Reclaim how you lead. Unearth what’s already yours.
A leadership development approach for those who want to lead from identity, not performance.
For reflective leaders, founders, HR and People teams, and organisations seeking real change.
What is ULM-D™?
Unearthed Leadership Mosaic-Decolonised
Not a model. A method of unearthing.
ULM-D is not another leadership model.
It’s a framework, a methodology, a process of leadership excavation. And a proud refusal of performative leadership.
It’s designed to help you:
- uncover what shapes the way you lead (and what doesn’t belong)
- rebuild your leadership identity with intention and care
- deploy it in real-world actions that feel anchored, not exhausting
This isn’t a template to follow.
It’s a mosaic to uncover, and choose how to shape.
The ULM-D™ Process: ERDI
Reflection with application. Identity as structure.
ULM-D combines the depth of coaching, the precision of lean thinking, and the care of identity work.
It’s leadership development that makes space for contradiction, nuance, and truth.
The process follows four interlinked phases: Excavation, Reconstruction, Deployment, and Integration (Stay Unearthed).
Each phase builds from the last. It’s not a step-by-step formula, it’s a cycle that adapts as you do.
“Freedom is very difficult to achieve. Sometimes you have to hold it up to the light and see where it comes from, and if you can live with it.”
James Baldwin
What we work with
Excavating the real.
We start by exploring six zones of leadership identity:
- Fossilised Patterns
- Buried Artifacts
- Cultural Sediments
- Unfinished Ruins
- Sacred Relics
- Fragments of Paradox
We trace what’s real, not what sounds good.
Prompts, emotional resonance scans, and silent noticing help reveal what matters.
Your leadership mosaic
Not to fix, to compose.
What you unearth becomes material.
You shape your own Leadership Mosaic, selecting fragments and placing them with intention.
One becomes your Core Tile: not the most visible, but the one most urgent to honour now.
You leave with something personal, grounded, and buildable.
Deployment in real life
From insight to anchored action.
This phase makes the Mosaic actionable.
You’ll define:
– A minimum shift: a small, real, irreversible change
– The context where it matters most
– An anchor: a ritual, phrase, or question that keeps the shift embodied
No performance. No checklist. Just honest motion from the inside out.
What ULM-D unlocks
ULM-D™ helps you unearth what already lives in you, and making it usable, visible, and sustainable in collective life.
Each phase of the ERDI process builds capacity, not just insight.
This map shows what becomes possible when leadership is reclaimed from within.
Who is it for
You might be here because something’s felt off.
ULM-D is for people who:
– Feel misaligned with how they’ve been expected to lead
– Want decisions to reflect identity, not habit
– Have outgrown the version of leadership they once performed
– Are ready to stop fixing and start choosing, with care
Ways to Work With It
This is a method. And a stance.
You can experience ULM-D through:
1:1 coaching journeys
Workshops (90-minute to 2-day)
Organisational programs (for founders, teams, or people systems)
All formats include:
✓ Excavation tools
✓ Mosaic Tile practice
✓ Peer and bias-reflection
✓ Anchoring and deployment support
You’re welcome to explore and reflect with ULM-D.
But this isn’t a toolkit. It’s a methodology.
If you’d like to bring it into your own work, let’s do it together, no need to extract and repurpose.
With gratitude
The roots of this mosaic.
Thanks to the inspiration from:
– James Baldwin and Frantz Fanon, whose words named what I had always sensed
– Audre Lorde, bell hooks, and Glissant, for showing that complexity is a form of care
– Nelson Mandela, Edward Said, and Mahmoud Darwish, for honouring identity not as category, but as history, resistance, and place
And to those whose presence shaped me more closely:
– My grandmothers, the one who spent the evenings with her head in her books, and the one who never learnt to write, but led her life with untaught grace
– My father, who once said I was costruendo castelli in aria, and I have built, even if he's not here to see.
– My mum, for being my first supporter always, even when language stands between her and my work
– Robert Ellis, whose generosity did not only help, but made me return to myself
The teams, peers, and clients who shaped this work in real time
This mosaic is not just mine.
But I am proud to carry it.
Carmen
Contact
For SME leadership strategy, visit Carmen Elle Leadership
This project stands in active care for Palestine and all peoples resisting oppression.
©ULM-D™ is a trademark of Carmen Elle Leadership. Not to restrict, but to honour its roots.
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