Arete Coach Podcast 1093 Michael Denning PhD "Serving and Surfing: Lessons in Leadership and Coaching" artwork
Arete Coach: The Art & Science of Executive Coaching

Arete Coach Podcast 1093 Michael Denning PhD "Serving and Surfing: Lessons in Leadership and Coaching"

  • S1E1093
  • 1:06:33
  • September 26th 2022

This is episode 1093 of the Arete Coach Podcast with Severin Sorensen and his guest Michael Denning, PhD, Dr. Denning is an executive consultant, Vistage Master Chair, and professor emeritus, who lives in Phoenix, AZ. Mike has been with Vistage International for some 24 years, and currently serves as a Vistage master chair for four groups. Mike also serves as an executive consultant in leadership, turnaround situations, mergers and acquisitions, finance, global marketing, and strategic planning. At Arizona State University. Mike serves as a professor emeritus in the WP Carry School of Business with research and teaching interest centered on leadership, marketing, strategy, and entrepreneurship.

Mike has held positions on boards and is a member of the board or interim president for several of these. He has held leadership positions, such as the vice president of marketing at Memorex Corporation and a variety of other roles at IBM. He has also held executive positions, such as CEO, COO, and other presidential roles in 12 companies, including Mortgages Limited, Learning Edge, and LandTech Environmental. Furthermore, Mike was a member of the US Air Force Academy class of 1967 and served in the Southeast Asia area during the Vietnam war. He earned his master's from Columbia University and his Doctorate from Capella University in organization and management with a specialization in leadership. In our conversation, we explore Mike's career, thoughts on leadership, and his metaphor that leadership is like surfing.

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 recorded on August 19, 2022 via Zoom Video.

Copyright © 2022 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 avatar
Severin Sorensen
Host, Arete Coach Podcast

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.