EXECUTIVE COACHING
How to Select a Coach
Coaches specialize in various areas of professional and personal performance enhancement. Acceleration Leadership focuses on Executive Coaching and offers the following advice on how to select a coach.
- Does the Executive Coach specialize in business or in a particular niche industry?
- Does the coach have a proven track record as a business leader (preferably CEO)?
- Does the coach understand your industry to offer real life insights for your challenges without a large learning curve to understand your business?
- Has the coach climbed up the corporate ladder? Does his or her career demonstrate an understanding for the challenges you face?
At Acceleration Leadership we answer “yes” to all these questions. Acceleration Leadership focuses on technology executives because it is the area of the business that we know and can provide the highest level of impact. As a technology CEO, who has created successful, profitable and valuable organizations, Michael knows firsthand the skills and behaviors required to attain that level of success.
When Michael became a CEO at 37 years old, he wasn’t sure what or how to do things at this new level, so he hired an executive coach. That coach helped Michael grow into the position quickly and then helped him develop and fine tune his skills over the 9 years of his tenure as CEO. (This in an industry where the average CEO tenure is less than 3 years). Michael decided to have his coach work with his entire management team and all their direct reports.This allowed the entire senior management team to share the same vision and language for success. Michael began to work with his coach for many years as he moved the organization from the verge of bankruptcy to a company that grew in success and stature in its industry. The longer you are with a coach the more value you get because they learn your skills, the organization, the politics, the culture, etc.
Becoming an executive coach was an easy decision after years as a CEO of multiple technology companies. Michael wanted to give back and genuinely help people become better executives.