COACHING FORORGANIZATIONALCHANGE 179
Gary Ranker
I
got my first coaching assignment in 1989 at the suggestion of a friend,
Steve Kerr. At the time, Steve was the dean of faculty at University of
Southern California’s School of Business, where I was teaching. He began
working as a consultant to Jack Welch at GE. In my interpretation of Steve’s
role at GE, he was brought in to monitor and facilitate the changes Welch
was driving through the company. To do that, Steve went to the different
business units and talked with people about the change agenda.
In the process, Steve found that some valued managers felt ill-equipped to
master the new style that was being asked of them. As top people, they had
put a lot of time and effort into GE over the years, and GE had a lot invested
in them. Yet they were unlikely to thrive in the new culture without making
significant behavioral and style changes. Steve’s idea was that I could help a
few of these people manage that shift by working with them one on one.
My first coachee was a very senior and respected high-profile manager
whose communication style was causing significant problems in his business
unit. Why Steve asked me to work with that individual has a lot to do with
the background and interests that led me to become a coach.
I grew up in a family that was very psychologically oriented, where we
were encouraged to talk about why people do things. As a college student, I
had a strong interest in international business and a deep desire to see life
through the eyes of people from different cultures. To that end, I lived and
worked in Europe for many years, assuming ever-broadening levels of busi-
ness responsibility while learning a number of languages. Eventually, I came
to work as a top manager on four continents, an experience that heightened
my awareness of individual differences and prompted further interest in a
trend that I saw occurring across many cultures and organizations.Dr. Gary Ranker is a pioneer in the field of coaching.
Since the late 1980s, his specialty has been helping
clients to analyze their corporate political environment
and develop concrete strategies to achieve goals. Gary’s
pr ior senior management exper ience includes ser v ing as
the CEO of major international companies for Hallmark
Cards and Textron. For besmagazine has listed him as
one of the top five executive coaches. He is based in
Manhattan and can be reached by phone at (212) 244-8540 or by e-mail at
[email protected].