I rarely talk about my business on this page. However, as I have just added four new pages explaining my business (see the links below my photograph), I thought it was time to tell you what I do for a living.
For 28 years, I worked in manufacturing in North America, New Zealand and Asia. Starting as an energy engineer, I worked my way up to CEO of a publicly-listed company in Thailand. Through most of the last ten years, my primary approach to getting business results has been through coaching those I work with.
Now I am a full-time, professional Executive Coach. (No, I am not a horse drawn conveyance from a bygone era, but I couldn't find an interesting picture that captured my profession, so I decided a homonym was just as good.)
As an executive coach, I work one-on-one with clients, catalyzing, inspiring and supporting them in attaining better results faster and easier than they thought possible. Executives choose to work with me in order to make significant changes in their lives, to better handle uncertainty, to make better decisions, or any number of other goals. My role is partner, champion, sounding board and wake-up call. I focus on what my client wants and needs, and help each see how he or she might cross the gap from current reality to desired outcome.
I work with business executives who have profit and loss responsibility (General Manager and above), and also with attorneys, especially those who are on the cusp of promotion to Partner and need to learn leadership skills. I coach by phone, so location is not an issue.
While I have used a coach approach to leadership for at least ten years, I have much to learn about formal coaching. So I have enrolled in CoachU's Core Essentials Program. Completion of those 77 hours of training, along with the required hours of client coaching, will lead to certification through the International Coach Federation.
An important piece of becoming a "real" coach is to "do" coaching. To that end, I'd love to give each of you a free, no-obligation, 30-minute sample Exploratory session. During our session, we'll identify a 90-day goal that excites and inspires you, and perhaps find one or two things you can do right now to move toward that goal. You'll get a chance to see how I coach, and how it feels to be coached. If you feel a coaching structure might be useful, we'll talk about how that would work. If not, we'll have had a great conversation and that's the end of it.
Even if you don't fit into one of my two target markets, I'd love to do the session with you. You might gain some insight, I'll get more practice, and I might also gain an advocate if you come away pleased with the experience. That can't be all bad for either of us.
What d'ya say? Interested in trying it out? If so, drop me a line and we'll work out a time for your Exploratory session.
In the meantime, I've added four new pages to this site, to tell you more about my business.
- "GET A FREE, NO-OBLIGATION EXPLORATORY COACHING SESSION" is pretty self-explanatory (and repeats what I said a couple of paragraphs ago.
- "International Coach Federation Code of Ethics" is my pledge to you that I will follow the industry's highest ethical standards. Most importantly, that includes a pledge of complete confidentiality in everything we do.
- "Ten things about how I coach" explains my approach to coaching.
- "Testimonials" is the brag page and includes recommendations from five folks who have benefited from my coaching.
I don't plan to talk about my business often in this blog, other than to note when I add a few additional pages (resources, how to find a coach, and a coaching readiness assessment are in the works). So I now return you to our normal thread of conversation. See you here tomorrow with the Tuesday Tough Question!
[Photo credit: "Downing Coach #80" by catchesthelight.]
