110 50 TOPEXECUTIVECOACHES
PRACTITIONERS
Shirley Anderson
C
oaching executives and leaders is similar to an experience I had as a stu-
dent pilot. I had returned from the practice area and entered the traffic
pattern for Tamiami Airport at 1,000 feet. I was surprised to find myself in
white puffy clouds at that level, and immediately lost both my orientation
and my confidence to make the approach and landing. I called the tower with
my air plane identif ication and told them I was in the pattern, but didn’t
know exactly where. The voice told me I was going north. I said, “I don’t
know which way is north.” He said, “Okay, I’ll put you on downwind; turn
left heading two-seven-zero.” I trusted the voice and followed the instruc-
tion. I was in and out of the clouds and very scared. I knew I could f ly and
land the airplane if I could just get reoriented to where I was in relation to
the airport. The tower told me where I was and guided me into the landing
pattern, and I landed safely.
I typically work with high-level executives, business owners, and authors
whose expertise falls into the financial industry, management training, or
professional ser v ices. They come to me because somebody they trust has rec-
ommended me. Generally, they are hugely successful people who’ve sud-
denly become stuck or found themselves struggling with something they’ve
never struggled with before. My coaching works best when clients tell the
truth about a situation as soon as they realize it; trust me to know (or to help
them find out who knows) what direction to go; then let me put the controls
squarely back in their hands.Shirley Anderson is a master coach and confidante to
inf luential people. Her training in social sciences and
English—as well as being one of the pioneers in the
coaching profession—have equipped her for working
with today’s top creative and business minds. Her bache-
lor ’s degree is from the University of Miami and her
master ’s degree is from Nova University. Her coach
training is from Coach U, the premier coach training
firm, and she’s been a leader in the field for 13 years. She can be reached by
e-mail at [email protected]. Her web sites are http://www.coachmiami.com
and http://www.coachingsalon.com.