HEADLINES from Business Mentors, Inc.

What is HEADLINES?

HEADLINE: FIND THE PERFECT FIT!

Carol Anne was referred to me by her boss. He questioned whether her skills were a good match for the “rough and tumble” world of advertising. She had worked for his agency for the past seven years but she was struggling. While her client relations skills were excellent, her technical skills were not up to par. He wanted my feedback as to whether his suspicions were correct and, if so, he asked me to work with Carole Anne so that she could realize that the fit wasn’t there.

WITH NO TRUE SIZZLE YOUR CAREER WILL FIZZLE

Carol Anne was reticent to admit that she was unhappy. She shared many of her victories during her tenure in advertising, but she broke down when I raised a question about her happiness in the field. She was in denial regarding her job satisfaction. Carol Anne had chosen advertising as a major in college as a default. She didn’t know what she wanted to do, and she thought advertising would be fast-paced and sexy. It had “sizzle”! After seven years of up-hill battles, she was unable to continue to deny her frustration and unhappiness. Unfortunately, she was miserable but afraid to admit it. She was fearful of considering the alternatives.

FEAR FACTOR

What was her fear about? It was a number of things, including a fear of change, a fear that others would view her as a failure if she left advertising, and also a fear that she would fail in a new career. However, it genuinely came down to her fear of losing her current job when she didn’t have a clue about what other professional paths she wanted to pursue. She was reluctant to consider “starting over”. She was like so many others. She abandoned any thoughts of something different since she didn't think she had the time to devote to preparing for a new direction.

She was trapped inside a lifelong career that she didn’t enjoy yet so far into her career that she thought she couldn’t get out.

COUNSEL FROM THE COACH

Carol Anne is one of thousands of clients with whom I have worked who have never considered matching professional opportunities with their personality types. Through personality temperament testing and extensive one-on-one analysis of the types of tasks and functions that she found satisfying, we were able to uncover several professional paths for her to consider. A major listening clue had come from her boss: “Carol Anne is quite good at dealing with clients, but it’s her technical skills that are lacking”. Our work uncovered that Carol Anne’s strengths lay in working with and supporting others. She had marvelous counseling and coaching abilities. One option that surfaced and interested her a great deal was the concept of “Executive Coaching”. Carol Anne began her retooling process immediately. She enrolled in a Master’s Program at a local university and she began seeing clients privately.

Now, only four years later, Carol Anne has a thriving executive coaching practice. She found a key niche where the professional needs of individuals were not being addressed. As a result of her association with leading academic institutions and associations, Carol Anne has maximized her rates and is starting to turn away business.

She has found the true sizzle and she’s on fire!

Invest in Yourself,

Al Stewart

President/Owner

Business Mentors, Inc. is a career management organization that was founded in 1995 by Al Stewart, a former corporate executive with background in the transportation and communications industries with such industry leaders as Eastern Airlines, AT&T, GTE and Sprint and an educational background in Adult Education. His firm, Business Mentors, Inc., offers a broad range of services focused on successful management of professional careers including: Career Exploration, Career Transition, Career Outplacement, Becoming an Entrepreneur, Executive Development and International Transition. With a powerful record of success using counseling, consulting and motivation of over 3500 executives in the past ten years, the firm founded the executive coaching movement and continues to enhance its reputation as one of the leading and most highly regarded career management firms in the country. For more information about our services or questions regarding how we can assist you, please consult our website: www.business-mentors.com Or, you can choose to email us at alstewart@business-mentors.com or call our offices (Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale or Paris, France) at our global number: 404.644.8618. Our associates are available in person at one of our three offices or via teleconference worldwide.

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