Investing in You

I’ve noticed a clear pattern as I’ve cheered on client accomplishments over the years on LinkedIn.  Even when it’s been decades since we’ve worked together, I love to applaud their promotions, awards they’ve won, keynote speaking engagements as well as remarkable accomplishments of their organizations and teams.

It’s struck me that the common thread for so many is that I had the honor of coaching them earlier in their career when they invested in themselves.

No, this blog post isn’t intended as a pat on my own back

I’m not saying the common link is that they worked with ME per se.

Rather, that these leaders (who now have ample corporate leadership development budgets to support their own continued growth and to retain coaches for their team members), chose to reach into their personal wallets in their early careers to support themselves at key junctures…

Whether they were:

• Starting a challenging assignment in a new organization
• Preparing themselves to be considered for a significant promotion
• Seeking support to deal with a particularly difficult boss
• Gearing up to switch industries

They had reached out directly to engage with me as a professional coach.

They didn’t wait to be sponsored for coaching by their organizations.

They had a belief back then that there would be a return on their investment for the progression of their careers and for the quality of their lives.

And now I get to tell them how proud I am of them when their accomplishments are posted and their extraordinary careers are celebrated!

I tell them how great it is to be able to say “I knew you when…”!

This is purely my anecdotal experience, and certainly not a scientific study, but I’ve observed that having the wisdom to self-invest in coaching early career seems highly correlated with subsequent success.

Bravo for those of you with such foresight!

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Don’t hesitate to reach out if you are interesting in engaging a Coach for yourself directly.  We can figure out a plan that works for you.