Bruce McLeod, General Manager, Coaching Services
By Bruce McLeod
It wasn’t very long after having “arrived” in the role of my dreams – Global VP of Human Resources – that I started to wonder, “what in the world have I done?” I had determined early on in my career that I was going to one-day hold a seat on a senior executive team. It seemed an ambitious goal at times, and yet the closer I got and the more realistic it became, the harder I drove.
I had finally reached the summit! So what was going on? I had finally achieved this lofty goal but I was miserable. How come? Had I been wrong all this time? Now what?
I stayed in the VP role for six years and became more and more resigned to my plight. Then, while studying in the Executive Coaching program at Royal Roads, I had a powerful epiphany – my world changed in a flash when I was asked just one question.
During my residency in the program I was being coached about my dilemma – I had finally found my purpose and passion in life (to be a coach) and
I kept telling my coach all the reasons why making the leap from my VP position to starting my own business would be foolish. I would lose the security of a good salary, I’d miss all the perks, I’d lose the status, and on and on I went. Then it happened. My coach said, “I hear you listing all the costs to you of leaving your job and taking the risk to go out on your own and pursue your dream. I would like to ask you rather than the cost to go, what is the cost of staying?”
I felt like I had been hit by a blinding flash of the obvious. I literally got up from the chair with 100% commitment to making the big leap. I started my own coaching business. And I have never looked back.
More recently, I joined forces with Dave Veale and his management team at Vision Coaching as GM of Coaching Services . It turns out that my dream of being on a senior executive team – and being happy – was contingent on connecting with my passion – coaching!
Are you open to exploring what could be possible for you through the power of a single, powerful question? (or a few?)
That’s the power of coaching!