, and put them back in the driver's seat. Now with Fifth Gear, she has taken her experience of 2.5 months in a hospital and her 2.5 months in a nursing home and developed her signature 5Gear approach to business. Niki is proof that it works! It is important that you know what drives the consultant you choose.  You need to know about their work ethic; you need someone who will commit and not quit, a "designated driver" that will ride with you and your organization as you learn how to SHIFT into the gear called GREAT!