This week’s #WhatComesNextLive podcast saw me catch up with Annikki Hill, who shared her thoughts on coaching C-Suite leaders. One thought that stuck with me about what it takes to coach senior leaders is that the coach themselves must emanate and exude the qualities of a leader.
In my years of experience working with senior leaders, they typically choose to work with a coach when they feel they are ready to take their leadership to the next level, making this literally an aspirational choice. They will then seek a coach who is there not just to coach (and sometimes advise) them, but also to embody the qualities of next-level leadership.
As I wrote about way back in early 2018: Management is about DOING, but Leadership is about BEING a leader. What do I mean by “being”? Well, in addition to considering certain key qualities such as those in the #OpenLeadership model above (and “Open and Humble” together can be captured as Annikki’s keyword of Curiosity) we do know it when we see it in others, a quality about the individual, of someone who is present, grounded, aware, quietly confident and more.
At a personal level, I am constantly seeking to grow, to improve in these and other areas. As part of this, I’ve written many times around related topics to share my learnings. A few examples for you today