Mentoring Leadership

By Earl Smith

The material for this book has been drawn from experiences with dozens of C-level executives, consultants and members of boards of directors and advisory boards. My goal is to help you become a more effective leader and develop your leadership skills. Find the leader that is within you and open the door to a brighter and more exciting future.

The essence of leadership coaching is in the frank and open assessment of leadership skills and the development and implementation of a pro-active plan to improve them. Sometimes the first six or seven sessions of that plan focus on evolving a new and more useful definition of leadership. They always involve developing an improved self-knowledge on the part of the client. These advances are possible only if the coaching relationship involves a lot of trust and mutual respect. Many of my conversations with clients are very direct and touch on issues that are sensitive and close to their treasured self-image. Without that trust and respect, they will go off the track. However, there is a secondary benefit of these conversations. In the coaching relationship, I am acting as a leader and demonstrating leadership skills. The client gets to see how it is done. My ability to lead in this way is not rooted in my coaching skills but arises out of the fact that I have successfully build six companies – I have been there on the front lines and honed those skills repeatedly. In a real sense, the client gains a mentor as well as a coach.

Leadership coaching by a coach who has never lead – never built and managed a team – never had to test their own skills in the cauldron of corporate growth – is a risky business. It is like hiring a guide who has never been where you are going – only read the map. Leadership is developed over time and with great care and focus. My coaching draws not only on my understanding of what it means to be a leader but also on my experience of having been one multiple times. I have stepped into all the holes listed above and worked my way out – and learned not to make the same mistake repeatedly. I work to help my clients learn more quickly what it took me too long to learn.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Earl Smith
• Release date: Apr 3, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458031020

Earl Smith

Rev. Earl Smith became the youngest chaplain ever hired by the California Department of Corrections when he was asked to become the chaplain at San Quentin in 1983. In 2000, Earl was named National Correctional Chaplain of the Year. He currently serves as chaplain for the San Francisco 49ers and the Golden State Warriors. He has appeared on HBO, CNN, The 700 Club, Trinity Broadcasting and the Discovery Channel, and has been featured in Newsweek and Time. He was born and raised in Stockton, California, where he lives today with his wife, Angel, and their children Ebony, Earl Jr., Tamara, and Franklin.