How Coaches Motivate CEOs to Take Charge of Their Leadership Role

09/20/19 • 34 min

Women Worldwide with Deirdre Breakenridge

This is a good one! Today we welcome Karen Walker to discuss how CEOs should view organization growth. Karen is an executive coach and consultant who advises CEOs and senior leaders on how to grow and thrive. She is the author of No Dumbing Down: A Guide for CEOs on Organization Growth, and has influenced and grown multiple businesses beyond the 6-figure mark. This is not an episode you want to miss.

First, we discuss Karen’s start in engineering and tech. She was one of very few women in both spaces and she thrived in the environment. After helping Compaq grow from a few employees to over 100,000 employees, she realized that being a part of a high-performing team and meeting and exceeding goals was one of her major drivers. She has taken that drive and applied it to coaching CEOs and business leaders in how to duplicate her efforts at Compaq.

Karen shares amazing insights into what it means to be successful, why you should think bigger about your business, and how CEOs and leaders should look at the success of their business. She is a paragon in the business coaching space, and the advice and information she provides is priceless. Check out nodumbingdown.com for Karen’s book and let us know if you have any questions.

Show Notes:

[01:07] Women Worldwide is turning 5! Thank you to all of our listeners!
[02:02] There’s still time to register for the Turn Up the Volume Workshop!
[02:55] Our topic for today: the CEO and growth for the organization.
[03:15] Welcome Karen Walker here to discuss how CEOs affect their organizations.
[05:19] Karen shares how she transitioned into coaching from the engineering and tech space.
[09:07] What was it like to be a woman in tech during her Compaq days?
[10:58] Any common challenges in her women’s groups?
[12:03] Karen shares the biggest takeaways she wants leaders to glean from her book.
[14:59] Do most senior leaders look externally for indications of success?
[17:13] The skills needed to be amazing individual contributors are not the same as those needed to be an amazing team member or leader.
[18:13] What is Mayple and why do you need it?
[19:39] Karen shares what her interview questions would be for a marketing department interviewee.
[21:26] How can CEO’s be more accountable and do they get in their own way of showing accountability?
[24:15] Resist falling back into old habits when trying to pivot in a different direction in business.
[24:56] Is there any way to help leaders stop the “blame game” feeling in meetings?
[27:08] Does Karen face stress and challenges in her role today?
[29:02[ Growth is never in a straight line.
[30:42] Karen shares her parting advice to the listeners.
[33:32] Connect with Karen.

Links and Resources:

Show Notes:

[01:07] Women Worldwide is turning 5! Thank you to all of our listeners!
[02:02] There’s still time to register for the Turn Up the Volume Workshop!
[02:55] Our topic for today: the CEO and growth for the organization.
[03:15] Welcome Karen Walker here to discuss how CEOs affect their organizations.
[05:19] Karen shares how she transitioned into coaching from the engineering and tech space.
[09:07] What was it like to be a woman in tech during her Compaq days?
[10:58] Any common challenges in her women’s groups?
[12:03] Karen shares the biggest takeaways she wants leaders to glean from her book.
[14:59] Do most senior leaders look externally for indications of success?
[17:13] The skills needed to be amazing individual contributors are not the same as those needed to be an amazing team member or leader.
[18:13] What is Mayple and why do you need it?
[19:39] Karen shares what her interview questions would be for a marketing department interviewee.
[21:26] How can CEO’s be more accountable and do they get in their own way of showing accountability?
[24:15] Resist falling back into old habits when trying to pivot in a different direction in business.
[24:56] Is there any way to help leaders stop the “blame game” feeling in meetings?
[27:08] Does Karen face stress and challenges in her role today?
[29:02[ Growth is never in a straight line.
[30:42] Karen shares her parting advice to the listeners.
[33:32] Connect with Karen.

Links and Resources:

Previous Episode

Finding Your Purpose So You Can Have A Competitive Advantage

Today on the show, we have Patrice Tanaka, CEO and Founder of Joyful Planet, a business purpose consulting firm in New York City. Joyful Planet is focused on helping individuals and organizations discover and actively live their purpose. She is also an author, a coach, a speaker, and a mentor.

