Launching the Ben Kiker Group

Welcome! Thanks for checking out my new website and for reading my inaugural blog post. 

In this post I’d like to share the back-story on launching my business and branding myself as a GSD (Get S**t Done) coach.

Earlier this year I asked myself the question I suggest to people who are contemplating a job change, “What’s the thing you love doing that you’d do for free if you didn’t have the lifestyle to which you’ve become accustomed?” (In my case that lifestyle includes travel. I’m a “plane nerd” – an #avgeek, to use a popular Twitter hashtag. One of my favorite flights this year was the inaugural revenue flight of American Airlines’ 787-8 Dreamliner).

The answer was clear, and it came quickly: coaching.

Early in my career I worked for a financial services firm in Dallas, Texas. We all sat in “cube-ville” in an open floor seating arrangement, although the managers had corner offices. (Literally, the offices were in the corners of each floor). My cube was near one of the manager’s offices.

After work one afternoon a co-worker stopped by my cube. I don’t remember what we talked about, and I definitely don’t remember what I said. But I do remember what happened next: I walked into one of the manager’s office to talk about a project, and the first thing he said was “you gave that person some really helpful suggestions.”

He was able to hear most of the conversation because of the location of my cube—and my loud voice. I do not have an “indoor voice.”

I remember being surprised by his comment because helping my co-worker felt very natural to me—the kind of conversations I’d been having for as long as I could remember.

A big part of my authentic self is doing what I did with that co-worker nearly 30 years ago: connecting with someone, understanding what’s going on, cutting through the clutter and identifying a path forward. I love doing that 1:1, and I also love doing that with teams.

BTW, what I just outlined is the essence of what a coach does. Although Serena Williams wasn’t successful in her quest for a calendar Grand Slam, there’s no doubt she’s one of the most accomplished female athletes in the world – and she has a coach! His name is Patrick Mouratoglou. I’ve never met him (or Serena), and I don’t know what his job description is. But I bet you could net it out as follows: connect with Serena, understand what’s going on with her game, help her cut through the clutter/distractions and identify a path forward that will help her remain at the top of her game.

In my next post I’ll talk a bit more about launching The Ben Kiker Group.