Mentorship Best Practices

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FountainBlue ran a Mentorship Best Practices panel in November between 2019 and 2024. Below are links to notes from our meetings as well as a couple of blogs on mentorship and sponsorship topics.


Thursday, November 7, 11:50 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. 

Sixth Annual Mentorship Best Practices 

If you have a dedicated, hard-working, and intelligent staff at any level, Mentorship becomes THE difference-maker. Sure, education and experience matter, but Mentorship can frame that education and experience and make them into learning opportunities.

Sponsorship is important, but without Mentorship, it’s hard for the sponsor to make a business case.

Culture is important, but mentorship helps mentees (and mentors) succeed and even thrive in existing cultures. Indeed, mentees and mentors can together even shape the culture so that more people benefit.

This year’s mentors and mentees will share their strategies, advice, and best practices.

Mentors:

  • Roman Medina Perez, NPI Technical Program Manager, Lam Research  
  • Archana Muralidharan, Senior Manager, Governance, Risk & Compliance, Palo Alto Networks 

Mentees:

  • Denise Cable, NPI Program Manager/Project Manager, Lam Research
  • Soraya St. Claire, Senior InfoSec GRC Analyst, Palo Alto Networks 

Friday, November 17, 11:50 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. 

Fifth Annual Mentorship Best Practices Panel

Online Program, Hosted by ASML

Please join us in thanking our panelists:

  • Gil Cruz, Senior Director, Business Development, Customer Experience Americas Service Provider, Cisco  
  • Kristi Gay, Engineering Training & Education Sr. Manager, Coupa Software
  • Dana Gharda, Head of University Talent Engagement, US, ASML
  • Vicky Watson, Senior Manager Production Control, Lam Research
  • Mentees:
  • with opening remarks and panel participation by Robert Socha, ASML Fellow, ASML

Below is a summary of thoughts on a fascinating and thought-provoking discussion.

Embrace a mentorship mindset.

  • Accept that mentorship is a two-way street and all parties may benefit.
  • Be the giver and the receiver.
  • Be passionate about participating in a mentorship program.

Be open to *how* mentorship shows up.

  • Be open-minded and receptive whether mentorship comes from formal or informal processes, whether it’s technical or new-hire or cross-age/cross-gender mentoring.

Secure support and sponsorship to enhance mentorship programs.

  • Make the business case for mentorship by showing personal *and* business benefit through metrics and strategic planning.
  • See a need for your company and leverage mentorship to meet that need.
  • Challenge and reward people who go over and above day-to-day requirements.
  • Plan well but also embrace serendipitous opportunities.
  • Invite yourself to make things happen, regardless of your role and responsibility. It increases the likelihood that something will happen.

Facilitate Mentorship Conversations.

  • Facilitate conversations rather than directing actions, for self-discovery leads to broader and deeper personalized learnings.
  • Encourage others to brainstorm with open minds and hearts, but provide guardrails and guidance to help them make their ideas and dreams into real-world plans.
  • Ask deep and open-ended questions.
  • Ask the ‘why’ question for those who might be really ambitious and eager and the ‘why-not’ question for those who are hesitant and reticent.

Embrace Differences.

  • Respect regional, cultural, gender, age, and all other differences so that you can invite and integrate these different viewpoints into the rich and innovative fabric of an organization.
  • Connect people with different mindsets, roles, business units and perspectives to improve likelihood of cross-pollination of ideas.

Focus on Relationships.

  • Invite the mentor-mentee relationship to last beyond the length of the program.
  • Facilitate conversations rather than directing actions, for self-discovery leads to broader and deeper personalized learnings.

Brainstorm – how can we better integrate mentorship into our work lives?

