Spotlight: Laurie Macnair

1 - What is your professional background, and why did you become a coach?

I have been a business consultant off and on for 30 years. Amidst that time, I was a Vice President with Radio Systems Corporation (PetSafe/Invisible Fence) where I managed around 200 associates with international responsibility as well as a small business unit with P&L responsibility. I had no idea there was a profession called coaching until 5 years ago, when I was asked to be a coach for the EMBA programs at the University of Tennessee. At that time, I realized that I had been informally coaching my entire career and that if I wanted to show up as a coach, I had a lot of work to do – both on myself and learning about how to coach.

2 - How did you choose your specialty area?

I am not sure that I have a specialty area yet. Maybe this is yet to come. Right now, I coach individuals and teams who are committed to doing the work and enabling interpersonal change.

3 - What are the greatest challenges and greatest rewards of your career? 

Before I start every coaching meeting, I feel like a beginner. Yet once I see the face of my client, I immediately forget that self-doubt and realize that feeling like a beginner is a good thing. I will never take for granted the fact that I am coaching intelligent human beings who know the answers I just want to ask the right questions. 

4 - What is something that most ICFTN members would be surprised to learn about you?

My education is in Business Analytics and Supply Chain. And my first consulting endeavors were as a statistician (can you say that 10 times fast?).

5- What is your favorite quote?

And once the storm is over, you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure, whether the storm is really over. ... When you come out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about. - Haruki Murakami, Author

Connect with Laurie on LinkedIn.