patrickfoley.com

This letter is part 3 of a series on coaching work that I've been doing with Kai Davis. Shortly after I started my role as Product Manager at Moraware (about 8 months ago), I started another year of coaching with Kai. What to look for in a coach Since I'm a big fan of coaching, it's probably not surprising that I also have strong opinions about what makes a good coach. That doesn't mean he's a product manager – Kai's not on the same career path as I am –

After 3 months of Kai’s coaching, I already felt better, and I was performing better at work, too. I dove into that role, and while I am very proud of the work I did, I spent a lot of time analyzing the work with my family and Kai, and I ultimately decided it wasn’t a good long-term fit for me. I would not have been prepared for this opportunity without Kai’s career coaching. Thanks to Kai, I developed a solid grasp of my strengths and how they applied to being Product Manager at Moraware, a role I had never previously considered.

In 2006, I got into running and decided to run Grand Rapids' biggest race (and US 25k championship) the Riverbank Run. Growing up, I always marveled at the people who ran it (a friend of mine has run every one of the 41 annual races, one of about 7 people to do so)

There’s no amount of money that will allow me to play a difficult piece of music I haven’t yet learned or master a technique I haven’t yet worked on. ” If my customers didn’t use the new stuff, I was hosed, and I didn’t always think that using the new stuff made the most sense for them. It didn’t sound super valuable to me at the time, so I figured they wouldn’t be able to pay me enough to make it worthwhile. We did fine (she doesn’t need much managing), but in general, it’s easier to lead people effectively when they haven’t changed your diaper or taught you how to read.