Life is a series of firsts

Life is a series of firsts – learning to walk, first day at school, learning to ride a bike, graduation, first day at work, first promotion, building a team, that big promotion, publishing your book, finishing that Ironman, singing in a choir – there are so many! Firsts tend to be targets, achievements, and they can be daunting.

Some of my coachees come to me specifically for one of these firsts, that is, when they want to break into the C suite or get on to the Board of their company. I get asked, “How do I get on to the Board?” or “I keep getting turned down for C level jobs, why is this?”

When you are looking to make a step change in your career journey, it’s important to recognise and develop the full set of skills CEOs expect to see in their senior executives. I have done a lot of work to gather together what these skills are and developed a toolkit to address them. I help my coachees seeking that step up to work on developing and honing those skills and competencies.

The programme has been proved to work, as one coachee told me, “I feel that investing in this course has been very valuable and worth my money and, more importantly, my time. You have been an excellent and nurturing advisor, providing me with a push to overcome my low self-esteem (still work in progress). The skills I have acquired, such as influencing others and communicating success, are ones I am actively trying to use more in my day-to-day life. I am also more open towards my colleagues, bringing my authentic self to work.”

A month after sending me this message, this particular coachee emailed to say she’d landed a CMO job! My coaching programme is one thing but it demands an open mind and a commitment to work hard to effect change because, ultimately, only you can do it.

My first son with me on MBA graduation day.