Mary and Dale Andringa Executive Director Chair
Max De Pree Center for Leadership
Assistant Professor of Marketplace Leadership
Fuller Seminary
Biography
Dr. Michaela O’Donnell is the Mary and Dale Andringa Executive Director Chair of the Max De Pree Center for Leadership where she oversees the center’s vision, strategy, program, and team, all with the goal of helping leaders like you respond faithfully to God in all seasons of your life and leadership.
Michaela is the author of, Make Work Matter: Your Guide to Meaningful Work in a Changing World. The book is for all of us who want to untangle ourselves from all the mantras about work that don’t quite work. It is a reflection of Michaela’s heart as both an entrepreneur and a practical theologian. Drawn to the real-life working out of big issues, it is a how-to for anyone walking the road of calling in a changing world.
Michaela is the primary visionary and content creator behind De Pree Center’s blossoming Road Ahead program, a six-week experience that’s rooted in research and designed to help folks in transition take a breath, discern next steps, and gain clarity about whatever it is God is calling them to do. To date, the De Pree Center has run over 50 Road Ahead cohorts, with over 300 participants.
In addition to her academic work, Michaela has over ten years of experience as a leader in the marketplace. Principally, as the Owner and Managing Director of Long Winter Media, a vibrant creative agency that helps brands make social impact through multi-media content. Long Winter Media’s roster of clients includes Google, YouTube, NBC Universal, the University of Southern California, Presbyterian Church (USA), Fuller Seminary, and many more. Notably, the Oprah Winfrey Network picked up a short film Long Winter produced for an episode of Oprah’s show Super Soul Sundays with Glennon Doyle.
Michaela regularly writes and teaches on topics of vocation, change, innovation, creativity, faith/work, and gender dynamics in leadership. To read some of her most recent writing, click the button below.
Explore Michaela's Resources
Make Work Matter
Book by Michaela O’Donnell
Price: Starting at $11.99
Make Work Matter provides a blueprint for a better future. Filled with stories and insights from faithful entrepreneurs and built on solid research, this book will help you close the gap between what you’re doing now and the meaningful work you desire to accomplish.
Women Leaders are Meeting this Moment
Article by Michaela O’Donnell
From checking in on people who work for them to starting new initiatives that contribute to the health of organizations, women are taking on more. Perhaps we’re stepping up? Or perhaps we’re getting piled on.
What Did God Birth in You This Year?
Article by Michaela O’Donnell Long
In December 2020, Michaela O’Donnell wrote an article called: What is God Birthing in You? in which she wondered about what the unusual year of 2020 was readying us for in 2021. In this article, she helps us consider what birthing might look like in our work and leadership as well as gives us an exercise to reflect on this as we head into a new year.
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Article by Michaela O’Donnell
Even if you’re not considering leaving your job, remembering the road thus far, naming where you’re at now, and charting out the next doable risks can be a powerful way to consider how you approach your work and how that work is part of the big work of redemption, justice, and peace that God is up to in the world.
Road Ahead Cohorts- Original
Cohort Experience
Price: $500/participant
The Road Ahead is a six-week group experience that helps you get unstuck and discern next steps on your road ahead.
Webinar: Women at Work, Transition and Transformation
Webinar with Nicole Dickens, Rebecca Johnson, Kathy Young, and Michaela O’Donnell
Join four of our Road Ahead Guides as we unpack what we’re noticing and discuss what we’re hopeful for in this extraordinary season of transition and transformation.
Webinar: Finding Joy at Work
Webinar with Angela Williams Gorrell, hosted by Michaela O’Donnell Long
Research tells us that seasons of challenge often holds extraordinary opportunity for joy.
Webinar: Inner Life of a Leader
Webinar with Tracy Matthews, Lisa Slayton, Inés Velásquez-McBryde, and Michaela O’Donnell Long
This webinar will be a year-end conversation and a guided spiritual practice meant to help you attune to all that God is doing in and around you.
Online Course:
Meaningful Work in a Changing World
Online Course by Michaela O’Donnell
Price: $25.00
This course is about helping those who are unsure of how to find meaningful and rewarding work in a constantly changing world cultivate a concept called “the entrepreneurial way”.