  • Invite more social half hour chats and see which ones might develop into deeper, longer-term connections.  
  • Connecting at New-hire orientation
  • Check-in with someone regarding goals
  • Making the time for mentorship
  • Invite technologists to represent the voice of the customer. 
  • Help mentees to better connect and communicate.
  • Follow up and check in with those you mentor.
  • Gathering people over a common theme
  • Open office hours
  • It’s about the integration of information and training
  • Journaling and thinking 

Takeaways:

  • What will you share at the dinner table?
  • Who did you help today?
  • Be passionate to realize the exponential effect of mentorship
  • Invest in yourself, making yourself PROUD
  • Making sure your people have tools and skills, thoughtful planning
  • Mindset – change your paradigm, as a mentee, get curious and speak out; as a mentor, be creative on how to serve

Our takeaway? Life and work is better with mentors and mentees. Show up to be the best mentee/mentor you can be.


FountainBlue’s November 10 When She Speaks program, on the topic of ‘Mentorship Best Practices’. Please join me in thanking our hosts at Coupa and our esteemed panelists.  We were fortunate to feature pairs of mentors and mentees who spoke passionately about the personal benefits and the business value for mentorship relationships. Below is a compilation of best practices.
Thoughts About Mentorship

  • Treat mentorship like a two-way street where all parties learn and benefit.
  • Consider mentorship an opportunity to learn about the past and learn about the future. 
  • Be open to mentoring those around you formally or informally.
  • Pay it forward, in return for all those who paved the road for your own current successes. 

Suggestions on How to Support Your Mentor/Mentee

  • Shine the light on what she/he is doing/can do.
  • Provide opportunities for her/him to stretch into new ways of thinking/speaking/working.
  • Help your mentee/mentor leverage their past experiences to succeed with current challenges and opportunities. 
  • Work with your mentee/mentor to strategically create and expand a network of contacts and supporters.
  • Be humble, personable, vulnerable, and practical as you work with your mentee/mentor to better address their questions and challenges.
  • Be specific and plan-ful about the logistics so that the mentor/mentee relationship can be fruitful. 
  • Share colorful stories about your own challenges and opportunities so others can learn from your experience and perspective.

Keep Reaching for Stars – as an individual and as a mentor/mentee

  • Always listen and look for opportunities to grow and expand. 
  • Challenge yourself to keep raising the bar and learn from all around you.
  • Be constantly open and curious.
  • Get good at giving and receiving feedback.  
  • Model the way for others around you, in front of you, behind you, for you never know who’s watching and learning from you!

Advice about Creating and Growing a Mentorship Program

  • Make the business case to secure resources and funding.
  • Recruit an executive sponsor who is passionate about mentorship and influential within and outside the organization.
  • Invite a wide range of people from diverse backgrounds to participate, for the benefit of all involved.
  • Collaborate with HR and L&D and ERGs to deliver excellence in the mentorship program.
  • Consider helping mentees transition to mentors, and sponsor mentors into stretch roles with the support of coaches. 

The bottom line is that we must all make the time to mentor and support others around us, for that is what helps each of us to learn and grow.


Friday, November 12, 2021, 11:50 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. 

Third Annual Mentorship Best Practices Panel

Online Program, Hosted by Pure Storage

If you have a dedicated, hard-working, and intelligent staff at any level, Mentorship becomes THE difference-maker. Sure, education and experience matter, but Mentorship can frame that education and experience and make them into learning opportunities.

Sponsorship is important, but without Mentorship, it’s hard for the sponsor to make a business case.

Culture is important, but mentorship helps mentees (and mentors) succeed and even thrive in existing culture. Indeed, mentees and mentors can together even shape the culture so that more people benefit.

