Renee DeAngelis

Coaching in the Clear

Renee DeAngelis:

And so I think it's really all about being uncomfortable. And I don't know if balance is achieved. I

think that balance is achieved by testing things out and potentially falling, but when you break

through it's the craziest most awesome feeling in the world.

Jeff Hunter:

Hi and welcome. I'm Jeff Hunter and you are listening to Coaching in the Clear, the podcast

committed to help you learn about coaching. Coaching is more popular than ever, and we

believe that sharing in-depth personal conversations about coaching experiences is the best

way for you to learn whether coaching is for you and how you can get the most out of your

coaching practice. We are especially interested in how people use coaching to unleash their

potential while creating market leading big change businesses. Coaching in the Clear is a

production of Talentism, a business dedicated to helping the world's most ambitious leaders

achieve their ultimate goals by systematically turning confusion into clarity. We send out a

weekly newsletter called the Sensemaker where we offer our latest thinking about issues

affecting big change companies and their leaders, as well as provide other helpful content to

enable you to unleash your potential, learn more and sign up at Talentism.com. So Renee,

thank you so much for joining us today on Coaching in the Clear, my first question for you is

how did you come to use a coach? How did you get to the place where you decided you wanted

to use a coach?

Renee DeAngelis:

Well hi Jeff. Thank you. Coaching came to me through an acquisition and merger involving

private equity. And so we were merging with another company that did the same thing as we do.

And that's when I met you and your team and we, there are a lot of intricacies to those types of

deals. And so we met and we decided to, that having a coach would help me navigate through

some of the challenges with what happens with a transaction like that.

Jeff Hunter:

Great, and just say for the audience, that was a very successful transaction. So congratulations

on that and has helped you build an amazing company. So tell me a little bit about what you've

learned about coaching and how you experience it. You came to it pretty new and I've really

enjoyed our relationship and the opportunity to coach you. And I've seen you grow a lot through

that process. So tell me a little bit about how you've experienced it and what you've learned

about over time.

Renee DeAngelis:

Oh my gosh. So much. I think the, I mean, overall I think coaching is this opportunity for you to

become the best version of yourself. And I, one of the biggest takeaways I've had is I had often

lead a team and managed a team and run a company, grown a company a lot through this

instinct that was deep inside of me. And I think working with you, I've been able to put a

framework together around it and language around it that not only I can use, but also my

colleagues and people I work with can use, so it's been a sort of common, we've created a

common language. We've been able to all learn together through using that framework. I also

think that throughout my whole life I've always had a coach and I think, I truly believe coaching

is not really a one-dimensional thing. You know, as a coach, as a person who leads a team or

leads a company I find that I learned just as much from the people I'm working with or coaching

as I do, hopefully help them as well. So I feel like it's for me and either seat or either hat that I

wear, I feel like it's a, there's a lot of growth and opportunity and an opportunity to master

something and a lot of opportunity to learn something new.

Jeff Hunter:

So I'm going to let the audience in on a little thing. So one of the things I love about our

conversations is you are not only an expert and a professional in the world of climbing, you're

also an enthusiast and you’ve spent a lot of your time, free time such as it is, there isn't a lot,

climbing and so I'm always trying to impress you by bringing up climbing references. And you're

always very patient with me as I stumble my way through that. And that's been a very cool

dynamic in our relationship, but one of the things that I've found when I'm coaching people is

there's usually some area of their life where they pursue excellence. It's not always in their job,

but there's some area of their life where they push themselves and they're testing themselves to

really uncover what they're capable of. And I not only have seen you, I mean, we've talked

about climbing and what that means for you, but also I've seen that in the world of your work, is

there some way you can connect those two things for me? Like what it's like to climb versus

what it's like to lead?

Renee DeAngelis:

Oh my gosh, there are, it's all the same. Well, first of all, I want to say, I'm not an expert climber.

There are so many people who are way beyond me. I think I'm, I have a deep love and passion.

I've been climbing for so long It's almost embarrassing, cause I should be a lot better than I am,

but I love it. And that's the wonderful thing about this sport is that at any level you can enjoy it,

but there's so many parallels. I often, you know, when you're climbing you are, well actually let

me give you a story. Back in 2008, when I was just with planet granite, which is the company

that I was part of and helped grow before we had the private equity merger and acquisition, I

went to climb El Cap and the actual El Cap in Yosemite. And I remember standing at the bottom

of the route and looking up and thinking, oh my gosh, I am, how am I ever going to do this? It

looks really steep and long. And during that time we were in a really busy growth phase at work.

We were opening a new gym. We were hosting a national competition. I had a brand new team

of people that I had just assembled in anticipation of this growth. And so it was really crazy at

work. And I just thought, I looked up at that rock and I thought, well, if I can get through all of

that, I can get through this climb. And you just kind of tackle it one pitch at a time. And I think

that, that's what we did in that moment at our company is that we just slowly crept up the, you

know, indoor climbing version of El Cap to accomplish all the things that we had to do. And so I

think the, you know, when you're standing on the top of it, or when you're through, you've got all

your gyms open in your past, all the competition and craziness, you feel that same sense of

success. So I think an overall sense that is, there's so much similarity and I've always loved it.

And it is, you're constantly pushing yourself. And if you feel like I'm always driving myself to

excellence both at work and in my personal time, and there is no one thing, but I think I'm fairly

lucky that it is so similar and there are so many overlaps.

Jeff Hunter:

One of the things I've experienced in our conversations and it's really helped me sort of

formulate this in my mind. So Talentism is constantly talking about goals and unleashing your

potential. And because people talk about potential in different ways, it's so...