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IAM2591 – Executive and Team Coach Focuses on the Power of Connection
Special Throwback Episode with Alan Cohen
Alan Cohen is a Professional Certified Executive and Team Coach, speaker, and author with over 30 years of experience at the intersection of communication, leadership, and human connection.Spending decades as both a marketing expert and Human Resource consultant, he presided over the successful launch of the Harry Potter series as Scholastic's Director of Marketing, as well as serving as the Director of Communications for the Broadway League, representing the Tony Awards.
He has coached and consulted with major organizations like Bloomberg, NBC, Tiffany & Co., American Express, and MetLife, as well as hundreds of small businesses and solopreneurs.
Alan emphasizes that the foundation of his coaching is built on emotional intelligence, helping teams cultivate trust, empathy, and resilience without relying on superficial activities like trust falls.
He introduces the concept of “Connection Alchemy,” which is the alignment of three vital connections: to self, to team, and to a shared purpose.
With a focus on purposeful leadership, Alan supports executives in navigating the complexities of modern business while staying aligned with their values and vision.
Website: Alan Samuel Cohen
LinkedIn: Alan Samuel Cohen
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Transcription:
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Alan Cohen Teaser 00:00
I help teams really align around what the core emotional intelligence elements is that is important to them, whether it's empathy or trust or problem solving, or any number of different aspects of emotional intelligence.
We really get into that, into the core of why teams are working well together and where the breakdowns are, and understanding also human behavior, where do our defenses kick in.
Intro 00:31
Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview?
If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.
Gresham Harkless 00:58
Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Alan Cohen of AlanSamuelCohen.com. Alan, it's awesome to have you on the show.
Alan Cohen 01:08
Great to be here. Thank you so much.
Gresham Harkless 01:10
No problem. Super excited to have you on. And what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Alan, so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's been doing.
And Alan Cohen is a Professional Certified Executive and Team Coach, public speaker, and author who has built a 30+ year career around the idea that no matter the industry or challenge, breakthroughs come from mastering effective communication.
Spending decades as both a marketing expert and Human Resource consultant, he presided over the successful launch of the Harry Potter series as a Scholastic's Director of Marketing, as well as serving as the Director of Communications for the Broadway League, representing the Tony Awards.
Alan has worked with global organizations including Bloomberg, Tiffany's, NBC, Bravo, American Express, SCAD and ARPS, Eldon, and MetLife, and hundreds of small businesses and solopreneurs, and speaks frequently to groups and at conferences on the power of connection.
Alan, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?
Alan Cohen 02:06
I am ready.
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Gresham Harkless 02:07
Awesome. Let's do it. And I was definitely looking forward to this. I know we talked a lot offline about the whole Harry Potter, but I wanted to kick everything off here a little bit more about your background and what led you to kind of get started with your business.
Alan Cohen 02:18
Sure. Sure. Well, it's a great question. I sometimes laugh. I think it's like, they I should run a program called like, I'm CEO, because suddenly I became I think I became head of a company.
And before I knew it, it was I was called to do all those things that you have to do when you're running a company.
I don't think I expected the magnitude of what it would be. But I worked in public relations and marketing little stint in human resources for up until 12 years ago.
And we'll talk about the Harry Potter experience, but that really was what was my pivot into coaching, because soon after I launched that publicity event, I moved into coaching and running my own business.
So that moment for me was really noticing what a team, what an effective team does, and what an ineffective team does, and wanting to help organizations run more effective teams.
So, the Harry Potter experience was a great example of a cohesive team that was able to deliver huge results.
And so, I sort of began my study there, and then I went into a formal coaching program and started doing that as a business.
Gresham Harkless 03:53
Nice. Well, yeah, I definitely appreciate that. And I think that I always say like, when you really peel it back the onions of a business or organization.
Like, sometimes you forget it's made up of people, and those people have to be able to do a lot of those core skills that you help out organizations with, that you forget that there's teams.
And the teams have to be able to work together, no matter the different personalities and all those things. So, I definitely appreciate you being able to do that.
Alan Cohen 04:16
Sure. And I had also been a part of some pretty dysfunctional teams. Teams that embody all the toxins.
