Executive Coaching
“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” – L P Hartley
Executive Coaching is often used by people who are already on the up, but want to be the best they can be. Usually, however, we find that there is something holding them back. This was never more the case than when I conducted one of my first coaching sessions, twenty years ago.
A young girl had spotted a job opportunity that interested her. She approached me for advice.
“I’m too young”, she said as an opener. True, if she got the job, she’d be the youngest in the team by about ten years. I asked what experience she could bring to the role.
“None” she replied. “I’ve no qualifications”. It turned out she had not gone to university as it wasn’t affordable and neither could she afford to take the exams required to get this job. “I’ve no money” she shrugged. I asked why not.
A naïve and unsuccessful property venture in her teens had left her with debts of more than £50,000 at age 20, which she was gradually repaying. She had no home of her own, was working two jobs, one full time and one evening and weekend job; and was just about getting by.
I wondered out loud whether she could get a loan. She exclaimed that even if someone would lend her the money, she had no time to study and even if she did study, she had no experience, was too young and didn’t even know why I was pursuing this anyway as she didn’t even want the stupid job!
So that went well.
She may not have had the money, the time, the experience or the qualifications, but what she had in spades was passion and drive. I got her to focus on what she did have, rather than what she didn’t. Having thought about this, she got out the application form and applied for the job.
At the interview, she literally begged the manager to give her a chance. She told him she’d work harder than anyone he had ever taken on and that she’d get the exams in 3 months if he gave her the chance to prove herself. The interviewer must have seen something in her because he agreed. The company paid for her exams. She stayed up all night for months, studying in the lead up to the exams (think Will Smith in Pursuit of Happyness, without the cute son to worry about), and she breezed through them all on the same day…
Twenty years on, she owns two properties, lives in a beautiful beachside apartment and drives a fabulous soft-top BMW. She runs her own training and development company and fulfils the role of Commercial Director for an insurance company.
She still talks to herself. Oh, and she gets to write self-indulgent diary entries like this one for her blog while looking at the sea….
Your past does not have to equal your future. Be whatever you want to be with Executive Coaching from think. Give us a call. It could change your life too.
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