{"id":1291,"date":"2016-01-27T14:55:15","date_gmt":"2016-01-27T20:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/najeraconsulting.com\/?p=1291"},"modified":"2025-09-17T16:40:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T21:40:12","slug":"executive-coaching-luxury-or-business-necessity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wpclubsites.com\/gnajera\/executive-coaching-luxury-or-business-necessity\/","title":{"rendered":"Executive Coaching – Luxury or Business Necessity?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u201cEveryone needs a coach.\u201d<\/span><\/strong> – Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

\"flores-magon-tortilla\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As a child growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, I\u00a0<\/strong>recall sitting around the family dinner table, enjoying tortillas, frijoles (e.g., beans),<\/strong> and other traditional Mexican dishes<\/span>\u00a0that my mother would prepare daily. My father, a factory worker at General Motors, made sure we all ate dinner at the same time. Every day! No exceptions!<\/p>\n

The topic of conversation usually revolved around the family<\/strong>\u00a0and went something like this: \u201cDid you hear the latest about t\u00edo (uncle) Pepe\u2019s kids?\u201d \u201cHow\u2019s school?\u201d \u201cMama, can I spend the night at Grandma\u2019s house?\u201d If my father talked about work, which was rare, it was about some dumb thing his foreman had done that day.<\/p>\n

The setting was similar at the homes of my Latino friends.<\/strong> The same food and conversation, but with their own tio Pepe and dumb foreman stories!<\/p>\n

I recall the dinner conversations at my friend Tom\u2019s house.<\/strong> Tom\u2019s father was what you would call a \u201cwhite collar\u201d worker, a \u201cprofessional.\u201d In fact, he was the president of a local manufacturing company.<\/p>\n

The conversations at Tom\u2019s house revolved around the family,<\/strong> not as much as our dinner conversations, but they also included the latest office developments. I recall hearing about Tom\u2019s father’s approach to his last business negotiation, the mistakes he made, and how he successfully made a key point in his presentation to the board of directors. In retrospect, Tom\u2019s father was teaching Tom valuable corporate survival skills and offering career success tips.<\/p>\n

It certainly was different from what we talked about at my house!<\/strong> It was interesting. However, I didn\u2019t pay too much attention. The food was less interesting. No tortillas, no beans, and no flavor!<\/p>\n

\"Amoco<\/a>

Amoco Oil Building
Where I Started My Corporate Career!<\/p><\/div>\n

Fast forward to 1979.<\/strong>\u00a0After spending 9 years pursuing an engineering degree (that\u2019s a story in itself!) I found myself working for a Fortune 500 company in Chicago as a Civil Engineer. Immediately, I felt that I should have paid better attention to a lot of the things Tom\u2019s father talked about at their dinner table!<\/p>\n

My degree prepared me well for the technical challenges I faced as an engineer,<\/strong>\u00a0but it did not adequately prepare me for the corporate culture I encountered. I struggled with office politics, including influencing people I had no direct control over, getting my ideas heard, and dealing with a demanding boss, among other challenges.<\/p>\n

The 2024 Corporate Inclusion Index from the Washington-based Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR) reports that Latinos now hold approximately 8 percent of board seats<\/strong>\u2014an increase from previous years, yet still disproportionately low given the size of the U.S. Latino population. Of those board seats, Latinas remain significantly underrepresented. Hispanic representation in executive roles has grown modestly to about 5 percent, with Latinas comprising roughly 2 percent. Despite this incremental progress, HACR continues to express concern over the slow pace of advancement, particularly for Latinas in senior leadership, highlighting persistent barriers to equitable inclusion in corporate America.<\/p>\n

What this means to me is that the dinner conversation in Latino households has not changed much since the 1950s & \u201960s!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong.<\/strong>\u00a0The information and knowledge we receive from our parents are immeasurably valuable. I thank God for my parents\u2019 insights and common-sense approach to life, which I still use to this day. However, I did not receive any advice on how to navigate the corporate world and emerge unscathed.<\/p>\n

