176 50 TOPEXECUTIVECOACHES
PRACTITIONERS
Stratford Sherman
M
y coaching practice is dedicated to helping successful senior executives
and high potentials expand their capabilities in the context of change.
The skills of adaptation and responsiveness are critical success factors in a
fast-moving, intensely challenging business environment. The most successful
executives are the ones most likely to face new challenges, often through pro-
motion. Business combinations and /or reorganizations occur ever more
frequently. At the same time, economic, technological, and competitive condi-
tions require endless adjustments. Developing adaptive skills, however, re-
quires more sustained focus and effort than many active executives can muster
by themselves.
Coaching can provide the structure and stimulus needed for the improve-
ment ofadaptive skills. My approach is based on the Executive Coaching Net-
work’s Strategic Executive Coaching Process, described on http://www.excn.com. It
synthesizes at least three categories of understanding: business dynamics; or-
ganizational change; and individual development.
The first requirement is a clear, objective understanding of the present sit-
uation. Corporate executives benefit when coaching is grounded in the busi-
ness imperatives governing the organization, and in the specific variables that
define the operating environment—from cash f low to the temperaments ofStratford Sherman brings world-class expertise in leader-
ship and organizational change to his work as an executive
coach. Strat’s coaching helps successful senior executives
and high potentials expand their capabilities and respon-
siveness in the context of change—anykind ofchange.
During the early 1990s, Strat earned his global reputation
with the publication ofControl Your Destiny or Someone
Else Will,the first serious study of Jack Welch’s transfor-
mation ofGE and a bestseller that is still taught in top
business schools. Strat has lectured extensively, delivered seminars on six conti-
nents, taught at GE’s Crotonville School, and appeared as a commentator on
many TV shows, including The News Hourand Charlie Rose.Strat is a Senior
Vice President of Executive Coaching Network, Inc. His coaching clients in-
clude Pitney Bowes, Oracle, and Coach Inc. A Harvard graduate, Strat is mar-
r ied and lives in Connecticut with his wife and two teenaged children. He can
be reached by e-mail at [email protected], via the Internet at
http://www.excn.com, or by phone at (203) 778-5481.