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November 2005 Peopleby Lisa Vollmer
Master Coaches Like all good coaches, alumnae Sharon Lebovitz Richmond and Pam Fox Rollin know that it takes more than pure talent to reach a goal: It also takes hours and hours of hard work. By day, Richmond and Rollin are the founders and principals of two separate consulting firms. But for the past two years, they’ve also been working with faculty to develop the School’s Leadership Development Platform (LDP), a program that helps MBA students hone their leadership skills. Readings and lectures play a role in the LDP, but Richmond, MBA ’88, and Rollin, MBA ’95, believe that most learning takes place when students have the opportunity to actually practice what they’ve learned in the classroom. “Students come in to the program with their own leadership style, but they’ve only been able to test it in limited circumstances,” Rollin explains. Through the LDP, first-year students work on management simulations and role-playing exercises in small groups. Second-years act as their coaches, helping them to identify their goals, strengths, and opportunities for development. For many second-year students, coaching others on how to lead is unfamiliar territory. This is where Richmond and Rollin come in: Drawing on their wealth of professional experience (they each advise clients on leadership and organizational development), they act as “master coaches,” listening to the challenges that second-year coaches are facing and helping them devise strategies for resolving them. Outside of the Business School, Richmond and Rollin recently collaborated on a ground-breaking study of “emotional intelligence”—a person’s ability to manage emotions, understand motivations, and be sensitive to other people. Their research revealed that emotional intelligence isn’t something that people either do or don’t possess. “When we asked leaders whether they thought that emotional intelligence could be developed, the answer was a resounding ‘yes,’” says Rollin. Rollin’s coaching experience at the School has led her to the same conclusion. She recalls a former student who “thought he was too quiet, too reserved” to lead. “Through the one-on-one coaching and by trying things out with his team, he learned that he could lead in his own style and be just as effective,” she says. The potential to inspire such positive change keeps both alumnae involved. “It might sound hokey,” Richmond says, “but I share the GSB mission: Change lives. Change organizations. Change the world. This is part of how I do that, one leader at a time.” |
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