Executive Coaching

My Coaching Model

My coaching philosophy is grounded in the co-active coaching model: the coach and client are equal partners trying to create effective change.

Each client I work with has unlimited potential to create anything they want for their lives. They are naturally creative, resourceful and whole. My responsibility is to help raise the curtain so that what has been hidden (talents, creativity, possibilities) can become visible and accessible.

Together we break down old ways of thinking and self-limiting beliefs. Creative energy can then be unleashed which is necessary to create new behaviors and strategies that can lead to unlimited professional and personal possibilities.

How is coaching, consulting and psychotherapy different?

As a coach my focus is on the future -- where the client wants to go, their possibilities and opportunities. Although emotional healing is not the purpose of my work, it can be an outcome.

That is different from psychotherapy, which often goes into the past, where diagnosing and healing emotional wounds is at the heart of the relationship.

In the context of what is appropriate in a coaching relationship, I have a clear understanding of what I'm trained to do or not. I'm very aware of what is and isn't appropriate with a client. Consequently, there are times when I advise a potential client to seek the services of a psychotherapist (with whom I often work in tandem for the client).

When I'm hired as a “consultant,” people pay me to do their thinking. They often want me to find solutions for them, but I never try to “find” a solution for my coaching clients. Instead my role is to ask the powerful questions that help lead them to their own answers.

My influences

Over the past fifteen years there have been many people who have influenced my work.

Outstanding leaders and thinkers in the world of business whom I've admired greatly include Jim Collins, Barbara Krumsiek, Warren Buffett, Eileen Fisher, Lydia Marshall, Seth Godin and Bill Wernick (who happens to be my brother).

I've also been influenced by many experts in the fields of coaching and spirituality including Eva Gregory, Jack Canfield, Forbes Robbins Blair, Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, Joe Vitale, James Arthur Ray, Eckhart Tolle, Dr. Joseph Murphy, Oprah Winfrey and many others.

Finally, some of my very best teachers are my clients. Resilient and relentless in their desire to create new ways of thinking and being, they are simply remarkable.