Welcome to the first installment of our We Are Southren Group blog series, where we shine a spotlight on the incredible individuals who drive our mission forward. In this inaugural post, we're excited to introduce you to Jane Southren, the visionary leader behind Southren Group Inc. Jane’s story is one of resilience,
innovation, and a deep commitment to empowering others—values that are at the very heart of who we are as a company.
Jane Southren: Creative Leader, Empathetic Problem-Solver, and Relentless Innovator
Jane stands at the helm of Southren Group Inc. (“SGI”). As Founder and Principal Coach, Jane brings her passion for empowering others to the forefront of everything she does. With nearly 30 years of experience in and around professional services businesses, she has developed a deep understanding of human behaviour, mindset, and motivation in that context—skills she uses to help clients achieve their goals and lead fulfilling lives.
Rooted in Resilience and Entrepreneurial Spirit
Jane’s journey began in Kitchener, Ontario, where she was born and raised in a working-class family. Resilience and hard work were core values in her upbringing, shaped by stories of her parents' experiences living in England through the depression, WWII and the post-war austerity. These stories of perseverance, community, and collaboration instilled in Jane a drive to leave everything and everyone she came across better than she found them.
Her early experiences, including her first job as a young teenager serving at a fast-food restaurant, sparked a lifelong love of entrepreneurship. Working for a Chinese business owner in Kitchener in the early 1980s, Jane gained unique insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by entrepreneurs, particularly those from visibly racialized communities. These formative experiences, coupled with her journey through law and business development, have shaped her approach to empowering others through her work and community involvement.
Navigating Personal and Professional Challenges
Jane has faced significant personal challenges with the same level of dedication and care she brings to her professional life. For many years, she cared for both of her parents as they battled terminal illnesses. She supported her mother through an 8.5-year battle with multiple myeloma, advocating for her during treatments and managing the daily challenges of the disease. Similarly, Jane cared for her father during his 13-year journey with Lewy Body dementia adopting the GEMS® approach to dementia care, which equips caregivers with the skills and tools they need to focus their caregiving on what individuals with dementia can still do, rather than focusing on their losses. These experiences have deeply influenced Jane’s approach to coaching, as she helps clients find fulfillment and success in their careers and lives by focusing on building on their strengths and applying those to maximize the positive impact they can have on others.
Pursuing Passions Beyond Business
Beyond her professional life, Jane is a person of many interests and passions. Now, in her 50s, she is pursuing a bucket list of life-long dreams, including; becoming bilingual in French (with the goal of coaching clients in both of Canada’s official languages), horseback riding and piano, demonstrating that it’s never too late to develop new skills and passions. She also finds joy in exploring different forms of creative expression, even if the results are, as she humorously describes, “terrible but highly satisfying.”
Over the years, Jane has also enjoyed skiing, gardening, and traveling, and she has dedicated time to volunteering at a hospital, a long-term care home, and schools that serve neurally diverse children and those with physical and developmental differences.
Jane is deeply connected to her spouse and a wide network of friends, whom she adores and spends time with as often as possible.
Aligning with SGI’s Mission and Values
At SGI, Jane finds a profound alignment between her personal values and the company’s mission to empower people to think, be, and do better. The emphasis on Connectedness, Contribution, and Growth resonates deeply with her, as she has always believed in the power of relationships, collaboration, and continuous personal improvement to make positive change in lives and communities. SGI’s vision to unleash potential also aligns with Jane’s lifetime journey focused on supporting others to demand and achieve more from their lives, making her role at the company both professionally and personally fulfilling.
Memorable Projects: Uncovering Hidden Potential and Unexpected Successes
One of the most rewarding aspects of Jane’s work is seeing the transformation of lawyers who haven’t yet found the tools and personal practices that will empower them to achieve the level of success that they aspire to and deserve - particularly BIPOC and women lawyers who often find the road to success in law to be quite difficult. Through tailored coaching that includes strategic planning, targeted skill-building, and personalized guidance, Jane helps clients shift their mindset and approach to business development, often leading to exponential growth in their practices.
Two or three times a year she gets to take part in some really remarkable transformations, when lawyers elevate their personal originations from under $100K annually to over $1M in sustainable revenue. These transformations are among the highlights of Jane’s work. She eagerly anticipates the end of each year to see who the standout new rainmakers are, frequently discovering that they are not the lawyers firms typically view as their proven high performers. This pattern reveals an important truth: with the right support, untapped potential can be unleashed in unexpected places.
Another unforgettable success story comes from SGI’s Career Transitions program. As part of the program, participants are encouraged to practice describing their core values, functional skills, personality traits, and personal stories to other people in a variety of settings—at work, with family, socially, and beyond. Jane calls this exercise “Getting Your Words Out of Your Mouth,” and it is designed to help clients catalyse insights about themselves and allow others to see their true potential.
One client took this practice to heart during a party, engaging in a conversation with someone she had never met before. She openly shared her insights from the program, articulating her values and experiences. The person she spoke with was so captivated by her self-awareness and her journey through the coaching program that they continued talking for most of the evening. What began as a simple practice exercise evolved into something much more—they continued meeting, and before long, she had not only discovered the career path she wanted but also found a life partner. Today, she has a fulfilling career, a spouse, and children—outcomes that were certainly not on the original list of coaching goals but are celebrated successes nonetheless!
These stories reinforce Jane’s belief in the power of personalized, hands-on coaching to drive lasting change, uncover hidden potential, and even deliver unexpected life-altering outcomes.
Expertise, Community Commitment, and Living the Mission
Certified as a brain-based coach by the NeuroLeadership Institute, Jane’s work is grounded in the latest research on neuroscience and human connection. Her unique, collaborative approach, combined with her expertise in professional development, strategic planning, and human behaviour, has empowered hundreds of individuals and groups to cultivate insights, develop strategies, and implement behavioural changes that lead to sustainable success.
Jane’s values and expertise are also reflected in her deep commitment to community service, including her current position on the Board of Pro Bono Ontario. The organization’s mission to provide 100% access to justice for low-income Ontarians aligns with Jane’s own values, as she has spent her career promoting and facilitating the success and well-being of others.
Jane is intentional about living her values every day, making a lasting impact on those she has served through her work in her law practice, at SGI, with Pro Bono Ontario, and in many other ways in and around the legal community. As a result, she has become a respected voice in that community, known for her innovative thinking and strong sense of purpose.
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