Member News

It’s #Feature Friday!

Each week we’re celebrating coaches from our community to honor the incredible work they are doing in this world.

 

Today we’d love to introduce you to David Taylor-Klaus who lives in Atlanta and spends part of the year in Colorado!

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In a previous life, I took a Gold Medal in rowing in the Georgia State games.

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My initial goal was to start my own Vistage practice so I wanted to get coach training in advance of that career shift. While that plan was percolating, my wife discovered Co-active® coaching. After living with her for that first year and witnessing what and who she was becoming, two things became very clear: (1) I wanted some of the amazing growth she was experiencing, and (2) if I didn’t hurry up, she was going to seriously outgrow me!

 

Though I was probably 5 years earlier than I planned to start my training, I dove into my own coaching journey with Co-active® coach training back in 2008. In 2009 I sold my technology firm, launched my practice, and started coaching full-time.

 

Now over a decade into my practice, my favorite way to describe my work is that I reintroduce successful entrepreneurs and senior executives to their families. I do that through a blend of 1-to-1 coaching for the leader and team coaching for the teams they lead.

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My purpose statement is “I am the resonant energy that unearths and unleashes the power of the heart.” I do my work out in the world because I experienced my own unearthing and unleashing of the power of my heart and I have seen the changes that it made in the world around me. I do this work because of the impact that my clients get to have … their impact on themselves, their families, their communities, their team, their organizations. My clients make the world around them better than they found it. And they start by making themselves better at being human.

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I have attended every singe WBECS since the beginning. (OK … I only attended the Pre-Summit for the first three years! I have been attending the FULL Summit since the 4th year!) I became a member of the inaugural WBECS Coach Team in 2016 and started hosting IM Sessions. During the 2018 Full Summit I also stepped in as Coach Host for a few of the presenters and in 2019 I have moved solely to the Coach Host role.

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I work with clients whose core goals for coaching all center in becoming better at who they be, who they are at their core. It’s not that my clients don’t focus on the doing. They definitely seek to improve how they do what they do. The difference is, the folk that I serve have already figured out that elevating the being improves the doing (by getting better at being who they be, they get better at doing what they do).

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The single most rewarding thing in my practice is the impact cascade. When a leader tells me about how they have gotten to witness what they have unearthed through the coaching show up in the way their team leads their people … THAT is an amazing feeling. The work that we do does not end with the client. Our clients have impact on families and teams and communities and what they discover in their coaching gets passed along. That impact cascade is EVERYTHING to me!

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First of all, I make no distinction between personal and professional development. Any professional development opportunity that doesn’t also foster personal development by design doesn’t seem like a good choice to me.

 

So, the best kept secret in personal development in coach training! So WBECS is a sledge-hammer for both personal and professional development.

 

I also have a coach (I believe that no one should ever hire a coach who doesn’t have a coach!). And I am part of a Mastermind where I am surrounded by people who inspire me, stretch me, and intimidate me (everyone in that room feels the same way!). I was also a Vistage member for 15 years.

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The Isolation is the most challenging aspect of being a coach (an external coach, that is). With a client base that currently spans 15 time zone (Los Angeles to Singapore), most of my work is done over Zoom or the phone. And much of my learning takes place that way, as well. We all need face-to-face connection. It takes intentionality to build and maintain relationships in the real world.

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Hell yes, I’m attending! .. I am a Coach Host!

I wouldn’t miss WBECS for the world. It’s a critical part of my development and a big part of my community.

By the way, attendees, can see me host the following WBECS presenters:

26 Sept 2019: Whitney Johnson

Oct 17, 2019: Jean-Francois Cousin

Jan 30, 2020: Anne Sugar

Feb 20, 2020: Harrison Monarth

Mar 5, 2020: Nancy Parsons

Mar 26, 2020: Annemarie Lombard

Apr 2, 2020: Bebe Hanson

May 7, 2020: Senka Holzer

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Thank you so much, David for your contribution to our community and our industry as a whole!

PS: Have a question or words of encouragement for David? Comment below!