We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Blair Glaser a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Blair, thanks for joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

I’m going to talk about my leadership coaching for this one. Most executive coaches focus on the strengths and weakness of the leader, and try to improve the leader. I do some of that — sometimes a leader needs to adjust their personality or strategy in some way. But too much focusing on the leader as solely responsible for company outcomes can make leaders feel defensive and overly responsible for what’s going wrong. What I do that is different and highly effective, is form a partnership with the leader to explore how the leader’s actions are impacting and being experienced throughout the organization. One example is a leader who had an amazing ability to form personal connections. Her staff felt deeply cared about … which is a good thing, right? Then why was there chaos and low productivity rates? Because her relationships were so personal, her staff felt she would understand if they were late on deadlines. She knew they were so busy, and she was so forgiving! This leader and I were able to explore together how her strength was impacting productivity, and in some ways being used against her. She was able to shift not by “working on herself,” but through greater role and task clarity. She thought her primary task as leader was to be attentive to her staff’s feelings, like a good mom. But the task of a leader, in addition to setting vision and high-level strategy, is to make sure her staff are doing their work. Connecting with the truer task of leadership authorized her to be clearer with expectations and consequences, and drive better outcomes.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was a therapist for 20 years, and though I still train couples how to get along through leadership and work with individuals in career transitions, after many years of sitting intimately with people, I began to see how their problems were not just their own. They belonged to a system, a web of people — families, offices, tribes — who’s behaviors were influencing and reinforcing each other. That got me interested in leadership as a way to influence the systems around you. As a successful therapist with a thriving practice and retreat business, I was also very interested in business growth and development. After years of training in leadership and org dev, my career evolved from psychotherapy into executive coaching.

We don’t teach leadership, we just expect people to know how to lead. Then when people struggle to lead, they feel ashamed, and their leadership suffers more. A book or a class can help you think about leadership, but you need experience and on site guidance to really learn how to be a leader. I provide a way for leaders to grow into their role, to reflect on how their actions are impacting the organization, to bridge to people with different viewpoints and backgrounds, and ultimately to excel in their businesses via good strategy and functional culture.

I often work with leaders and their entire leadership teams, to help them keep their organization functioning at the highest levels, and in line with values that they collaborate on and uphold together.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

75 percent of my clients are women. As a woman I have done a lot of deep personal work to own my voice, my power and my authority. Being personally familiar with the pitfalls and traps of women’s leadership, I love being able to help other women step into their authority. I have been told my clients feel seen in ways they never had before, and that is deeply satisfying to hear, because I believe that being able to grasp and mirror the uniqueness of each person can help them step into themselves more fully.

Furthermore, my background as a drama therapist has given me a unique understanding of roles. People talk about wanting to bring their “whole self” to work, but I help them understand that what is required is being able to fully bring the parts of themselves that make them effective in their role. Many leaders find this incredibly liberating. I also help clients role play conversations that help them build their effective leadership persona, and they get a chance to rehearse tricky conversations with calm authority.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Other clients, hands down. My work is very intimate, and a business investment. People have to know I am a trusted source.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.blairglaser.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blair_glaser/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blair.glaser
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blairglaser/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlairGlaser

Image Credits
Workshop I designed and facilitated for Jane Fonda ‘s empowerment workshops for girls, 2003.