Today, a leader has to wear many hats to successfully run any organization, be it managing the company operations and leading the team or thinking out of the box to develop the necessary solutions. However, not everyone is a born leader. Leadership is something that can be groomed and polished with the right coaching. Presently, there are several coaches helping leaders identify and achieve their maximum potential.
Donna Dahl is one such personality who is making a difference in the lives of leaders. An Author, Executive Empowerment Coach, and Speaker, Donna Dahl is helping leaders develop strategies for self-mastery and confidence in their own inner guidance systems. She skillfully and collaboratively draws out their strengths, resources, barriers, and goals. Her thought leadership in developing solutions is based on sound research, effective practice, and findings in neuroscience.
Team of The Enterprise World recently had a candid conversation with Donna Dahl, in which Donna Dahl shed light upon her professional journey and challenges, as well as experiences and achievements.
Here are some excerpts from the exclusive conversation;
1. Brief us about your journey at the company, what inspired you to start the company?
I know what it is like to be in a world where limitations are present and what it takes to overcome them to heal. After being unable to sustain engagement in Donna Dahl’s own life for nearly ten years, I was losing ground.
Then one day the publisher of a local business magazine asked me to write an article on trade shows. I had been taking my start-up business to small events as part of my recovery process. Should I accept? Did Donna Dahl’s experience give me the authority to give others advice?
It turned out that the invitation to write was timely. It came on the heels of a question that had been plaguing me: “What am I going to do for the rest of Donna Dahl’s life?” The car accident left me with no job and life-changing challenges—challenges which included difficulties with speaking and accessing memory. Was writing the answer to my question?
Sometimes all it takes is for one person to value your input. It can be transforming. That article became the stimulus for writing my first book and that book became the foundation for launching my consulting practice. As a professional empowerment executive coach for more than fifteen years now, I have served leaders around the world. My clients have included CEOs, teams, entrepreneurs, and innovators. I have conducted staff development activities and I have written six books in support of self-empowerment.
2. What were your initial challenges and what is behind your company’s long-standing success?
The reasons behind Donna Dahl’s success? My gratitude for starters. It is the biggest reason. There is no day when I am not expressing gratitude for the opportunities to serve. Whether I am preparing a guest blog or being interviewed on an inspirational podcast—whether I am working with clients seeking to build skills or preparing for my next workshop/presentation—I am pleased to participate in their journey.
Change work, for me, is exhilarating. It deserves to be done with enthusiasm and respect. Enthusiasm has energy. Enthusiasm has contagion value. Enthusiasm invites engagement. In fact, there are those long-standing clients who tell me they periodically need another appointment so they can get their “Donna Dahl Fix”.
I also attribute Donna Dahl ongoing success to my thought leadership. I work from a framework that uniquely combines research on neuroscience, leadership, and the foundations of being human. This can be everything from motivational metaphors to playing nice with others. I apply my proven system with the flexibility needed for pursuing individual goals attached to a sound process for inspiring positive change.
3. What products or services does your company focus on? How are your services different from those in the market?
What am I selling? I am selling my time. It comes in the form of executive leadership empowerment coaching.
How am I different? I listen. Listening matters. My success rate? Phenomenal! There is no fail; there is only succeed.
I always say that my success is determined by the hearts and minds of those I have served. Recommendations for my work have accumulated over an extended period and appear on LinkedIn and on my website as well as on Amazon. The letters after my name tell you I have invested in myself but it is the letters of support for my work that have the strongest voice.
With me, you are not buying the box; you are buying different ways to examine the box, different ways to position the box, and different ways to relate to the box. I am not a coach who delivers a rinse-and-repeat version. I tailor my approach, “The Tortoise, The Hare and the Hippocampus: A Neuroscience-based Leadership Empowerment System”, to match your goals and your needs. Donna Dahlwork with individuals as well as teams and groups to address leadership, relationships, expectations, goals, and outcomes.
4. How do you decide to accept a company as a client?
How do you know if I am the coach for you? That starts with a conversation. After you run the water for a foot bath, you dip in your toes testing if the water is the right temperature, don’t you? Donna Dahl want you to feel you can trust me to do the job for you. I also want to know if you are ready to work with me.
5. Being a successful leader, share your views on post COVID-19 pandemic outcomes regarding businesses across the globe.
Post-pandemic business today is in a massive state of flux. It is being influenced by a simultaneous barrage of factors internally and externally that impact return on investment and growth. Factors such as employee instability, a hybrid workforce, interrupted supply chains and economic uncertainty create problems.
Sometimes the problems have led to employee layoffs and closed doors. Sometimes, staff has been placed in positions of leadership before they are ready to take on the role. Sometimes consumers are demanding attention to environmental issues and workers are seeking shorter work weeks.
There are no easy answers and there is no one size fits all. Mindful attention to company values woven into solutions for the benefit of carefully identified priorities will support transformation where needed. Effective coaching is about helping clients find clarity, sort through the clutter, and become stronger leaders.
6. It is said that the workforce plays a vital role in every business’s growth. Please comment.
Across the globe, companies are participating in studies examining variations in productivity due to changing work locations, hours worked and the number of days worked in a week. Success in moving the needle is often reported. Employees appear to be pushing the boundaries on flexibility in the workplace and participation bias may be influencing the results.
Whether the changes are yielding more freedom, more autonomy on the job, or more personal time is not the issue. It is the workforce that is the lifeblood of the organization and flexibility may be the new expectation to attract the best.
In addition, it is the workforce of a company that can have the greatest impact on its success. What if your employees can be both intrapreneurs and cheerleaders for your company? Donna Dahl can’t think of anything that speaks more highly of you than when your workforce markets you.
7. Please brief us about your professional experience.
My professional experience as an empowerment coach spans diverse conditions working with entrepreneurs, CEOs, not-for-profit organizations, and leaders. My coaching history includes team onboarding, motivational talks, one-on-one coaching, and professional development activities for the entire staff. After 17 years in coaching, my success rate is 100 percent.
8. What are the key achievements of your business journey?
I have been recognized internationally with awards including Woman of Inspiration, International Women’s Day 100th Anniversary Award for Outstanding Service to Business, and listed in the 2022 Top 20 Empowerment Coaches in the world.
Donna Dahl have written six books on self-empowerment including Lessons I Learned from the Tortoise, an excellent guide for leadership. I am a popular podcast guest and I have a knack for writing bios that rock! Donna Dahl have also been known to do standup comedy for charity.
9. ‘Innovation is the key to business growth’, Please share your views.
Every business has three ways to look at time: the past, the present, and the future. Every business should honor its past, reflect on current practices and design its future practice accordingly. Examining time in this way allows space for innovation in a manageable system.
10. Any client experience you would like to highlight?
Donna Dahl was once challenged to deliver a motivational presentation to the staff of an SME in the last hour of a Friday afternoon. Donna Dahl waited and waited for feedback. Two months later, the CEO wrote: “Donna Dahl can proudly tell you that we have had two consecutive record months!!!!! Donna Dahl have now hired salespeople who are able to handle English, Spanish, Italian and French clients!!!!”
11. What is your favorite quote?
“Challengers inspire us to take giant steps long before we might ever become giants.” ~Donna Dahl, in Lessons I Learned from the Tortoise