  • Facilitator Linda Holroyd, CEO, FountainBlue
  • with opening remarks by Niki Armstrong, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, and Chief Compliance Officer, Pure Storage

Mentors:

  • Peter Holland, VP of Supply Chain, Lam Research 
  • Milissa Kubal-White, Manager, Global Sales Enablement, Coupa Software, Empower Board Member, Coupa Software
  • Ellen Lail, Regional Sales Director, Pure Storage, co-chair Women @ Pure
  • Umesh Lakshman, Head of Solutions Architecture, West, Lumen Technologies

Mentees:

  • Misa Crocker, Education and Training Program Manager, Pure Storage 
  • Lilian Hall, Program/Product Manager – Logistics & TMS, Lam Research
  • Andrea Rein, Lead Talent Management Consultant, Lumen Technologies
  • Aimee Stevens, Operations Coordinator, Coupa Software

with closing remarks by Dena Sikes, Director, National Partners, Pure Storage, co-chair, Women @ Pure

Order your tickets online: $50 general admission 


Friday, November 6, 2020, 8:20 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. 

Second Annual Mentorship Best Practices Panel

Online Program, Hosted by Micron

Successful mentorship programs benefit not only the mentors and mentee involved, but also the team, the culture, the organization. For our second annual mentorship best practices program, we will feature both mentors and mentees, and invite the full panel to share their best practices on:

  • Establishing a successful ongoing mentorship program
  • Motivating mentors to participate
  • Problems-Solutions-Results delivered through mentorship
  • Networking and Resources for Mentees and Mentors

We will also invite each Mentor/Mentee to ‘roast’ her partner as we honor their successes together.

  • Facilitator Linda Holroyd, CEO, FountainBlue
  • with opening remarks by Buffie Main, Global Executive and Leadership Development Senior Program Manager, Micron
  • Mentors:
    • Amber Barber, Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, Global chairperson, Women in Global Operations ERG, Lam Research
    • Nancy Mason, Supply Chain Manager, NVIDIA
    • Gayathri Radhakrishnan, Director Venture Capital – AI Fund, Micron
    • Sandy Yu, Global Director, Product Strategy and Success, Oracle
  • Mentees:
    • Megan Cibula, Industrial Engineering Supervisor, Lam Research
    • Bambi Delarosa, Healthcare AI Principal Investigator and OHSU collaborator, Micron
    • Priyanka Kukade, Senior Design Verification Engineer, NVIDIA
    • Madeline Walsh, Senior Program Associate, Oracle Corporate Citizenship 

Thank you to those of you who were able to join our November 1 First Annual Mentorship Awards program, hosted by Lam Research.

This annual program is part of our When She Speaks monthly program, and includes our corporate partners and the larger FountainBlue community.

Friday, November 1, 2020, 11:30 1.m. – 1:00 p.m.

First Annual Mentorship Best Practices Panel

Lam Research, 4650 Cushing Pkwy, Fremont (Building 1)

If you have a dedicated, hard-working and intelligent employee, Mentorship becomes THE difference-maker. Sure, education and experience matter, but Mentorship can frame that education and experience and make them into learning opportunities.

Sponsorship is important, but without Mentorship, it’s hard for the sponsor to make a business case.

Culture is important, but mentorship helps mentees (and mentors) succeed and even thrive in existing culture. Indeed, mentees and mentors can together even shape the culture so that more people benefit. For this year’s first annual When She Speaks Mentorship Program, leaders from the FountainBlue community will shared  their best practices and advice in an interactive discussion. Please join me in congratulating FountainBlue’s 2019 Mentorship Honorees, .

MentorshipAwards2019
  • Facilitator Linda Holroyd, CEO, FountainBlue
  • Panelist Amber Barber, Sr. Manager Business Operations Management, Lam Research
  • Panelist Serpil Bayraktar, Distinguished Engineer, Chief Architect’s Office – Development, Cisco
  • Panelist Christina Lewis, BU Controller/Director, Enterprise Finance, Western Digital
  • Panelist Ronit Polak, VP, Quality Assurance, Palo Alto Networks
  • Panelist Kavita Shah, Senior Director, Strategic Marketing, Nova Measuring Instruments

Thank you to Lam Research for hosting this launch event and to Erin Yeaman, Managing Director of HR, Lam Research for her introductory remarks and to Mike Snell, Vice President of Operations, Global Operations, Lam Research for his sponsorship, leadership and remarks. 

