Executive career coaches work with successful business leaders ready to pursue their next successful chapter. In many cases, they see their future and want to choose to change the trajectory even if they stay where they are.
Have you been successful in your career but realized that you have lost some of the joy in what you are doing? Maybe you worked really hard in your 20s and 30s to become an executive, partner, or managing director, but you are now wondering what is next. Do you find yourself thinking I still have 10, 15, or maybe 20 years left in my career, but I can’t imagine doing this for 20 more years? Or maybe you just find yourself saying there has to be more to life than just this job? Or finally, maybe you just hate your job and know you need to change but don’t know where to start. If you answered yes to one, two, or maybe all of these questions, you will benefit from working with a career coach.
An (executive) career coach works with successful executives, leaders, and high-performing employees to develop a strategy and then pursue their next successful career chapter. Career coaches help open your eyes to the possibilities that exist and then help you define your ideal role. Maybe that role is that of an executive in another company, an entrepreneur starting a new company, a franchise owner, or an executive in a nonprofit. With your ideal role in mind, your career coach helps you develop a strategy to land that ideal role (and it doesn’t involve applying to 1000 jobs on LinkedIn). Then the coach is there as you execute that strategy and land that ideal role.
A career coach probably won’t do those things for you, but they may be able to help you find someone who does once you are ready. If you have already redone your resume and LinkedIn page but haven’t defined that ideal role, we have some bad news. Your resume and LinkedIn page are probably designed perfectly to get you that job you are trying to shed.
You have been successful for your whole career and you can likely do anything you want to do, but you haven’t made a change yet. Why not? Working with a coach allows you create a strategy, develop an implementation plan and have an accountability partner along the way to keep you on track. Even better the coach will allow that inner monologue you have to see the light of day and vet it in a safe environment so you can perfect your thoughts. Even still, you will have to do the majority of the work, the coach just really acts as a sherpa to guide you on your way to the ideal role.
Several thought-provoking questions that make you think about what you really want, enjoy and value. By the time you are done, you might be surprised to realize you actually know yourself better than ever.