\nThe Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers<\/em>\n\t\t\t\t
![\"Executive](\"https:\/\/topnotchceo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/bigstock-139109651_500x500.jpg\" "\\"bigstock--139109651_500x500\\"")
\n\tWhat Harvard Business Review<\/em> says about Executive Coaching:<\/strong><\/h2>\n“There’s no question that future leaders will need constant coaching. As the business environment becomes more complex, they will increasingly turn to coaches for help in understanding how to act.<\/strong> The kind of coaches I am talking about will do more than influence behaviors; they will be an essential part of the leader’s learning process, providing knowledge, opinions, and judgment in critical areas\u2026. As coaching has become more common, any stigma attached to receiving it at the individual level has disappeared. Now, it is often considered a badge of honor.<\/strong>“<\/p>\nRam Charan in a Harvard Business Review article<\/a> “What can coaches do for you?” by Diane Coutu and Carol Kauffman<\/p>\n\n\t\tImportant Questions about Executive Coaching\n\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhy is Executive Coaching So Important to Your Success?\n\t\t\t\t\n
In sports, athletes always have coaches. ALWAYS! Usually, they do not just have not just one coach either. At the peak of his career, Tiger Woods had 7 coaches.<\/p>\n
No matter how brilliant and experienced a CEO or executive is, no matter how much past success he or she has, this is ALWAYS true:<\/p>\n
\n- You cannot give yourself a fresh perspective – no one can<\/li>\n
- You cannot effectively coach yourself (even if you successfully coach lots of other people) – again, no one can do that<\/li>\n
- Without appropriate coaching, you will stagnate at whichever level you are at now (even if that level is a very high one)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Yet, especially, innovative or highly visionary companies are founded and often led by highly visionary and creative people.<\/p>\n
The trap this group of brilliant people often runs into<\/strong> is that they do not hire a coach because<\/p>\n\n- They don’t realize that they need one.<\/li>\n
- They see it as a cost rather than an investment<\/li>\n
- They see it as a time investment not worth their time<\/li>\n
- They don’t even consider the option<\/li>\n
- They are not willing to be coached because they feel they have everything well in their hands<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
The sad truth is: Most innovators and visionaries have never been taught how to think like a CEO<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIs Executive Coaching Only for New CEOs or Executives?\n\t\t\t\tNo. Executive coaching is equally important for new, seasoned and veteran CEOs and executive because of all the reasons we just cited. As a recent article by Harvard Business Review points out, executive coaching is no longer viewed as a way to fix a weak CEO or executive; it is a badge of honor strong executives proudly wear (besides, since executive coaching is confidential you have to choice whether you want to show that badge to others and if so, to whom).<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat Makes Our Executive Coaching Unique?\n\t\t\t\t
Factor 1: We speak your language<\/h2>\n
![\"Women](\"https:\/\/topnotchceo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Women_in_Stem_500x500-300x300.jpg\")
Top-Notch CEO’s founder, Dr. Stephie Althouse (often called “Dr. Stephie”), is no stranger to the world of innovation and highly visionary work. Her colleagues and her, focused on cutting-edge technology and making the impossible happen. For example, they worked on challenges such as detecting the tiniest amounts of TNT in landmines, which were buried deep enough to be undetectable by existing technologies. Science and innovation left little time or attention for improving leadership skills or business acumen If skills were improved it was the fly, by trial and error. “We are smart, so we can figure this out”, was the prevailing attitude. Yet, much time and money could have been saved, with a bit of top-Notch CEO Coaching. This is precisely the reason why Dr. Stephie Althouse created Top-Notch CEO.<\/p>\n\n
Factor 2: We coach from the perspective of extensive business experience<\/h2>\n
At Top-Notch CEO, we coach from the perspective of having solid business experience (see more below). There are many executive coaches, even with great certifications, who have never actually run a business, led a team or been successful at company turnarounds. We have. We have worked with CEOs of companies with multiple locations and revenues in the many millions, to CEOs of funded high-tech start-ups.<\/p>\n
Our coaching has saved CEOs and high-level executives. Our coaching has saved companies.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/topnotchceo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/iStock_000003005469_web-300x195.jpg\")
Factor 3: We understand the art and science of leading international teams<\/h2>\n
