Day in the Life: Peter Burditt, career coach to senior executives
0715 I turn on my office lights. My first client arrives at 7.30am. He's a trader from a bulge bracket house, en route to work, and is typical of clients who like the first, early morning appointment.
Today is his third session and is scheduled to last for 1 hours. He instigated the contact through personal recommendation, because he is being groomed to take over the management of an internal hedge fund.
Whilst he is a very good trader, he wants to be coached on how to manage a broader set of personalities, from experienced but relatively uneducated 'mine/yours/s-g' old style traders to the more sophisticated derivatives structurers.
The presenting issue is how much time he should spend trading and how much time managing. This is more complex than it appears.
The inherent drive for this high performance individual to be successful stems from a tough childhood with a father who was uncompromising and emotionally distant. He now has to learn how to 'forgive' staff 'off'-days or short term under-performances which might be due a range of things like family pressures such as births, deaths and marriages.
Once in a safe place it's surprising how quickly this 'hairy' trader softens to reveal his innermost anxieties. As he sees his team contributing 300,000 each to his bonus, he starts to get excited about how he can motivate them and the currency signs turn him into a willing mentor.
0900 I write up client notes before my next appointment.
0930 The CEO of a major investment management firm arrives, representing the more gentlemanly face of the City.
His dilemma in these difficult times is to find the balance between creating products his salespeople can sell, whilst maintaining the morale of his equity department when (a) their funds have dropped in absolute value and (b) they have under-performed relative to the indices.
He and his colleagues have mistaken the bull markets for brains and this is the first taste of 'failure' they have had to face. Having prided himself on always being right, the criticisms from his sales force have been a major blow to his confidence.
The mentoring process is about how to separate him, his sense of self-worth and esteem, from the global economic downturn. We need to instil in him the robustness, courage and honesty he'll need to make some very difficult structural changes, including making redundant people he may have been at school or university with.
1100 A quick capuccino before jumping into a cab to Canary Wharf in London. I take advantage of the taxi ride to return several client calls.
I'm at Canary Wharf for a two hour strategic development session with the head of structured derivatives for a major bank. The challenge for this divisional CEO is how to pare down the number of clients covered, then redistribute the remainder to a high quality relationship team which itself needs to be reduced by 30% to meet the bank's headcount target.
Discussions include reviewing 360 degree and annual appraisal reports to determine who is best suited to provide cover for the remaining highly remunerative clients, from those who have solid relationship skills but are not the brightest, and those who are bright but are too high maintenance and will be asked to leave.
At this point an HR representative is called in to share the strategy, advise on recommendations and instigate the redundancy process.
1330 Just time to grab a sandwich and head back to the office for a working lunch, reviewing client emails and action plans.
1430 Another cab, this time heading for the Institute of Directors where I am one of six accredited coaches. Today, I am coaching the CEO of a financial services company. I've worked with him for six sessions already and he has asked for the programme to be extended. He sought coaching when he was about to be made CEO.
Now that he has been made CEO he needs to balance his dominant personality (coming from the finance function) with being more of a joint custodian of policy, strategy and governance. At the same time he needs to learn how to act as conductor of the orchestra to ensure that the voices of marketing, IT and retail sales are heard.
However, his promotion to CEO has been a licence to continue with highly controlling and directive behaviour despite a diplomatic suggestion from his chairman that he may have rough edges that need work.
My client is reluctant to adjust his style. His abrasiveness is in danger of disaffecting his board colleagues. I suggest a course of action and when we embark on it he reflects how lonely it feels to be CEO and slightly distanced from colleagues he has treated as friends.
We begin to explore the fine line between being a leader with shareholders' interests uppermost in his mind and setting clear direction for others to follow, while simultaneously being starkly clear with his board members that the buck stops with him. There will be times when they have a choice whether to follow or leave.
1630 A cup of calming camomile tea. Then I am once more in a cab heading for a 5pm presentation to a major investment bank on how to spot professional partnership potential.
Phew, it's early evening and I have a drink (single malt whisky) with a coaching associate to get a de-brief on her day's work. Dinner tonight is a Chinese takeaway after which I spend 30 minutes on the phone to my daughter, son and partner to catch up on news.
Before bed, I read a few chapters from Journey of the Heart by John Welwood, a book on how to create powerful relationships.
