A personal note from Susannah
Five years ago, I would have been surprised at the idea of me making a living as a professional coach. I wasn’t remotely as open to the title of “Coach” as I was to “Lawyer”. I was, and I am, a good lawyer. Why rock that boat?
Anyone can hang up their shingle and call themselves a life (or executive, or relationship, or wellness) coach. The bar for entry is non-existent. Accordingly, I had a healthy skepticism for the profession. In fact, I spent a good month trying to come up with a compelling way to “rebrand” my services - not an easy task. It’s hard to do justice to the concept of coaching, especially when trying to articulate its value amongst other modalities of individual performance enhancement.
It’s not therapy. My clients may or may not have need of a therapist (and I work with a few that I can recommend), but that end-game is not my business. Moreover, we don’t spend a whole lot of time talking about the past, because putting the wheels in motion for a desirable future is more important.
It’s not mentoring. I spend little time, if any, offering my clients insights on “what has worked for me in the past". What will work for you is more important.
It's certainly not consulting. My clients are most often brilliant. And experts in their fields. They don’t hire me to provide them any additional expertise, but rather to unlock and sculpt their own expertise.
And despite me being a lawyer of more than ten years accomplished practice, it’s most definitely not a legal service!
After an enormous amount of study, practice and research, I have come to realise that coaching’s capacity to elicit meaningful, transformative change is inestimable. Describing how it works is a lengthy and interesting conversation. Defining valid outcome metrics for methodologically-sound quantitative analysis is impossible. There are all manner of well-conducted trials studies confirming the marked benefits of coaching. Despite the science of it, to be truly convinced, and to grow by it, you must experience it for yourself.
I think of my coaching clients as the heroes of their stories, and me (their coach) as the game-changing champion they meet along their journey; the person who helps them unlock their inner strength, unveil their authority, access their expertise, overcome their obstacles (known or unknown), and ultimately achieve even greater things than they may have imagined for themselves. My clients have benefited from my coaching style consisting of a unique blend of empathy, astuteness, curiosity, analysis, and fearlessness to manage confidently any acute or longstanding challenge, identify and analyse issues (seen or unseen), and unlock their potential. My clients have sought out a service and asset used by the world’s most powerful and renowned CEOs, corporate executives, public figures and world-class athletes. Individuals performing at the highest level, have a coach enhancing that performance.
Coaching is my calling. It is the perfect culmination of my longstanding desire to use honesty, intelligence, kindness and empathy to assist other people, with my natural astuteness and emotional intelligence. Most importantly, it has been humbling to witness the substantive and transformative changes my clients have put into motion as a result of our work together.
I would be pleased to tell you more about it. Book your (free) discovery call.
I so look forward to working with you.