Ask any successful person, and they will tell you that a key factor of business and personal success<\/strong>\u00a0is knowledge and information. Knowledge and information are not only obtained through a formal education but also through experience and, in the case of my friend Tom, through casual dinner conversations.<\/p>\n

Two things I did to close this \u2018dinner\u2019 gap conversation were to get a mentor and hire a business coach. I suggest you do both. Why? In today\u2019s economy, hiring a coach is no longer a luxury.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

As the global economy continues to evolve<\/strong>, coaching has become increasingly recognized as essential for advancing careers, earning more, and enhancing leadership and relationships.<\/p>\n

According to recent\u00a0findings from The Hay Group,\u00a0<\/strong>over 50 percent of Fortune 500 companies now employ executive coaches, and around 60 percent extend coaching services to their mid- and senior-level\u00a0managers.\u00a0This marks a notable increase from previous estimates and underscores the growing acceptance of coaching as a strategic investment in talent development.<\/p>\n

Coaching and mentoring differ in nature.<\/strong>\u00a0In coaching, \u2018transformation\u2019 is the key objective. The coaching lasts for as long as is needed, depending on the purpose of the coaching relationship. The primary goal of hiring a business coach is to transform your dreams into tangible projects. Think of your coach as your project manager.<\/p>\n

Mentoring, on the other hand, is more relationship-oriented<\/strong> and, to be successful, requires a significant amount of time. You need time for you and your mentor to learn about one another and build a climate of trust. You need trust so you can feel secure in sharing the \u2018life\u2019 issues that are impacting your success. Successful mentoring relationships can last a lifetime, as mine has.<\/p>\n

Although specific learning goals or competencies<\/strong> may be used as a basis for seeking a mentor, its focus extends beyond these areas to include aspects such as work-life balance, self-confidence, self-perception, and how your personal life influences your professional career.<\/p>\n

Hiring a coach and finding a mentor<\/strong>\u00a0enabled me to advance my corporate career and gave me the confidence to leave corporate America 26 years ago and start my own consulting firm.<\/p>\n

Make hiring a coach and seeking a mentor an essential part of your professional and personal development, and your dinner table conversation may resemble one I had recently.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Father (me):<\/strong> \u201cMija, how did your presentation to the board of directors go?\u201d<\/p>\n

Daughter:<\/strong> \u201cJust fine. I was nervous at first, but then I remembered what you told me. You said, \u2018Mija, if people look serious during a presentation, it\u2019s not because they\u2019re mad – or anything like that – it\u2019s because they\u2019re listening intently to what you are saying \u2013 you have their attention.\u2019 So, when I saw the serious look on their faces, I knew they were listening to every word I said. I was right! They accepted my proposal!\u201d<\/p>\n

Father:<\/strong> \u201cExcellent! Let\u2019s call your grandmother and tell her the good news! By the way, did you hear the latest about T\u00edo Pepe’s kids?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re serious about your professional career and want to achieve extraordinary success, please click\u00a0<\/strong>here<\/strong><\/a> to set up a complimentary 30-minute coaching session with Gabriel Najera.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cEveryone needs a coach.\u201d – Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google As a child growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, I\u00a0recall sitting around the family dinner table, enjoying tortillas, frijoles (e.g., beans), and other traditional Mexican dishes\u00a0that my mother would prepare daily. My father, a factory worker at General Motors, made sure we all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":2183,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[157],"tags":[115,148,149,124,142,144,127],"class_list":["post-1291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coaching","tag-career","tag-career-planning","tag-coaching","tag-leadership","tag-professional-development","tag-professionalism","tag-vision"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wpclubsites.com\/gnajera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wpclubsites.com\/gnajera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wpclubsites.com\/gnajera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wpclubsites.com\/gnajera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wpclubsites.com\/gnajera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1291"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.wpclubsites.com\/gnajera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3644,"href":"https:\/\/www.wpclubsites.com\/gnajera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1291\/revisions\/3644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wpclubsites.com\/gnajera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wpclubsites.com\/gnajera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wpclubsites.com\/gnajera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wpclubsites.com\/gnajera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}