A Founder Flounders Ngyuen was terrified her company was going to collapse. She had spent years creating a Hanoi-based clothing company that was completely locally crafted: she commissioned fabric from women on local farms, she oversaw designs in her studio, and she supervised local manufacturing. And the company had thrived. Demand had increased three years […]
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Vulnerability as a tool Jacqui was a highly analytical introvert. I learned early in our coaching that she used silence to think. That is not to say she didn’t speak up. When she felt strongly about something, the words flew out of her. From our very first conversation, I knew Jacqui felt strongly about a
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Brave or Shameful? Cindy hated that her story still had the power to make her cry. She hated the feelings the story still stirred up in her: embarrassment, powerlessness, rage, and, the fuel for her tears, shame. Cindy still had shame about what she’d done. Many years before, she reported to a leader who was
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Staring into the Void Brenna was excited when she was given leadership of a company-wide management skills program. There was six hours of content which she divided into two sessions of three hours each, two weeks apart. She’d be delivering the program globally to cohorts of about 30 people at a time. And there’d be
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Learning Likeability Grace’s performance reviews showed high marks for projects and processes. Her skills with people, however, scored quite low. During our first coaching conversation, talking about what she wanted from the coaching, she said, “I’d like to learn how to be likeable. I’ve always been the smart one, the good one, but I’ve never
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Senior Leadership Loses Faith in Her Carolina was one of three leaders helping spin off a division into its own company. Every week, she and her colleagues reported to the senior leadership … and Carolina was driving them crazy. I had coached her boss, Matt, the COO, when he was a rising junior executive at
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Over Answering with a Wall of Words Devon was completely non-defensive about the feedback. His boss, Bianca, had been plain with her admiration: she found him level-headed, far-sighted and good with people. She was equally clear about a specific area of development: Devon needed to get better when he answered questions. When Devon got asked
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That Stupid Question Kendra was focused on job interviews. She dedicated a good portion of every coaching session to developing the skills she would need to land a position at her level. We composed emails together. We discussed managing recruiters. We analyzed conversations she’d had. We strategized about the background information she discovered. Then she
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Rampant Overtalking Michael was in his twelfth year as chief technology officer at a global food distribution company. His relationship with David, the CEO, went back even further. Michael and David were fixtures. And friends. Michael and I met with David to hear his goals for Michael’s coaching. David was direct. “You’ve got to stop
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A Scary Wake-Up Call Deepa was shocked. She began a denial, then smiled and said, “I hadn’t the slightest clue.” Deepa and I were almost halfway into a six-month coaching engagement. At the outset, I had gathered feedback about her from senior leaders, peers and direct reports. Her report had two resounding themes. First, everyone
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