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Dear Reader,

Top five reasons I love March Madness (in no particular order):

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​#5. The drama of a single-elimination tournament: one loss and you’re out. 😳 Every moment matters! (⬅️ is the exact wording of a mantra I used when I taught 6th grade, so I'm not surprised it resonates!)

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​#4. The shared collective experience: the reality is, if something is on TV that tons of people are tuning into it, I like being connected to it, whether it’s an awards show, a presidential debate or a sporting event. 🤓

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​#3. The spotlight on compelling personal stories: I mean, are you even human if you don’t love a great redemption arc, or the triumph of an individual over their confining circumstances? So much focus on these great individual profiles! 😍

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​#2. The amazing and unending stream of metaphors about what sports teaches you about life. (I'd go on but this is literally the content of like a zillion different articles and books.)

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​#1. The way the coaches are in it with their players: pacing the sidelines, frantically scribbling plays on a whiteboard during time outs, taking the lessons they have learned and applying them to this exact, high stakes situation.

You know one of the reasons I love this so much? The average college basketball head coach is 50 years old. Let’s assume they started playing basketball at 8 years old–which means they have roughly 42 years of experience.

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The players are between 18-22ish: so the coaches have been playing, around, near or coaching basketball since TWENTY YEARS before their players were born.

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The coaches bring allllll their experience to that exact moment, to help the players in that particular moment to achieve their goal.

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No wonder I like it–that’s a lot like what I do. 🤗

Am I a coach? Kind of.

I sometimes serve as an executive coach to leaders...

and I almost always bring the lens of a coach to what I do, as an encouraging hype-woman interested in you winning, and in personal growth that stays with you for the long haul.

The reason my answer to “Am I a coach?” is not a full-throated HELL YES is because of one kinda big issue.

I truly loved working with coaches when I was in the leader’s seat.

But the thing was–the nature of coaching sessions is that I always left with the to-do’s.

And my to-do list was long enough already.

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🤨 So, you might think I loved working with consultants–because they left with the to-do list, right?

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Yes, I did appreciate how they left with the next steps...

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And at the same time, I felt like their plans were often out of touch with the day-to-day realities of leading. 😣

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So the plans would gather dust in a drawer, which was... not helpful.
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So, I technically call myself a coach-sultant: part coach, part consultant
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Like those college coaches, I bring allllll my experience to the clients I work with–

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We meet, in a setting similar to a coaching session, to talk about what’s going on (often that's change management or organizational growing pains, and the general challenges of leading).

I am laser-focused on what folks need in that particular moment to achieve their goal.

Then (here’s where things get a little unorthodox, in a good way)

🌠 I take next steps and to-do’s away from the session, delivering them to the client within a week.

Some recent examples:

• Talking through a tricky re-org with a client that’s happening then drafting the waterfall of communications and order of events that need to happen to minimize its impact on the broader team
• Dissecting why an organizational goal that the board set prior to this Executive Director starting their role is not meaningful-- and drafting some slides for next board meeting to delicately raise that issue and suggested next steps
• Helping a leader get clarity on a critical role they were hiring for and sending a suggested high level outline for a hiring process that would yield insights on those criteria in the search

Clients walk out of every session with increased clarity–and they also know I’ll deliver high quality deliverables to help them take the next steps in the next few days.
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Coach-sulting supercharges leaders, by removing obstacles (like a growing to-do list) and equipping them to take action.

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Now I’m so curious–what do you think of this? What resonates? What are you wondering about?

(I read and respond to every email–I’d love your thoughts!)

In the meantime, may you lead any pools you are in and may your bracket at least survive the first weekend!

Take care,

Beth

ps. Truly, I would love to know what you think about the coach-sulting model: I’m always looking for feedback on what is MOST helpful for leaders. Hit reply and lmk!

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