Patrice spreads joy wherever she is. She gives us the four steps to finding our purpose in business and our personal lives. She believes that the definition of purpose is how you leverage your talent, expertise, and passion in service to others and our planet.

Patrice and I talk about why businesses need to have one business purpose that everyone can focus on, to help drive more business. We also discuss how purpose-driven companies significantly outperform profit-only driven firms, and how more businesses today are taking the time to articulate their purpose.

She shares how dancing and competing in ballroom dancing gives her joy. Writing her book 'Becoming Ginger Rogers' lets her share that joy with others. Patrice says that if you live your life's purpose, you will be happy, and when you share that happiness with others, it can impact the planet. You won't want to miss the fantastic eye-opening conversation.

Show Notes:

[03:28] Welcome to the show, Patrice Tanaka!
[04:13] Patrice speaks to us about how she got her purpose.
[06:14] She saw her purpose with the shock and horror of the loss of life on 9/11 in the twin towers.
[07:20] Her mission was to live joy every day, to be mindful of that joy, and to share it with others.
[08:52] Dancing and competing in ballroom dancing makes her happy.
[09:33] Writing her book Becoming Ginger Rogers allowed her to share that joy with others.
[10:05] She left the PR company she co-founded and opened her consultancy called Joyful Planet.
[11:43] Patrice chats about how finding your purpose can give you a competitive advantage.
[12:37] Purpose to Patrice is how you leverage your talent, expertise, and passion in service to other people and our planet.
[13:15] What is the most important thing for you to accomplish as an individual or a business?
[14:05] Patrice speaks about having one business purpose that everyone can focus on to help drive business.
[16:14] Purpose-driven businesses significantly outperform profit only focused businesses.
[18:10] We are at the beginning of a trend to increase value for all stakeholders and all people.
[23:13] Patrice tells us the four steps she recommends to get your business purpose.
[25:35] She gives us the four steps to get purpose in your personal life.
[28:38] Patrice faces challenges daily, but she tries to keep her focus on her purpose.
[30:57] When you choose joy, it builds on itself, joy builds on joy.
[34:05] Patrice's advice is to live your life's purpose because when you are happy you spread the joy with others.

Links and Resources:

Next Episode

The Midwife, Women’s Health Issues, and Writing - How Do These Connect?

Midwife, author, and activist, Patricia Harman has done it all. After living in rural communes during the 60s and 70s, Patricia, or Patsy as her friends call her, moved to the east and settled in Virginia. While living in Virginia she was asked many times to help birth the babies in her community. She soon realized she had a love for helping women and went to school to officially become a nurse-midwife.

She has since spent the past thirty years caring for women as they go through the process and transformation that is childbirth. In an effort to document and memorialize some of her patients’ journeys, she began writing her first memoir, The Blue Cotton Gown: A Midwife’s Memoir. After her second memoir, she realized that she wanted to tell a different kind of story and began writing fiction.

My conversation with Patricia was an amazing look into midwifery and modern healthcare practices for women, along with the ins and outs of the publishing world. Patsy definitely has a way with words and she paints a vivid picture of her life and her inspiration for starting her writing career. Listen in to gain insights on some amazing topics from the font of knowledge that is Patricia Harman.

Show Notes:

[01:08] Thank you for listening and elevating the stories of our guests.
[01:48] Learn more about Patricia “Patsy” Harman, my guest for this episode.
[03:01] Patsy shares more about her backstory and midwifery.
[05:43] We dig deeper into whether or not high-risk pregnancies can deliver with a midwife.
[07:41] Midwives are more than medical caretakers.
[08:42] Are more people opting for midwives for delivery?
[09:32] Why did Patsy transition to writing?
[13:38] Was Patsy’s first heroine based on her and her life?
[14:45] Learn more about the world of publishing and Patsy’s process for writing/publishing.
[15:58] What did the publishing process feel like?
[19:34] Why is feedback a gift?
[22:27] What challenges did Patsy face in running her practice with her husband?
[24:06] Always make sure your accountant is a CPA!
[25:05] Patsy’s tips for overcoming writer’s block.
[27:22] What moments stand out for Patsy from her life’s journey?
[31:20] Patsy shares her final bit of advice for our listeners.
[32:18] Connect with Patsy and find her books.