Below are notes from the conversation.

Our mentorship awardees this year had a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, but each had much in common:

  • they each valued the input of the mentors from an early age and on an ongoing basis;
  • they worked with their companies to create a program which support dozens and even hundreds of men and women;
  • they each continued to mentor others as they themselves advanced in their careers;
  • they are each committed to continuing to mentor others, on top of their immense work responsibilities, community commitments, and the day-to-day joys and challenges of a busy family.

Our panelists agreed on the short term and long-term benefits of mentorship. Mentors can help solve current problems, but they can also help with longer-term gains building confidence, expanding perception, providing support, especially when times are tough.

There are many reasons to become a mentor. Not only is it personally satisfying, but also supports the professional development of mentees, but also the team and organization as a whole. Mentoring is a great way to give back – to your team, to your company, to your community, to the next generation. 

Below is a summary of mentorship best practices.

  • The mentoring relationship is a dynamic one – the needs of both mentors and mentees change over time. Clear communication from both sides help ensure productive interactions between mentees and mentors.
  • One goal from a mentorship relationship is to develop a ‘thicker skin’, so that the mentee is more resilient and confident even if an environment is less than ideal.
  • Mentors can successfully mirror behavior or attitude of the mentee, so that she/he can better understand how others are responding to them.
  • There are many different kinds of mentors and mentoring relationships. Just because you have a technical mentor doesn’t mean that you don’t also need a mentor to help navigate a new role, for example.
  • Mentors can help filter messages and information, so that you focus on what’s important and use your time most wisely.
  • Mentor people at all levels, not just those designated as ‘high-potential’. Even if the mentee never gets into management levels, that mentee would have more influence and more confidence in whichever level they’re in.
  • With that said, make sure that both mentors and mentees are willing participant. It doesn’t work to mandate a mentor-mentee relationship.
  • Have specific criteria if you’re matching mentors and mentees, and have direct communication to ensure that both parties continue to benefit from the connection.
  • Every speaker remarked on how important it was to develop our people, our relationships, and how mentorship is a critical tool to grow everyone at all levels at scale.

See bios and invitation at https://whenshespeaks.com/www.tikkl.com/fountainblue/c/mentorship and notes at http://whenshespeaks.com/fountainblue.blog/2019/11/11/mentorshipaward


Mentorship vs Sponsorship

Of course it’s not an either-or. You need BOTH great mentors and great sponsors to advance and succeed. We talked for the last two posts about mentors, and they are GREAT. Most people can’t advance without them. But based on my decades of direct and indirect experience, the TRUE differentiation is around sponsorship. 

Below are some reasons why I think that’s the case.

  1. Sponsors, by definition, have the influence, ability and power to nominate, vote for, and hire into key positions.
  2. Sponsors can be coaches and mentors as well, but they also have the ability to support the advancement into a higher level within an organization. Generally coaches and mentors are not also sponsors.
  3. Coaches and mentors might help someone shift into a new role, industry or level, but a sponsor helps others to offer new opportunities to hard-working, energetic and unproven people.
  4. Coaches are more likely to have received training on how to coach. Mentors are more likely more experienced and intentional in their mentorship goal. 
  5. Sponsors aren’t necessarily trained to be sponsors. And may not even realize they are sponsoring someone. They are focusing on solving a problem – connecting the right people to the right organization/problem set.
  6. Sponsors are more often likely focusing on higher-level problems, including proactively building a leadership pipeline, bringing in ideas and talent which would stretch business and technology edge cases, and facilitating collaboration across people, technologies, and teams.
  7. Sponsors, are generally more results- and business- focused rather than people-focused (although of course, they care about the person they’re sponsoring).
  8. Coaches and mentors touch people at all levels within an organization. Sponsors generally focus on advancing people into higher levels within the organization.
  9. Coaches, mentors and sponsors can each impact those early in their career, but coaches are more likely to help with current and short-term needs whereas sponsors are more likely to look at the longer-term needs of the new-hire as it overlaps with the longer term needs of the company. 
  10. In general, coaches and mentors look from the bottom up – helping the mentee/coached navigate the corporate challenges and opportunities from their own point of view. Sponsors however, help their sponsored employee take a longer-term, strategic, top-down approach about the needs of the company and the value they can bring to the table in the near-term and for the long-term.

