Our leaders speak for themselves.Executive Leadership Case Study
Aaron Villarreal
Associate Director
Vanderbilt University
Entering into a one-on-one coaching engagement with Jonathan was one of the best things that I've done in this stage of my career. I'm so glad that we had the opportunity to work together.
“I had been promoted into the leadership structure of my organization and was in a tricky situation where I was going to be managing former peers. The promotion came with more manager responsibilities, and I didn't feel quite equipped to navigate the potentially tricky scenarios that could occur from having that role change with my peers. I thought some coaching would benefit me.
Entering into a one-on-one coaching engagement with Jonathan was one of the best things that I've done in this stage of my career. I'm so glad that we had the opportunity to work together.”
Jonathan is very good at asking the right questions to help you uncover the biases, beliefs, and patterns that you may not even be aware of, but that are impacting your ability to lead or execute.
“Jonathan is very good at asking the right questions to help you uncover the biases, beliefs, and patterns that you may not even be aware of, but that are impacting your ability to lead or execute.
I think that's what sets him apart: he’s not only well-versed in the research and theory behind some of the things you're working through, but he can also ask the questions that open up new insights.
That happens naturally with him because he is so intuitive about where to press a little bit—he’s able to uncover more than what's just along the surface.
In working with him, you're going to learn some things about yourself—my engagement with Author Leadership helped me ultimately realize benefits that I wasn’t even aware I needed.”
My engagement with Author Leadership helped me ultimately realize benefits that I wasn’t even aware I needed.
“Jonathan helped me understand that there's a method and science to some of the more amorphous political challenges that are more relational and less technical.
His breakdown of the elements of trust was especially valuable. How do you define trust? How do you build trust with your team, your leadership, and your peers? There's actually science-based approaches to defining it and then building it. That was really helpful—I think about that a lot.
Jonathan also helped me with a framework to understand the motivations that might be driving action—motivations that we're not always aware of.
There's a lot that happens below the surface, and he was able to diagram that out through The Story Loop. It’s a helpful framework not only in evaluating how I'm engaging in a situation, but how I might be able to interpret how others are acting and what's motivating them. That's helped me build relational capacity with a little more direction than I would if I didn't have that framework.”
Start owning
your story
If you sense drift—professionally or personally—this is your invitation to slow down and take an honest look. A simple conversation can open the path to clarity, courage, and renewal.