I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard it asked by corporate leaders from directors, to board members to CEOs ”but why would I need coaching … I’m doing everything right”. To which I reply “you wouldn’t be at your level of success if you weren’t doing everything right. And I work with achievers not because there are issues, but because there’s always unreleased potential”.
A founding father of the US, Benjamin Franklin said, “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”
A noted polymath was old Franklin which means he had a great deal of knowledge about a wide range of topics. He was known for his considered opinion, his wisdom, his diplomacy and his natural ability to lead and to inspire others. I’m guessing he meant it then, when he also said, “When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.”
In metaphysics there’s a law called ‘the law of perpetual transmutation’. It means that all things physical and non-physical exist in a constantly state of change – expanding, reducing, evolving. There’s never nothing happening. Nothing stays the same. The universe’s default is transformation.
The most successful leaders, managing directors, CEOs on the planet know all about this law. You’d never hear them say ‘I’m complete; all the things on my list are ticked; we’ve reached every goal I ever had for myself, the company, the customers, the systems, the employees and the products & services… so, yeah. We’re done’.
Because, too right they’d be ‘done’! Done gathering new ideas; done sensing what’s next for the marketplace; done navigating the company’s best talent towards unearthing new opportunities.
There IS no ‘done’ in the life-cycle of successful leaders within progressive organisations. Personal growth & progress = greater team achievements = product & service improvements = ongoing business success; just like Franklin said it would.
Every individual leader is called to be creative and to lead and expand themselves and their business in a way that’s unique to them. There are no co-incidences in any man or woman’s rise to the helm of a notable corporate company to pioneer a new chapter for its tribe. Directors who actively develop integrity, respect, wisdom, a sense of themselves, and a healthy relationship with risk will thrive.
Lifelong learning is a commitment. There are no right or wrong ways to go about it – study a formal course, hire an executive coach, read, listen, watch, blog, join a mastermind – your style, your choice. But it is a conscious decision to walk this path – you cannot inherit leadership success. The results show in each of us to a depth and effectiveness equal to the hours invested in developing the craft.
I leave you with an Irish saying which is up there, in my opinion, with the wisdom of Mr Franklin: “You’ve got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.”
Jennifer Broadley is one of the UK's leading executive coaches. She works with corporate leaders, business directors and successful entrepreneurs. She specialises in CEO coaching, prosperity coaching and providing the most cutting-edge and intuitive leadership and personal success programs in the UK. Jennifer is passionate about the ongoing self improvement of the world's future business leaders – the way-showers for our precious next generation. She coaches, speaks, writes and runs workshops on 'The 7 Steps to Personal & Professional Freedom'®.You can call, email or message Jennifer from www.JenniferBroadley.com.



If I were to knock on your office door tomorrow and say this: ’Knowing that you’re guaranteed to succeed, what is your plan – personal & professional – for 2012?’ …
How much do you think you compromise on a day-to-day basis? Do you do it in work, in your relationships, in the stories you tell yourself about the choices you do and don’t have? Where did you learn those notions, those stories you tell yourself are ‘the one right way’? And is it easier to justify the justifying because you’re surrounded by people who are doing the exact same thing?
When conducting seminars and workshops for leaders of medium and large companies, occasionally I’ll meet a“revealer.” These are the people who will speak out about their success process without being nervous of disclosing techniques.
Absent Without Leave (AWOL) is a military term used when a soldier is absent from where he/she should be but without intent to desert.
I’ve often heard when working with a corporate leadership client – ‘well I haven’t told anyone I’m working with you – I don’t want them to know there’s a problem’. And I have to ask myself ‘where has this message come from’ because I certainly don’t work with clients because there’s a problem (nor do any of my associate executive coaches) – I work with clients who are whole, capable, already successful AND have unreleased potential.
What does it take for anyone to be the best at anything? And does being labelled the best success coach in the UK take different traits to being the best runner in the Olympics, the best artist of the Turner Prize, the best actress at the Oscars or the best leader in your organisation?
What happens when you’re totally, totally stuck?! Staying is slowly killing your will to live but you don’t know how to leave. You feel like you want change – but fear of the unknown is paralysing. You’re living a life of conformity and ‘success’ from the outside – but inside the authentic you is screaming to be expressed.
What am I hearing most about in leadership and CEO Coaching these days? … ‘The stretch’.