Your mileage may vary. Your thoughts are welcome. E-mail us at info@whenshespeaks.com. Join us for our December 13, 2019 Second Annual ‘Men Who Open Doors’ panel discussion, featuring some outstanding male sponsors.


FountainBlue’s September 1, 2019 Blog: An Ode to Mentors, by Linda Holroyd

Mentors come in many shapes and sizes, from many backgrounds, with different interests. But in my experience, the best mentors have some key qualities.

  1. All great mentors have the type of broad and deep experience, preferably in a range of products/services/industries/markets. This doesn’t mean that every experience that a mentor had was successful, just that there are learnings from every experience. Indeed a mentor can’t effectively share their suggestions and insights with wisdom. 
  2. Successful mentors generally have their own successes in business and in life. ‘Success’ is loosely defined, but suffice to say that the mentee must respect the mentor as ‘successful’ in ways which are important to him or her. Indeed, it would be difficult to respect a mentor unless the mentee respects the successful experience of that mentor.
  3. Mentors are viewed as ‘influential’ in specific ways, as defined by the mentee. The mentor might be influential for specific niches of people, or across broad groups of people, depending on the needs and interests of the mentee. 
  4. Although there have been good mentors who are less than humble, I find that those who are humble are more modest, more unassuming, more clear about their contributions and abilities, while also being more open to helping others also succeed.
  5. Most successful people, including successful mentors, are focused and goal-oriented. A great mentor knows how to make the mentee more focused and goal-oriented, while helping her or him keep an eye on the longer-term objectives, and helping him or her feel supported and balanced. 
  6. Great leaders have displayed perseverance and commitment, often overcoming extraordinary circumstances to achieve outrageous goals.  Great mentors help their mentees to do the same.
  7. Great mentors are principled, honorable and respectful leaders who teach others how to conduct themselves in the same manner.
  8. Great mentors are Self-Aware – they know their weaknesses and strengths and appreciate the strengths and weaknesses in others. They encourage and support others in being increasingly more self-aware.
  9. Great mentors make a point of including others in projects, successes and challenges. They know that added new and different perspectives will better benefit all participants.
  10. Great mentors are Life-time Learners who relish the opportunity to keep learning, and help mentees and others around them to embrace those learning opportunities as well.

Thank you to all great mentors who have touched me directly and indirectly. You helped me to better understand myself, and raised the bar so that I can be a better version of myself.

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Sponsors

Of course it’s not an either-or. You need BOTH great mentors and great sponsors to advance and succeed. We talked for the last two posts about mentors, and they are GREAT. Most people can’t advance without them. But based on my decades of direct and indirect experience, the TRUE differentiation is around sponsorship. Below are some reasons why I think that’s the case.

  1. Sponsors, by definition, have the influence, ability and power to nominate, vote for, and hire into key positions.
  2. Sponsors can be coaches and mentors as well, but they also have the ability to support the advancement into a higher level within an organization. Generally coaches and mentors are not also sponsors.
  3. Coaches and mentors might help someone shift into a new role, industry or level, but a sponsor help hard-working, energetic and unproven people actually land in new role or position.
  4. Coaches are more likely to have received training on how to coach. Sponsors aren’t necessarily trained to be sponsors. In fact, sponsors may not even realize they are sponsoring someone. They are focusing on solving a problem – connecting the right people to the right organization/problem set.
  5. Mentors are generally intentional about their mentorship goal, but Sponsors are not necessarily intentional their sponsorship goals and objectives. 
  6. Sponsors, are generally more results- and business- focused rather than people-focused (although of course, they care about the person they’re sponsoring).
  7. Whereas coaches and mentors may be more helpful resolving deep tactical challenges, sponsors may provide more insights with strategic challenges.
  8. Sponsors focus on immediate challenges, as mentors as coaches do, but they also address longer-term challenges, such as proactively building a leadership pipeline, bringing in ideas and talent which would stretch business and technology edge cases, and facilitating collaboration across people, technologies, and teams.
  9. Coaches and mentors touch people at all levels within an organization, whereas sponsors care for people at all levels, but focus on people who have the most impact and influence on others within the organization.
  10. In general, coaches and mentors look from the bottom up – helping the mentee/coached navigate the corporate challenges and opportunities from their own point of view. Sponsors however, help their sponsored employee take a longer-term, strategic, top-down approach about the needs of the company and the value they can bring to the table in the near-term and for the long-term.

