The sun rises over the Brooklyn Bridge in the east, and this New York Executive Coach heads through the train tunnel from New Jersey with throngs of other commuters, ready for the exciting and packed day ahead in New York City….
Many of my clients ask me out of curiosity what my day is like, and what my other clients are up to. Of course, the clients themselves are confidential, but I compile here a typical day of Executive Coaching in New York, to give a sense of the scope and breath of the developmental work being done in our fair city….
Arriving with the sun, I head to my first appointment: a Director-level woman identified as a high potential in her company. We’re meeting down by Wall Street to discuss her work with her direct reports. She’s been working on her emotional intelligence and adjusting her style to this company’s softer, more inclusive culture after arriving a year ago from a more command and control company. She’s learning to increase her awareness about various elements of her style, and as a result, the morale of her team is up over the past three months. We discuss next steps for her upcoming staff meeting.
Mid-morning I head around the corner to a financial group to discuss their upcoming corporate retreat: they are gathering their EVP-level team for an off-site I’ll be facilitating. Today I meet the last member of their team (I’ve been interviewing each of the nine team members over the past month) and sit with the EVP in charge of the retreat and the Head of Human Capital to finalize the agenda and objectives for the event that is in the Caribbean in three weeks.
After grabbing a bite on the street (there’s nothing like New York falafel!) I meet with a CFO in midtown from a high tech company who’s working on his influence. It’s especially lovely out today so we decide to sit out in Bryant Park for our session. He’s working on being more persuasive in his conversations with his CEO, as well as how to be more at ease and natural in his networking. We role play a bit and work on his ability to really engage his listener in a way that grabs them.
I hop over to the Flatiron to have a quick pow-wow with one of my New York Executive Coaches to discuss some of her current client engagements, all of which I keep an eye on. It’s so gorgeous today, we meet in Madison Square Park, right near my next meeting.
In the late afternoon, I meet with a prospective client to discuss their company’s needs. This HR Director has two potentials for coaching: someone they’ve had repeated difficulty with, and someone who has some challenges interpersonally, but is otherwise a standout employee. After some discussion about the handout I’d provided them on coachability, we decide the first is not actually a good candidate for coaching, but that the latter is. I give them some alternative resources for the former gentlemen, and hand off a couple potential Executive Coach matches from our team for the latter candidate.
The sun is starting to fade over the Statue of Liberty now, but I have one more stop to make: a former client is having his first art exhibition and I promised to stop by to congratulate him. Two years ago during his coaching, he realized that the track he was on (about to make partner in his law firm) wasn’t satisfying him. While he’d hired me to help him excel at getting his promotion, he had realized that it wasn’t truly what he wanted. He’d taken a leap of faith to pursue his multi-media artwork, which he’d done “on the side” for years, as a full time career. We’d kept in touch and I was delighted to receive an invitation to this first show. After a brief visit enjoying the beaming smile on his face, I leave him to the friends and family crowding around him and I head for Penn Station.
It’s dark now and the throngs from the morning are gone, there are fewer headed out of Manhattan at this hour. But thanks to a wonderful set of past, present, and future clients (and the NYC Transit System!) I am filled with gratitude for the experience I get to have as an Executive Coach: thank you, clients; thank you, NYC!
~Maren Perry
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