Joan Fiore, Ph.D., Principal
Joan is effective and strategic in how she works with leaders to achieve the results they desire. She has deep and extensive experience with a range of leadership challenges: coaching an executive on his personal leadership goals; collaborating with a General Manager to improve her team’s effectiveness; or strategizing with the CEO of a Fortune 50 company on how to leverage his leadership to evolve the organization’s culture to better achieve its vision. She customizes the work with you.
For over 35 years, Joan has been in the business of increasing and enabling the capacity of people to become the best they can be. She has a unique combination of education and experiences that drive her success as a coach.
“Joan’s insight and tenacity make her a great coach for me. Her approach engages the intellect but yields practical awareness of situations and behaviors that have helped me do my best work. A deliberate thinker and observer, her advice is concrete, direct, and informed by my behavior. Her coaching has helped me to get better results in challenging relationships and to broaden my portfolio of leadership tools.”
Education
A Ph.D. in Psychology equips her to understand peoples’ core issues and behaviors and enhance their capacity to become more effective leaders.
Having been awarded Diplomate status in Systems Psychology, she has exceptional expertise in seeing the big picture. She can identify which are the leaders' optimal leverage points to drive forward the necessary changes to achieve their personal leadership and organizational goals. Her areas of expertise are in leadership development, organizational systems and change, effective teams, culture and strategy.
Dr. Fiore received her B.A. (summa cum laude) from Duke University and her Ph.D. from Emory University in 1977.
Experience
Joan has served as executive coach for a number of CEO’s, Presidents, and Vice Presidents (and their senior teams), as well as high potential people in mid-levels of organizations. She has experience in diverse settings from Fortune 50 global companies to foundations to entrepreneurial start-ups and family owned businesses. She is also known as a Master Coach who is called upon to train and supervise other coaches.
Strategically deciding with the leader how to focus her energy for change requires a wisdom I harness from both years and varieties of experience and from formal education.
"She has helped me realize continuous improvement in my CEO leadership practice. To both my corporate work at Microsoft, and to my current focus on philanthropy, she has brought a wealth of expertise..."
Joan has worked extensively abroad coaching leaders from more than 60 countries in her career. She relishes the opportunity to work with people of different cultures, and is intrigued by the challenge of leading and leveraging diversity.
Joan’s career has also included an Associate Professorship at the University of Washington, faculty appointments at Emory University, Georgia State University, Seattle University, and the Leadership Institute of Seattle (LIOS) where she served as a Director of a masters degree program in Applied Behavioral Sciences.
My Philosophy
I believe that the relationship I form with the Leader is essential to growth and improvement. There needs to be high trust and a deep sense of collaboration and team. I am on his/her side. That does not mean I am a cheerleader! In fact, I am probably best known as a coach who is not afraid to challenge and give tough messages when needed, but I am always there to support and inspire the leader to succeed at their challenges.
"Helping to create a meaningful difference in the lives of the leaders I coach and the people they impact is what inspires me every day."
Her open and direct style and her ability to ask uncomfortable questions in a way that I could hear them and reflect on the patterns they revealed has enabled me to see myself differently than I ever have before and evolve from there.
What do I think contributes to effective leadership?
I believe the best leaders are those who can think most broadly, understand the systems of which they are a part, leverage their strengths, and recognize and improve upon their limitations.
Excellent leadership requires:
- Presence and the capacity to set a compelling direction
- Connecting with a wide variety of followers
- Delivering a vision and achieving the goals
- Strong credibility and trustworthiness
As a leadership strategist and coach I work with the leader and others within the organization if necessary, to ensure the leader will succeed on all counts.