Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Michael Counts. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Michael, thanks for joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

After a 20 year career as an artist, designer, and director of immersive theater, opera, and large scale events and fashion shows, I had a transformative experience working with a coach – and specifically making that investment in myself, versus having coaching provided by an employer. It helped me in ways that no therapy, wellness, or mental health intervention had done previously. At the same time as I was experiencing that I began to hear many people in my life, all at different stages of their personal and professional development, saying similar things about feeling stuck and wondering what was next for them. I realized three things that changed my life and career – 1) the motivation behind everything i had been doing in the arts and entertainment space was in pursuit of a sort of personal awakening, 2) that coaching was a resource that needed to be much more widely available and that it was very aligned with the work I had been doing in my career prior, and 3) that due to points one and point two, I was the right person to work towards the democratization, through a user experience upgrade, of coaching. That led me to found a)plan coaching initially and then mPath AI.

Michael, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My background as a artist, director, designer and entertainment entrepreneur can be viewed here: www.countsprojects.net.

As a creative person, I was moved by how coaching helped me apply a creative lens to my life – I’ve now seen that approach have a similar impact on the lives of the thousands of people that my company has served. One thing that I’ve found to be extremely powerful in coaching is based on the fact that most everyone in our lives, especially the people closest to us and that love us the most, have agendas for us. That is often great but in many instances the agendas others have for us can get in the way of us figuring out for ourselves what we really (really) want. A coach is different in that a coach has no other agenda for a client than helping them figure out what they want, helping them make plans of action to go after those desires and goals, and then to assist them in persisting and course correcting along the way. That resource is the most powerful and valuable support that I believe anyone can have to assist them in building anything – from a project, a company, a family, a life.

That is why I’ve dedicated myself to making coaching more effective and more accessible. a)plan coaching did that up to a point – we often think of it as Coaching 2.0 – and mPath AI is taking that initial progress to another level entirely using AI and other related technologies – what we think of as Coaching 3.0.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

I believe that figuring out what you want, very specifically, is key in succeeding in anything but if we take that as a given, the single most important thing that I have found to be, not just helpful but, essential is persistence. When people say that 75% (or whatever large % it is) of start-ups fail, they are really talking about the people behind those start-ups having given up. If you don’t give up, you will succeed. You may have to pivot, build a new team, change your approach, raise more money, etc but you will succeed eventually. Many of the companies we know and love today started with another vision entirely to what they are now known for – Youtube for instance started as a video dating site. There are a million examples of companies just like that. The key to success that trumps all others is Don’t Give Up!

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

The Creative Act – by Rick Rubin
The Singularity is Near – Ray Kurzweil
Abundance – Peter Diamondis

Moonshot and Mindsets Podcast
All You Need Is A Plan – Podcast

Coaching – get a coach each member of your team and you team will be better. Success is an inside job. So is collaboration.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mpathai.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mpath.coaching/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mpath-ai/posts/?feedView=all
• Other: https://www.countsprojects.net