Understanding the art and science of leading international teams is important because it is very common in innovative, highly visionary companies to have teams composed of talent of different nationalities and ethnicities.<\/p>\n
Factor 4: The Top-Notch CEO Methodology Itself<\/h2>\n
A fourth factor is the actual coaching methodology.<\/p>\n
Our executive coaches know how to lead a team.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHow Does Our Executive Coaching Work? What Methodology Are We Using? \n\t\t\t\t
At Top-Notch CEO, we use solid coaching principles and methodologies and customize them to the needs of our executive clients.<\/p>\n
Steps include:<\/p>\n
1. Start with a Sample Session<\/strong><\/h3>\nA sample session where we get to know you and your goals and objectives. You and your Exceutive Coach will find out how well you fit with each other.<\/p>\n
2. A Formalized Fresh Eyes Assessment\u2122 – (Optional Although Strongly Recommended)<\/strong><\/h3>\nA Fresh Eyes Assessment<\/a> (FEA) is a very powerful tool. Depending on your goals and objectives, we may recommend that you utilize the FEA to uncover unseen opportunities and challenges in eight critical areas that determine the sustainable success of your company. The Fresh Eyes Assessment can be done in the beginning, or after you have begun your executive Coaching.<\/p>\n3. Goals Setting and Your Business Plan<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n- Your Executive Coach will ask you about your goals. Often the conversation makes the goals clearer and more specific. Larger goals get chunked down. We help you overcome any overwhelm you might sometimes feel (all of us feel that at times – it is normal).<\/li>\n
- The Executive Coach will also ask you about your business plan. In some cases, the existing business plan is either outdated, not yet written or too large to be of practical use for successful day-to-day leadership. Your Executive Coach can help you with that using a simple, yet very powerful tool called the Business Power Plan<\/a>. With this plan, you and your Executive Coach distill the overall goals down to specific strategies and bite-sized action items.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
4. The Weekly Session – and Proven Tools to Accelerate Your Success<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n- In each (typically weekly) session, you will discuss with your Executive Coach what you have learned this week, what challenges you have encountered, thoughts you want to discuss etc. Everything is confidential.<\/li>\n
- The Executive Coach also celebrates with you because, in our experience, you will not celebrate your successes much on your own. There is a tremendous uplift in your success that comes from that brief, but all so important moment of acknowledging how far you have come.<\/li>\n
- Each session you will report on the action items you committed to working on the previous week. During each session, you will set new actions items for the new week.<\/li>\n
- We utilize the Top-Notch CEO Success Wheel\u2122 in conjunction with the Business Power Plan<\/a> to help you stay on target and achieve your goals as efficiently as possible. This tools also facilitate a greater opportunity for work-life balance and stress reduction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Proven Tools to Optimize Building Team, Culture and Leverage<\/strong><\/h3>\nAnother aspect that is instrumental in our coaching is that we work with our CEOs on building leverage, greater team harmony, synergy and positive company culture. We offer several proven tools for that purpose. One of them is Talent Positioning\u2122<\/a>. It is a great tool for optimizing the productivity and job satisfaction of teams by having them work in the flow of their respective top talents. Another tool consists of a set of rules for basic conduct in organizations. These rules are proven to work very well for innovative, highly visionary companies where the idea of having rules is often viewed as constricting creativity.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOur Credentials – Accelerate Your Success and Save Yourself Time, Frustration and Money\n\t\t\t\t
Ram Charan in a Harvard Business Review article<\/a> “What can coaches do for you?” by Diane Coutu and Carol Kauffman<\/p>\n In sports, athletes always have coaches. ALWAYS! Usually, they do not just have not just one coach either. At the peak of his career, Tiger Woods had 7 coaches.<\/p>\n No matter how brilliant and experienced a CEO or executive is, no matter how much past success he or she has, this is ALWAYS true:<\/p>\n Yet, especially, innovative or highly visionary companies are founded and often led by highly visionary and creative people.<\/p>\n The trap this group of brilliant people often runs into<\/strong> is that they do not hire a coach because<\/p>\n The sad truth is: Most innovators and visionaries have never been taught how to think like a CEO<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIs Executive Coaching Only for New CEOs or Executives?