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

Maqsood, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump into the story of starting your own firm – what should we know?

After over 33 years of working in two companies, I left my job in corporate America to help my wife and sister take care of my ailing mother. I am so glad I did this, as she passed in a few months. I then had to determine what I wanted to do with the rest of my life and reviewed my ‘Phase 2’ doc. where I had a list of things to do when I grew up and more importantly what I wanted to remind myself not to do!

After reflecting for many hours and discussing my options with my dear wife and partner of many years plus our two adult children, I landed on my elevator speech to describe my passion: “I want to help people get better, faster”!

Having made that decision, I wanted to choose a path that allowed me the flexibility I desired while using all, if not most of my skills and competencies along with my business acumen and experiences. Upon further reflection, I realized that most of my jobs were in Performance Management. While I was paid by the companies I worked for then, I had always worked with professionals and business owners to help them grow their practices and businesses. That insight and because I wanted to continue working with people, either 1:1 or in groups; helped me narrow my choices for my next job. Executive Coaching and related facilitation work kept coming up and that’s what I chose to pursue.

The next challenge was finding the best entity with whom to do this work. Reviewing my network led me to coaches I had worked with to get referrals and I chose The Center for Creative Leadership. I soon learned that while going through their rigorous process to get trained and certified, I had access to their many tools and resources, but I still had to set up my business, for which there were no templates or best practices. I wish I had access to or been assigned a mentor coach to guide me at this stage. I would have gladly paid for that service – given the substantial investment in money and time I had already made, to get approved as a CCL coach.

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 left India at age 21 and arrived in Whitewater, WI to pursue my Masters in Business Administration, after working for about eighteen months in Casablanca, Morocco. For additional details, check out my recently published memoir: Amazon.com: “It’s Like Going to the Moon on a Bike!”: A memoir eBook : Mamawala, Maqsood S.: Kindle Store

https://rb.gy/p483d6

After earning my M.B.A. in International Marketing, while I only wanted to work in Marketing initially, I realized that Sales was a great entre into the business world. In hindsight, I wish I had access to counselors, mentors who could have guided me – or a Coach to help me make the best decision to fit my life goals and passion!

My jobs in the Financial Services industry allowed me not only to learn how to help my clients to be financially secure but also assisted me to hone my interpersonal skills, especially to better communicate with people at all levels of society. I am eternally grateful for this as it has helped me in all walks of life, particularly in my current coaching work.

I am passionate about finding ways to assist leaders globally in reaching their own ‘next phase’—using my varied background and cross-cultural experiences in Performance Management, particularly in Sales, Leadership, Marketing & Distribution. I am driven to help my clients find ways to identify and improve upon their skills and competencies to achieve their personal and professional Growth & Revenue goals. Whether you are a solo entrepreneur or leading a team of associates or managers, I am committed to helping you enhance your practice, team, or company, via 1:1 and team coaching, whether face-to-face or virtual.

Having lived and worked with clients in the Americas, Asia (including the Middle East), Africa, and Europe, and speaking multiple languages, I have a unique awareness and sensitivity that allows me to coach effectively in multicultural business environments. In addition to coaching across the U.S., I have and continue to work with clients in many countries.

I particularly enjoy working with leaders who are either new to their role or are moving into broader responsibilities that require them to view their executive and leadership skills competencies, talents, and challenges through a new/different lens. My coaching process draws on my keen understanding of leadership, organizational culture, business, diversity, teams, and individual change.

In terms of my brand, I believe what sets me apart is that I use a holistic approach to understand and learn about the many aspects of my clients’ professional lives, including any challenges related to work-life balance. I focus on identifying and enhancing their strengths while addressing gaps, helping them create personalized strategies and tactics for success in the short and long-term, via the co-creation of their personalized development action plan. I further encourage and help my clients build metrics to measure their progress, including introducing them to tools, resources, and processes to follow up, communicating with their managers and other key stakeholders, and celebrating their successes.

I am most proud of my ability to take seemingly disparate items and facts from my client’s professional and personal lives and work – and connect them, providing segues to help them make more sense of their strengths. This leads to assisting them to identify the list of behaviors to keep doing, while also becoming more self-aware to address the key items they need to do differently. All this leads them to become better leaders in all walks of their lives and thus enables them to reach their goals! The feedback I have received from my clients via notes and LinkedIn recommendations spurs me.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Early on, it was difficult – being unconsciously incompetent, beginning a new career, and being forced to start from scratch, working in a new field. I had to be nimble, and agile and give myself grace as I slowly but surely found my way around the various procedures and requirements of the coaching world. I found my ‘cans of spinach’, resorting to using my long-held personal best practice of making lists, taking and updating notes and tips as I shortened my learning curve in identifying how and when to utilize the many new tools and resources, many of which I had to find on my own – especially as it pertained to running my own business – something I had never done! Again, I wish I had access to a Coach!

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

My organizational and communication skills, learned from the many years of working in company home offices and the Field, assisting internal stakeholders and external clients, were key. These abilities helped me build my reputation with my coaching clients and participants in the various programs I am invited to work on by coaching companies. My diligence in preparing in-depth for all client interactions, following up on every call, and offering help in between sessions have allowed me to showcase my professionalism and service-minded approach within my markets.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: msqphase2
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mmamawala
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/ maqsoodmamawala
• Other: email: [email protected]