Arete Coach 1181 Gail Schaper-Gordon "Resilience, Uniqueness, and Deep Listening"
- S1E1180
- 1:05:31
- June 18th 2024
Welcome to the Arete Coach Podcast with host Severin Sorensen and his guest Gail Schaper-Gordon, Ph.D. In this episode, Severin speaks with Gail, a Vistage Executive Coach, business psychologist, organizational consultant, and experienced CEO. Gail has 22 years of experience as a successful CEO and business leader, having founded and run several small to mid-market professional service companies, including Aegis Psychological Corporation and Behavioral Health Information Management Systems, which were cornerstones of a behavioral health care delivery system of more than 500 mental health care providers serving a quarter of a million individuals. She received her Bachelor of Science in Sociology from the University of California and her Ph.D. in Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology.
In this engaging conversation, Severin and Gail explore her pathway into executive coaching, her Vistage Chair practice, and her passion for business psychology. Gail shares her approach to coaching, emphasizing the importance of resilience and adaptability in both personal and professional life. She discusses the power of leaning into one's uniqueness and embracing different perspectives to drive change and create value. Gail also highlights the significance of deep listening and empathy in coaching, describing her method as being fully present and listening from a deep feeling place. Throughout the discussion, Gail's commitment to continuous learning and growth shines through as she shares her passions, heartaches, and the many ways she contributes her mindshare, wisdom, and energy to others. This episode aligns perfectly with the Arete Coach Podcast's mission to explore the art and science of executive coaching.
Gail Schaper-Gordon's memorable quotes r capture key insights from the conversation.
"The best questions and the most powerful questions are the ones that I don't even remember asking and that people come back and tell me about them."
"You learn that you take your time, you find your right space to grieve, and then you go back. It's not about being consumed by grief. It's about continuing with life and managing all that."
"My why is to make sense so that people with us why observe about elements of every situation and make sense out of them. They take complicated or what may appear to be complicated factors, problems, concepts, and organize them to create solutions that are sensible and easy to implement." -
"I think that I've learned that the less my opinion is expressed in a group, the less that they hear what my idea of a solution would be in a group meeting. And the more that I listen and give them the space, the better."
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 interview was conducted on November 23, 2021, via Zoom Video. Copyright © 2024 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.