“Our chief desire is for someone who will
inspire us to be what we know we could be.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
These words are my professional creed that I strive to live by each time that I interact with my clients who are all striving to become better leaders, reach their full professional potential, and add value to their teams and organizations. My passion is to coach these mid to senior level managers who truly want to become authentic leaders and are seeking someone who can help them become the kind of leader they know they could become.
Many of my clients need help with developing better self-management skills so they can, in turn, better manage the behavior of others. I am not afraid of disagreements and I enjoy teaching my clients how to confidently and assertively manage the inevitable conflicts that arise during normal human interactions. I understand group dynamics and this allows me to coach my clients on how to build strong teams and get people to work together more effectively. To be sure, my clients are the business experts, not me. They are already accomplished in their respective fields and certainly don’t need my help in any job skills. Instead, they want someone to help them master the leadership skills they need to get people to trust each other, engage in honest dialogue, commit to a united course of action, hold each other accountable, and to deliver the bottom line results that companies needs to succeed and grow.
I started my own professional career as a clinical psychologist and worked in that field successfully for 16 years. My transition to becoming a leadership coach began while I was working as a psychologist on a Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit. My job was to teach heart attack survivors how to lower their stress, better manage anger and conflict, and how to use rational thinking to better cope with life’s challenges. It always surprised me how many of the managers and executives I worked with as patients in this program were so profoundly affected. They told me that their lives had been positively changed and that their business performance had also increased dramatically when they applied the same tools I had taught them. I began receiving requests to continue working with them or to work with other managers in their organization who they thought could also benefit from learning these same competencies. Much to my delight, I found that I loved working with managers and executives.
I was astonished to learn how many very talented business people struggle with the challenges of management and leadership. But, according to the American Management Association, 55% of all new business managers have never received any formal management training before being promoted into a management position. Is it any wonder then why so many managers feel adrift and without the skills or tools they now need to succeed? While some people just seem to naturally know how to smoothly transition into a management role, far too many talented people are left to fend for themselves without any professional guidance or counsel on how to develop the leadership skills and competencies they need to succeed.
My professional life reached a fork in the road in 2000 when I founded Skills For Success, Inc. and decided to leave the field of psychology to become a full-time leadership development business coach. While I no longer practice psychology, my education and professional experiences gave me a wonderful set of skills and competencies that I can use to meet the development needs of my business clients and their organizations. I am an expert in human behavior, I know how to communicate effectively, and I can engage and motivate people to make positive changes. I also know how and when to use professional assessments. I know how to choose assessments that are scientifically valid, provide clients with real insights, and serve as a benchmark to show developmental improvement. Writing behaviorally based professional development plans which provide clear metrics have also contributed significantly to my client’s improvement and success.
In terms of my educational and professional credentials, I earned a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where I graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Betta Kappa. I then earned my Master’s degree in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. While I was a psychologist, I worked in a wide range of clinical settings. I started working in rural North Carolina at the Surry County Mental Health Center. I have worked at Cumberland Hospital in Fayetteville, North Carolina. I worked as Court Psychologist in Guilford County for the North Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. I also worked as a psychologist on the Professional Staff in the Psychiatry Department at Wake Forest University’s Bowman Gray School of Medicine.
Since transitioning into leadership coaching, I have coached clients in a wide range of industriesincluding manufacturing, research and development, planning and logistics, customer service, financial services, health care, and higher education. I have worked with small businesses with as few as 80 people and with large multinational corporations. I have been a guest on the WFMY Good Morning Show in Greensboro and a guest on WSJS 600 talk radio in Winston-Salem. I served as a regular columnist on leadership development for North Carolina Career Network Magazine.
Now that you know more about me, I hope that you will call me so I can learn about you and the professional challenges you are facing. To find out how we can work together please go to the Contact Me page.
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