Success Stories
An Executive Gets a Crash Course in Communicating His Vision, and Becomes a Front Runner for CEO
David is the EVP of Sales and Marketing for a large retail company. If you were to ask practically anyone at the company, they would say David is someone who's widely admired and respected. They rave about his ability to motivate, inspire, and lead. When David speaks to audiences large and small, he delivers powerful messages in a fluid style. He appears natural and at home on stage. David is one of the few company leaders who can powerfully articulate the values and principles that will make the company more successful.
Many people think David must be a natural-born speaker. Not quite. A year ago the company's VP of HR came to us. They were experiencing big changes. They were trying to rebrand the company in the marketplace. They had fresh and creative ideas on how to reposition themselves, but they needed to win buy-in from the sales and marketing staff that would be pushing these changes forward.
Nine months prior, they'd appointed David EVP of Sales and Marketing. He was someone who'd worked his way up through the organization. He knew the business and industry like the back of his hand. He had brilliant business sense, and was a strategic thinker. But he'd never had to communicate vision or values to anyone. In fact, even in delivering routine, fact and statistic-based presentations, David appeared uncomfortable and unsure of what he was saying. According to his colleagues and staff, this lack of confidence was David's biggest flaw in being an effective leader.
The company knew that with their new goals, David was going to have to motivate and persuade his staff and sales force to work hard. Not only that, but he had to inspire them to believe in the goals of the company. The HR team asked us to help David articulate vision and values, create a plan for driving that down through the organization, and display a confident leadership presence on and off the podium.
We started an executive coaching engagement with David. In his first session, we were able to identify several core principles that made him successful. We worked with him to connect those values with what needed to be done to achieve the goals of the company. We identified stories from David's career that he could tell to inspire audiences. We worked with him to develop a powerful stage presence. We showed him efficient and powerful techniques for preparing and practicing his presentations and speeches.
A few months into the coaching, we talked to the VP of HR about David's progress. She said there was a "buzz" about David's new-found presence on stage and in meetings. Those close to David had known all along that he had creative ideas and a smart strategy, but for the first time, the entire organization was seeing this new side of him. At his quarterly meeting, David blew everyone in the audience away.
Towards the end of David's coaching, we spoke with the VP of HR again. She said the CEO and top executives had been reviewing the succession plan, and David's name came up. For the first time, they acknowledged that he had that ability and the leadership presence to eventually lead the company. David is now the front runner in the succession plan to become the next CEO of the retail company.
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