Your mileage may vary.


Interconnectedness

The Inter-Connectedness Between Mentorship, Sponsorship and Coaching

From our decades of experience working with executives, entrepreneurs and organizations, it is our belief that there is an inter-relationship between Mentorship, Sponsorship and Coaching programs.

At our client companies, executive sponsors are opening doors to great opportunities for the best mentors, and then providing coaching support to the sponsored professionals to increase their likelihood of success.

Namely, we work with and advise our corporate clients to

Bridge Successful Mentorship Programs into

Successful Sponsorship Programs, then into

Successful Coaching Programs.

The Best Mentorship Programs

The Best Mentorship Programs:

  • Are self-driven
  • Are led from the bottom-up, funded from the top-down
  • Measure and report on metrics
  • Celebrate successful mentors and mentees
  • Build ongoing communities of participants
The Best Sponsorship Programs
The Best Sponsorship Programs

The Best Sponsorship Programs:

  • Have a consistent process for selecting sponsored leaders
  • Have engaged executives with the influence and resources to make a difference
  • Measure and report on metrics
  • Build on program successes
  • Build ongoing communities of sponsored leaders
The Best Coaching Programs
The Best Coaching Programs

The Best Coaching Programs:

  • Work with sponsored leaders to accelerate growth in stretch opportunities
  • Build additional networks, relationships and leaders with the help of engaged executives
  • Make coaching contagious
  • Build ongoing communities of mentored, sponsored and coached leaders

MentorshipSponsorship

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If you are a mentor or a mentee, find out more about FountainBlue’s coaching program or sign up for a complementary 15-minute call with no obligation. Below are some testimonials from happy coaching customers since January 2005.

Effective, Life-Changing Results

  • Linda helped me crystallize my value-add and strategize with me to find my fit and then grow first myself, and then my company.
  • I’ve worked with hundreds of corporate executives at all levels, but Linda’s business savvy, creative ideas, collaborative style and results-orientation make her stand out.​​ My company and I continue to greatly benefited from her energy and expertise.
  • Linda has this amazing ability to subtlety guide you on a path, leveraging her confidence in your abilities. By the time you realize that ‘you can do it and do it well’, you see  Linda has been right there with you all along.
  • Linda is incredibly intuitive with an amazing ability to quickly connect the dots and reach for those opportunities which better fit my values and my vision.

Coaching Style

  • Linda is equally impressive at articulating the vision I’m seeking, and setting things in motion to make it happen. She is scary smart and equally kind and compassionate.
  • Linda’s coaching style is authentic, direct, resilient, empathetic, amusing, and effective, and her professionalism, industriousness and leadership shines through with every conversation.
  • I feel a sense of calm when I get to see Linda. She helps me think that everything is OK, no matter what shenanigans are going on in my life.
  • There’s never a problem too big, or a problem too small. And there’s *always* a path forward and upward. Meeting with her is generally a highlight of my day.
  • Linda listens more deeply and more broadly than anyone I’ve ever met. And when I finally stop talking, she asks the questions which make me start talking anew. When I finally stop talking, I am exhausted and energized at the same time. It’s an amazing and invigorating experience.
  • Linda’s integrity, energy, enthusiasm and persistence made her a great to work with and hard to keep up with.
  • Linda is the most empathetic and trustworthy person I’ve ever met. She’s got my back, no matter what should happen.
  • Linda embodies servant leadership at all levels and adds value to every conversation she facilitates.

