You’ll know what a consigliere is if you have seen the Godfather. A consigliere is a dispassionate advisor or counsellor to the leader - a close and trusted confidant. A consigliere challenges and gives honest and agenda-free feedback.
This consiglieri/coach relationship evolves organically as confidence and trust build based on shared values and agendas. Your agenda is their agenda.
One constant for all leaders is that people are involved, and the leader must communicate effectively. The other constant is that events happen - usually fast and unexpectedly. Leaders have to shift focus fast, and so does their adviser.
I add value and counsel to scheduled events like an AGM speech or internal comms sessions, but I am also able to help with whatever my client is dealing with at the moment - that day or that week. The schedule needs to be bent, and I need to step up. To do that, I need to be the outsider on the inside, understanding the people, personalities, and politics within the organisation, the industry and my client.
Bad news has always travelled fast, and challenging the narrative in the rumour mill has always been important, but social media has multiplied the spread and slashed reaction times. Things can get ugly in hours - there’s no time to find, engage and brief an outsider - you need to breathe, think and then respond. Fast.
Sometimes, I help people prepare for emergency internal and external responses to bad news; sometimes, I am a sounding board for crazy, unthinkable or new ideas; sometimes, I am a safe place to vent; sometimes, some clients use me as a “what-if?” war game partner.
Sometimes, clients need to mentally process, discuss and manage something in their personal life before they can focus on their job. Whatever it takes - just like my work at TEDMED - my job is to get my client on their version of the red dot, their stage, and for them to excel.
You are the only person! I can tell you everything! CEO
Clients often compare me to a therapist because, with me, they don’t have to edit.