Continuation of interview conducted by HRD Press.
I really like the “lessons learned” piece in your book. Can you talk about why that is so critical?
This piece is uber-critical. Now more than ever customer service is paramount. The Lessons Learned meetings allow you to check in with your client at various stages of an engagement or project to learn how well served they feel. It also allows you to course-correct if there is anyplace that your products or services are lacking. You get the opportunity to let your client know what they can do differently to support you serving them better, and it is the easiest business development opportunity ever. It’s as simple as asking about what’s next for them and how you might be able to support their next steps.
Finally, tell us about your current projects, what is happening on your blog and what you focusing on these days.
Oh, thank you for asking about this! Currently I’m working on several projects to enhance the executive coaching community as part of my commitment to have a profound impact on business leadership worldwide. To that end, we’ve recently launched (numbered descriptions below) the Leading Coaches’ Center (1) and the Leading Coaches’ Clubhouse (2), the Library of Professional Coaching (3), and The Coaches’ Store (4) on my site. My blog, Innovative Influence (5), continues to be the place where I share trends and insights at the intersection of leadership, coaching, and business development. Below you can find a bit more about each one, and please do come visit!
1) is the only place for the world’s top executive and business coaches to gather online to connect, collaborate, learn and grow as leaders. It’s a free online community for seasoned executive coaches and leadership development experts.
2) is an exclusive membership site for the best executive coaches to come together to take their business and their clients to the next level through tools such as the Leading Coaches’ Academy, the Secrets of the Champions interviews, and incredible marketing, business, and coaching tools that have been vetted and gathered for the seasoned leading coach.
3) is a high caliber, vetted, peer-reviewed collection of the best research, articles, and materials about executive coaching presented in an easily searchable and downloadable format online.
4) The Coaches’ Store has downloadable content you can purchase such as an e-book about networking in the age of social media, a four-hour audio training on the core concepts from Seal the Deal that you can pop into your ipod and learn on the go, and a Twitter tutorial program that includes a 1-hour audio training and a companion ebook to get you started on Twitter fast.
5) is where you’ll find the blog, Innovative Influence. You’ll also find tons of free resources for you in the form of videos, podcasts, and articles that you can access anytime to improve your ability to seal the deal.