\n\t\t\t\t No. Executive coaching is equally important for new, seasoned and veteran CEOs and executive because of all the reasons we just cited. As a recent article by Harvard Business Review points out, executive coaching is no longer viewed as a way to fix a weak CEO or executive; it is a badge of honor strong executives proudly wear (besides, since executive coaching is confidential you have to choice whether you want to show that badge to others and if so, to whom).<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat Makes Our Executive Coaching Unique?\n\t\t\t\t At Top-Notch CEO, we coach from the perspective of having solid business experience (see more below). There are many executive coaches, even with great certifications, who have never actually run a business, led a team or been successful at company turnarounds. We have. We have worked with CEOs of companies with multiple locations and revenues in the many millions, to CEOs of funded high-tech start-ups.<\/p>\n Our coaching has saved CEOs and high-level executives. Our coaching has saved companies.<\/p>\n Understanding the art and science of leading international teams is important because it is very common in innovative, highly visionary companies to have teams composed of talent of different nationalities and ethnicities.<\/p>\n A fourth factor is the actual coaching methodology.<\/p>\n Our executive coaches know how to lead a team.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHow Does Our Executive Coaching Work? What Methodology Are We Using? \n\t\t\t\t At Top-Notch CEO, we use solid coaching principles and methodologies and customize them to the needs of our executive clients.<\/p>\n Steps include:<\/p>\n A sample session where we get to know you and your goals and objectives. You and your Exceutive Coach will find out how well you fit with each other.<\/p>\n A Fresh Eyes Assessment<\/a> (FEA) is a very powerful tool. Depending on your goals and objectives, we may recommend that you utilize the FEA to uncover unseen opportunities and challenges in eight critical areas that determine the sustainable success of your company. The Fresh Eyes Assessment can be done in the beginning, or after you have begun your executive Coaching.<\/p>\n Another aspect that is instrumental in our coaching is that we work with our CEOs on building leverage, greater team harmony, synergy and positive company culture. We offer several proven tools for that purpose. One of them is Talent Positioning\u2122<\/a>. It is a great tool for optimizing the productivity and job satisfaction of teams by having them work in the flow of their respective top talents. Another tool consists of a set of rules for basic conduct in organizations. These rules are proven to work very well for innovative, highly visionary companies where the idea of having rules is often viewed as constricting creativity.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOur Credentials – Accelerate Your Success and Save Yourself Time, Frustration and Money\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\tImportant Questions about Executive Coaching\n\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhy is Executive Coaching So Important to Your Success?\n\t\t\t\t\n
\n
\n
Factor 1: We speak your language<\/h2>\n
Top-Notch CEO’s founder, Dr. Stephie Althouse (often called “Dr. Stephie”), is no stranger to the world of innovation and highly visionary work. Her colleagues and her, focused on cutting-edge technology and making the impossible happen. For example, they worked on challenges such as detecting the tiniest amounts of TNT in landmines, which were buried deep enough to be undetectable by existing technologies. Science and innovation left little time or attention for improving leadership skills or business acumen If skills were improved it was the fly, by trial and error. “We are smart, so we can figure this out”, was the prevailing attitude. Yet, much time and money could have been saved, with a bit of top-Notch CEO Coaching. This is precisely the reason why Dr. Stephie Althouse created Top-Notch CEO.<\/p>\n\nFactor 2: We coach from the perspective of extensive business experience<\/h2>\n
Factor 3: We understand the art and science of leading international teams<\/h2>\nFactor 4: The Top-Notch CEO Methodology Itself<\/h2>\n
1. Start with a Sample Session<\/strong><\/h3>\n
2. A Formalized Fresh Eyes Assessment\u2122 – (Optional Although Strongly Recommended)<\/strong><\/h3>\n
3. Goals Setting and Your Business Plan<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n
4. The Weekly Session – and Proven Tools to Accelerate Your Success<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n
Proven Tools to Optimize Building Team, Culture and Leverage<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"business](\"https:\/\/topnotchceo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Stephie_Althouse_500x500-300x300.jpg\")
Dr. Stephie Althouse – known as “Dr. Stephie” to her clients – is an experienced business growth advisor and Executive Coach who is an innovator herself. ![\"Top](\"https:\/\/topnotchceo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Shout-out-transp.png\" "\\"Top")
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