
Arete Coach 1132 Beyond Excellence: The Art of Being, Becoming, and Serving as a Chair, Executive Coach, Mentor and Facilitator
- S1E1132
- 1:44:49
- June 26th 2023
This is the Arete Coach Podcast, Episode, 1132 with host Severin Sorensen, with an episode titled, Beyond Excellence – The Art of Being, Becoming, and Serving as a Chair, Executive Coach, Mentor, and Facilitator. Honoring the life and legacy of Bob Nourse.
This episode pays tribute to the life and contributions of Bob Nourse. We will delve into the 'power of peers and professionally facilitated peer executive groups' as well as the TEC-Vistage model, enriched with insights from numerous past and present TEC and Vistage Chairs and stakeholders.
Vistage is the trailblazer of the professionally moderated executive peer group known as "The Executive Committee", and was established in October 1957. Last October marked Vistage's 65th anniversary, providing a perfect opportunity to reflect on TEC's early stages, growth, and evolution into Vistage. Central to this historical exploration is the extraordinary work of Bob Nourse - his identity, leadership journey, thought processes shaped by his personal experiences and era, and the synthesis of these elements into a purposeful framework for CEOs and peer executive groups, which he named TEC.
In this episode, we explore how Bob Nourse's vision for a Chair's role still permeates the work of TEC and Vistage Chairs worldwide. We will also hear sage advice from many of these Chairs.
This podcast was recorded following the the annual retreat of Keepers Of The Flame in Boulder, Colorado. This event also saw the launch of a new book by Severin Sorensen, 'Beyond Excellence' – The Art of Being, Becoming, and Serving as a Chair, Executive Coach, Mentor, and Facilitator, which celebrates the life and legacy of Bob Nourse.
Sources for this book (and podcast) encompass historical records from Bob Nourse's family, testimonials from contemporary TEC and Vistage stakeholders who knew Bob, and material sourced from over 130 Arete Coach Podcast interviews recorded between April 2020 and June 2023.
The Arete Coach Podcast seeks to explore the art and science of executive coaching. You can find out more about this podcast at aretecoach.io.
This episode was produced on June 26, 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Arete Coach™ LLC. All rights reserved.
Arete Coach: Exploring the Art and Science of Executive Coaching
“Arete Coach Podcast" Explores the "Art and Science" of Executive Coaching hosted by Severin Sorensen. The “Arete Coach Podcast" is for executive coaches and anyone considering becoming an executive coach. The podcast is especially valuable to executive coaches who are lifetime learners with deep curiosity about the "art and science" of coaching. In this podcast, the ‘art of coaching’ is explored through engaging interviews with leading executive coaches from diverse backgrounds sharing their individual coaching journeys, learnings, methods, best questions, and situational approaches to executive coaching. Beyond best practices, the podcast will regularly mine research on the ‘science of coaching’ and explores ongoing scientific discoveries and studies looking for what works and why, with an aim to improve the core body of knowledge for executive coaches and the industry. Severin Sorensen has provided over 7,500 hours of paid executive coaching sessions and he holds the following coaching certifications: ICF/ACSTH Certified Executive Coach (CEC), Certified Organizational Development Coach (CODC), Certified Life Coach (CLC); and the IAC: Coach Masteries Practioner. Severin Sorensen has an M.Phil in Economics at King's College, Cambridge University, and undergraduate degrees in Economics and Political Science from the University of Utah.
The Arete Coach Podcast is the copyright of Arete Coach LLC.

Severin Sorensen is host of the Arete Coach Podcast, where he interviews executive coaches and researchers with the aims to celebrate and explore the art and science of executive coaching today.
Severin is a senior executive coach, serial entrepreneur and lifetime learner with a passionate curiosity about people and businesses. Severin is the CEO of ePraxis LLC, a premier level retained search firm that provides executive headhunting, talent selection, and executive coaching. (www.epraxis.com)
Severin is a certified coach with an IAC Masteries Practitioner designation and 800+ hours of ICF/ACSTH and other advanced training in Executive Coaching, Organizational Development, EOS, Life Coaching, Emotional Intelligence (EQ), and Positive Intelligence (PQ). Severin has over 7,500+ hours of paid executive coaching working with high performing executives, owners, and operators of public and private companies throughout North America.Severin's coaching clients include boards of directors, CEOs, Presidents, GMs, COO, CFO, CTO, VP Engineering, VP Talent, and many other positions.
Severin lives in Park City , Utah and his virtual coach practice includes clients throughout the Americas.
From 2010-2018 Severin was a Vistage Chair where he coached three CEO and Key executive groups. In 2011, Severin received the "Rookie of the Year Chair Award" from Vistage. Since 2013, Severin has added international speaking for Vistage, CEO conferences, executive peer groups, and corporations on the topic of identifying and hiring difference making top talent.
In terms of the types of clients coached, Severin has coached new CEOs (with less than 2 years experience), large company executives (e.g., Managing Director of Rio Tinto), numerous high-growth entrepreneurs operating INC 5000 businesses, multi-generational family owned businesses, and primary-equity business owners who are still actively managing their companies. Severin has experience coaching both private and public company executives and their executive teams.
Severin's own coaching practice is tool based, using diagnostics, surveys, and Socratic questioning to get to root issues. You can learn more about Severin at epraxis.com (insights), LinkedIn, Quora, and Twitter. If you think you might be a good fit for executive coaching with Severin, he is happy to give you a free test drive coaching session to see if this would be good for you and your team. You can book a free test-drive 30 min coaching huddle at: calendly.com/epraxis.