Other accolades for Linda’s Coaching:

  • Linda’s calming presence, open and non-judgmental listening style, and amazing intellect and creativity combine with her practical, action-oriented side to help me create immediate win-win results. I consistently leave our meetings more positive, more constructive, more hopeful, and more grounded.
  • Linda’s compassion and experience help me to see why people around me do the things they do, to accept what’s happening to me and around me, and then to change what I think, how I speak and how I act because of it.
  • Linda Holroyd is a master communicator also adept at working with you to craft and execute on your brand. She brings out the best in each of others, and helps us spread the wisdom to others around us.
  • Linda is someone who listens at the deepest levels, gets the business and personal implications of what I’m sharing, and helps me re-frame my thinking, words and actions. It’s amazing how she can do that for such a broad range of people, myself included!
  • Linda is a fountain of creative ideas for moving forward in one’s working life with more joy and better results.
  • Linda is an extraordinarily kind person of deep goodwill and desire to improve the lives of those around her. You are lucky if Linda turns her attention to your challenges. She knows how to help!
  • Linda walks her talk – she’s as pure and authentic on the inside as you can get – her integrity is beyond reproach. Her focus is always on others, and raising the bar for the good of all. But just as powerful as her compassionate side is her capacity for strategizing and growing a business – a rare combination indeed, and much needed in the new economy.
  • I have greatly benefited from the sage and practical advice of Linda Holroyd. It has helped me hone my leadership skills, and deliver results for myself and for my team and company.
  • Linda’s excellent people skills and her amazing creativity enable her to create opportunities for each person’s maximum benefit based on an exquisite fit with their skills and the quickly-changing market needs – and in record time!
  • Linda’s intuition, compassion, depth of experience and remarkable energy and bandwidth allows her to coach a client at exactly the level that they need, whether they are new to business or a serial CEO.
  • Being coached by Linda is like drinking water from a fire hose. It is stimulating, exhilarating and exhausting – she inspires you to reach for stars, and stands behind, beside, and around you until you do.
  • Linda Holroyd has helped me change my life and my impact, one choice at a time.
  • I know that Linda will always be on my side, through thick or thin. She gave me the strength to accept my weaknesses and my past, and rise above them to be a better me.
  • Linda’s in-depth listening and understanding provides a gift of clarity, delivered with a bounty of compassion. She gave me the strength and courage to create a path forward and deliver tangible results that I am proud to call my own.
  • Linda is a very kind and thoughtful human being who leverages her amazing gifts and talents to serve and empower others. Fortunate are those who have been touched by her.
  • Many are the lives transformed by Linda’s unique courage, intellect and strength, including my own. I remain in her debt.
  • Linda helped me crystallize my value-add and strategized with me to find my fit and then grow first myself, and then my fit within the company.
  • I have never seen anyone so deeply listen, so quickly get it, and then work with me to apply it to practical ways to build momentum for myself and for business.
  • In a room full of strangers, Linda makes me feel like I’m the most important person in the room, the most important person there is. And when you talk to her, she confirms that this is so.
  • Linda challenged me in the gentlest way to remove my masks, find my calling, and rise to a level I never knew existed.
  • Linda is a powerhouse of information and ideas, and full of compassionate, non-judgmental understanding and support, while insisting that we deliver tangible results.
  • Linda keeps me reaching for stars, while also helping me feel that I deserve to be there.
  • Linda is one of those rare people who is as human as she is brilliant.
  • Linda taught me how to see beyond the gender, the role, the circumstances and the numbers and build alignment between my passion, my skills, and the needs of the customers. I am forever changed, and in a good way.

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