So, getting to see it from both sides has been really helpful, especially in the work that I do with my clients.
Usually, clients are not hiring me because their teams are already working so well together. It's good for me to be able to meet them where they are and acknowledge that. teams have an evolutionary process.
Gresham Harkless 04:47
Yeah, it's great to hear that. And so, I wanted to hear a little bit more about what you're doing with these teams. Could you break down what you're doing as a coach and how you're serving your clients?
Alan Cohen 04:55
Sure. So, my, the foundation of everything that I do is emotional intelligence and, which is a tool that I use and I'm certified in.
And I help teams really align around what the core emotional intelligence elements is that is important to them, whether it's empathy or trust or problem solving or any number of different aspects of emotional intelligence.
I work a lot with EQ and a lot around helping teams build trust without trust falls. We don't do trust falls, but we really get into the core of why teams are working well together and where the breakdowns are.
And understanding also human behavior, where do our defenses kick in when we're under stress, what are some of those ineffective behaviors that show up, and what to do about them.
So really helping teams build their kind of resiliency muscle, build the real important strengths to get them through both the good times as well as the difficult times is so important.
I feel like in a lot of ways, if you think about teams, like use the analogy of a sports team, those sports teams that they spend a lot of time practicing, and they don't spend a whole lot of time in play.
They spend, I would say, 80% of their time practicing being a team and 20% out on the field.
I think teams and business need to follow that same principle, and we have it reversed.
We're always in it, we're just always moving the shit around, but we're not spending any real quality time learning shared language, developing ground rules for how we want to engage with each other in conflict, out of conflict.
I hope teams really, really practice being a team so that they build that muscle.
Gresham Harkless 07:07
Yeah. And that's definitely huge. I'm glad you, I'm a big sports junkie, so I appreciate you for breaking that down.
Just remembering, like, by the time you watch a game or see an athlete or whoever in action, they have done so many hours outside of that to develop that skill for the actual show.
So, they've been working at that, but it's, it's funny that you mentioned that. Cause a lot of us, a lot of times, as business owners, we don't necessarily adopt that mindset of ourselves as leaders, developing our teams and our organizations, and that exact.
Alan Cohen 07:37
And I think that that's even more significant now when you've got so many virtual teams and organizations going through such change at such rapid speed.
I think that it's really important that teams learn how to engage both virtually as well as live and in person.
And it's an art. All right, teams that really play together work well together; they spend a lot of time developing that discipline.
Gresham Harkless 08:12
Right, exactly. Exactly. And it definitely takes, you know, practice in order to do that.
So, you might have already touched on this, but would you consider that to be like your secret sauce, which you feel kind of distinguishes you and sets you apart?
Alan Cohen 08:24
I think that, well, there are a couple of there are a couple of things. I think there are a ton of There are a ton of coaches out there, right?
A ton of coaches, a ton of consultants. You can't take five steps without stepping over one.
But I've helped people connect and communicate. for 25 years, and I really work at the intersection of communication and connection.
I think that having worked with big brands, being a part of building a movement with Harry Potter, I think I've seen the power of connection.
So, everything that I do is rooted in how people connect and in a meaningful way. So, I think that's I think my model for helping people connect also spans across all businesses.
Because it doesn't I'm industry agnostic, even though I've worked a lot in media and entertainment, I've worked, now I've worked with law firms and lots of financial services firms.
So, it doesn't really matter the industry. It, for me, it's everything is about how we connect in real time, how we, how we build trust.
So, I've got, I've got a lot of experience in communication and human resources and marketing, but the narrative, the storyline is all about how we connect.
Gresham Harkless 09:58
Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's, that's so big, especially in this day and age with so many tools to connect.
I think I read something that where it almost seems that we're lonelier than we were before with all these opportunities to connect.
So, it's great that you're actually helping people to understand that it sounds like connection is not just, oh, we're friends on Facebook or we work in the same office, but it's something a lot deeper than that, and how to do that and cultivate that.
Alan Cohen 10:24
Yeah. So, my new book is called The Connection Challenge, How Executives Create Power and Possibility in the Age of Distraction.
