Being a successful executive, leader or sales professional can be a tough. The energy, drive and commitment you have chosen to apply to your career takes its toll. The stresses are always there no matter whether these are the good times (work hard to keep it going) or the bad times (work hard to get to the good times) or the changing times (work hard because who knows what's next) in your career.

Great executive coaches understand this fact.

Executive coaches focus on the need to sort out the "who you are" questions before moving on to "what you do." You need to be sure that "can be" before you worry about whether you "can do" in your executive life. As with many of the paradigms of life - taking care of the "being" questions enables your to better reach your "doing" potential than if you just worried about what you needed to do next.

At the root of the being questions is encouragement. The executive coach must be able to encourage you. With encouragement, we can do many things that we otherwise would ignore. Encouragement allows us to take the risks required to explore some of the "can be" questions of our lives. Everyone has their regrets, mistakes and pain as part of their story. That is especially true of successful people who are usually risk takers. Enabling the executive to move beyond some of those chain from the past will help them become a better person. That in turn allows the executive to tap into a new better potential self. The doing comes so much easier to a life that has sorted through the being questions.

Learning to forgive and forget your choices, other people's choices and life events from your past can give the executive a whole renewed future. The great coach can encourage the executive to be willing to face issues like forgiveness and so much more.

We have yet to meet an executive who has too much encouragement. Different from praise (some executives do have too many people around them willing to praise them no matter what they do) encouragement comes from two basic words to put in or build courage in someone else. Healthy encouragement is based on a clear and whole person awareness of who you are that gives the executive the courage to face the challenges and opportunities each day with the gusto that makes life worthwhile!

About the Author

Grant Fairley brings a unique combination of talents and commitment to people that is rooted in the real world. He has experience in sales in the financial industry, marketing, consulting technology and training sectors. Grant is a graduate of Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois, USA. http://www.executive-coach-fellowship.com