Brenda:
"... better than falling in love!"

Brenda* is a mid-career woman, a veteran of years in corporate jobs that offered many rewards of money and influence but left her feeling empty. She was at the point of considering early retirement, her health and spirit showing the strain. But she came to coaching to see if there was another option. Her courage was stunning. A success by every measure that society values, she was holding out for something more. Enormously gifted, delightfully quirky, she also had her share of self-doubt: Was there a place for her, for the contribution that was uniquely hers?

The early weeks of coaching were devoted to identifying the skills and qualities she had that she wanted to put to use in a new job, as well as those skills and qualities she wanted to develop. The skill she valued most was the ability to use humor to defuse a potential conflict and move people toward solution. Once she welcomed this skill as her gift, her unique contribution, she moved quickly to seeing its application and value in numerous settings. Designing together the questions she wanted to answer and the action steps she wanted to take, she moved quite smoothly through tapping her network for leads and introductions, packaging her experience so she stood out, and knocking on doors. Within two months she had been offered her dream job, doing conflict resolution with an organization specializing in "creative solutions to impossible problems" that valued her unique outlook and her veteran savvy.

Two weeks into the new job, she quipped, with characteristic humor, "This is better than falling in love!" The discovery that she could find in her work a sense of coming home, a place where she was known and valued and fulfilled, was beyond her dreams. She was convinced she couldn’t have made that discovery alone, without the support, encouragement and guidance of her coach.

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*These stories are composites of many different women’s stories. Actual stories of real clients are held in strictest confidence.

Nina Ham, CPCC, LCSW | Success from the Inside Out
Email Coach Nina Ham | Telephone 510-526-7377
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