It really addresses that very thing. And I talk about something called connection alchemy, which is really what explosive results that can happen when all of these touch points are addressed.
So first and foremost, it's connecting with ourselves, who we are at our core, what's important to us, why that matters, what our talents are, what our strengths are, that's first.
Then it's really connecting to a team and looking at those points of alignment.
And then the third is that the team and the individual needs to be connected to a strong purpose, a strong why, and then all of those permutations and combinations need to happen, team to individual, team and individual to purpose, and so forth.
And when all those things are aligned, and that's a lot of the work, is alignment, because we get so into the weeds of who did what and pointing fingers and blame and all that.
But when we can kind of elevate the conversation, get that helicopter view of what's important to each person and the team, and then something larger, then great things happen.
So that's, I don't know if I answered your question. I just went on a tangent. But that's what that's what I'm about.
Gresham Harkless 12:03
Yeah, no, I think that's absolutely huge because I think that especially like that touched on the idea of making sure that everybody has that helicopter view.
Because I think a lot of times, and I've read before that a lot of times as a leader, you're trying to get people, the right people in the right seats.
And a lot of times understanding that this is what this person's mission or goal is.
So, you understand and can have a deeper, you know, relationship connection engagement with that person, it's like you said, definitely an art.
But it's something that should be leaders should be aware of, and we should try to execute as much as possible.
I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack.
And you might've already touched on this, but this is an Apple book, or can even be something big you wanted to kind of touch on with your book, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.
Alan Cohen 12:51
Well, there are two things there. One is on the mindfulness side, and then the other is a little more tactical.
So, I believe in meditation as a means to access creativity, and so I love Headspace, the app.
Headspace is one of my favorites. So, I try to do at least 10 minutes a day with the app, or just focus, just focusing my mind and calming my thoughts.
Gresham Harkless 13:21
Yeah, that makes perfect sense. You have really big into using like project management systems. And, you know, I, too, have tried to write on napkins.
And if you find any that have my handwriting, then please return it back because I can't find half the ones I used to.
Well, awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Now, I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget.
And this is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?
Alan Cohen 13:43
I would say have a plan. I know that sounds so basic, but I had no plan.
I'm kind of a manifester of opportunity, but that doesn't necessarily get you where you want to go as quickly as you want to get there.
So, I would say yes to this and say yes to that and partner up with this person or that person. And it just didn't, it was interesting.
And I learned a lot, but it wasn't necessarily, didn't necessarily lead me on an ineffective path.
Gresham Harkless 14:18
Right. And that helps out a lot. It's happening to somebody else's experience is even better.
So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO.
And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So, Alan, what does being a CEO mean to you?
Alan Cohen 14:32
I would say it's more about being the CCO, right? I'm the Chief Connection Officer.
I know some people like use that term to refer to their HR person or their marketing person.
But I actually think the best CEOs are connectors in every sense of the word.
They're actively connecting to their clients, to their employees, to themselves.
They're doing the mindset work to make sure that they're sharp.
Gresham Harkless 15:02
And I think that's a great perspective, great definition, just because a lot of times, like I kind of talked about.
I think life in general, definitely business and organization, is all about relationships and building connections and having meaningful connections.
So, Alan, I truly appreciate your time. What I want to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know.
And then, of course, how best they can get a hold of you.
Alan Cohen 15:22
Great. Great. Well, first of all, I want to invite everybody to visit my website.
I there's a, I'm offering a free excerpt, a free chapter, and intro of my book, The Connection Challenge.
So, visit alansamuelcohen.com/sample. And really, I would say just, for everyone who is running a team, for executives who are responsible for team, for all team leaders, just know that you've got this great opportunity to really excel by bringing out the best of your, the best of your team.
And sometimes we're not able to see what the best is because we're in it, but I'm happy to chat with anyone about what those possibilities might be and how I might be able to support them in developing their teams.
Gresham Harkless 16:10
Nice. Well, I definitely appreciate you for doing that. We'll make sure to have those links in the show notes so that everybody can get a hold of you and, of course, get a copy of your book. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.
Alan Cohen 16:19
Thank you.
Outro 16:20
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase; it's a community.
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Subscribe and leave us a five-star rating. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.
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