Client Spotlight: Rebecca M.

Client Spotlight
Written By Katharine Smith

I recently wrapped up a coaching engagement with a remarkable woman named Rebecca who is a Senior Director of Workplace Services inside Nike’s World Headquarters, but like all of my clients, she is so much more…

Rebecca is a mother, a partner, a maker, an architect, an entrepreneur, a world traveler, etc. She and I worked together, every two weeks for 10 months. She sought out coaching because she felt restless.

“I sensed that something better or different was on the horizon professionally, and just needed help identifying and pursuing it.”

During our coaching engagement, I got to witness Rebecca assert a more expansive and creative control inside and outside of work.

“My whole self-perception expanded as I became more aware of the patterns that had driven my personal and professional lives until now. I realized how badly I needed my own purpose and I identified the ‘secret ingredients’ I need to thrive at work.”

I watched Rebecca’s leadership accelerate as she was promoted from within and she made a series of bold choices about how she was going to engage with her stakeholders. Within weeks, she made room for creativity in her team’s work, and held healthier boundaries with colleagues and clients alike. 

“I made some big shifts: from being a specialist on a very prescribed path to a self-directed generalist; from the work consuming my energy to measured control of how I choose to spend my energy; from thinking locally to expanding globally and creating new opportunities for myself…

Her efforts to redesign her relationship with work didn’t go unnoticed.

My colleagues noticed the shifts, but I think it was subtle because this work has been so steady and so personal. I'm not shouting from the rooftops about the renaissance that has occurred during my work with a coach, it's more about my confidence, generosity and clarity; about getting really clear on what I am willing and able to do, and what I am not.

By month six, Rebecca went further to fundamentally redefine her “work” in the world when she kick-started a global book project on how ancestral traditions can inform modern life. It had been a seed of an idea in her mind for years, but last fall she started conducting interviews and booking research trips! She looks forward to advancing this global passion project in 2022.

If you see Rebecca out in the great wide world, be sure to ask her about basket weaving and how she is dedicating herself to creating structures for women to thrive. She continues to exercise her purpose as she leads her various communities, and our global community will certainly be richer for it!

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