Our leaders speak for themselves.Executive Leadership Case Study
Dara Mize
Chief Medical Information Officer
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
I was transitioning into a new position that was a little bit ambiguous in terms of what it should look like, or at least it felt that way to me. I needed a way to help define that role for myself.
“When I started working with Author Leadership, I was transitioning into a new position that was a little bit ambiguous in terms of what it should look like, or at least it felt that way to me. I needed a way to help define that role for myself. One of my colleagues encouraged me to work with him on that. One of the first things he recommended was a 360º evaluation that could help me define this role for myself—in a way that was authentic for me, but also met the needs of my organization. When I think about the results I've had, it directly ties to some of those first initiatives he and I worked on together in my role.”
He can't tell me how to be me, but he can help me be a better version of myself and in my job, so I'm grateful to him for that.
“Jonathan is great at giving me frameworks for thinking about problems or interactions. Those often replay in my head throughout the day—ideas like The Story Loop or interpreting the things people say from either a Most Generous Interpretation mindset or a Least Generous Interpretation mindset have really helped me.
I approach conversations with people more thoughtfully and can be more intentional about how I enter into conversations, and also be intentional about how I walk away from those conversations, particularly if there's conflict involved. It has also improved my own self-awareness of how people perceive me and how I want to be perceived out of a conversation.
My interactions with him, especially during that 360º process, gave me more confidence to boldly lean into my role, and to make it what I wanted it to be in a way that felt authentic to me, but also served in my organization. That process of going through that with him is what gave me those results.
I've talked to a couple of other coaches here or there, but definitely no long term sustained relationships with anybody, so I didn't know what to expect from this. My mentor suggested that I do it and I wasn't quite sure how I would feel about it.
Jonathan is like having a trusted confidant at work that you can also bounce ideas off of. He doesn't tell me the answers—he walks me through options, approaches, or things to think about, and helps me figure out what I want to do and clarifies what I want my approach in a given situation to be. And that's really perfect, because he can't tell me how to be me, but he can help me be a better version of myself and in my job, so I'm grateful to him for that.”
He’s a trusted confidant who doesn't have a dog in a fight in terms of the outcome of any particular conversation. That's hard to get, certainly in a work setting.
“The ability to be vulnerable with a person I trust and who knows my work environment has been so significant to me. He’s a trusted confidant who doesn't have a dog in a fight in terms of the outcome of any particular conversation. That's hard to get, certainly in a work setting—you can have it somewhat with trusted family members or friends, but even then, they're often missing the context of the work setting. I think the ability to have a trusted confidant like that in the vulnerable and difficult situations is one of the most valuable parts of our interaction.
I would tell people to go ahead and work with Author Leadership because you don't know what you'll get. I didn't walk into 1:1 Coaching saying, ‘This is what I want out of this.’ He helped me tease that part out and then work through it and process all of that. It's been very rewarding and I'm really grateful for the time that I have with him and the fact that my organization made the investment in me to give me the opportunity to work with him.”
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