David L. Peters, Ph.D.
President, Peters & Associates, Inc.
Tom McGaffey’s books and films have a remarkable track record with my corporate clients. They say that his book, The Courage To Lead, is one of the clearest and most powerful books on leadership they have ever read. Some of my clients, including CEO’s, keep his book on their bedside table and re-read parts of it before they start their day. Tom’s material have super-charged my own leadership coaching work. My clients consistently experience gains in favorable business results obtained including improvements in morale. Perhaps best of all, The Courage To Lead can be used by anyone as a powerful self-coaching tool. Stephen Saunders, Ph.D.
Diplomat, American Board of Toxicology
Vice President, Food Safety and Nutrition
Frito-Lay, Inc.
Our work in Food Safety often means that we have to alter the thinking and action of teams on a cross-functional level. Tom’s coaching and methods for learning to lead have served to increase my effectiveness in this role many times over. His methods may look simple, but the power and value of learning to manage conversations for results and partnership may be to most important tool I have. Not only has his coaching benefited my work, it has served to help me and my team achieve one of the highest quality of work life ratings for the corporation. Linda Lesniewski
Women's Minister
Green Acres Baptist Church
I have found The Courage to Lead a useful resource in equipping the women I lead. Distilling leadership to the basics of conversations makes a very challenging concept tangible and user-friendly. In addition, the book is formatted in a way that allows the reader to thoughtfully consider each separate concept. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their own leadership skills or who is in the process of teaching leadership skills to others." Rocco Papalia
Senior Vice President, Research and Development
Frito Lay North America Inc.
At first it sounded too simple when Tom showed me that everyday conversations are the direct means for generating excellent results with the people I lead. With his coaching over the years, I see leadership conversations are at the heart of producing a culture in which people can think and innovate at their top capacity. He has truly made executive leadership skills practical and accessible to everyone. Something else Tom teaches will continue to serve me wherever my career leads me. It is how to manage my time and energy so they support my best professional performance and maximize satisfaction in my personal life at the same time. These principles are simple, practical and effective. I recommend Tom as a masterful leadership coach, especially for leaders who have major business initiatives that require breakthrough performance. He is an insightful teacher and a good friend any executive would be fortunate to know. Dave Allen
Senior Vice President
Del Monte Foods, Inc
Tom and I have worked together for over 10 years. His leadership coaching has given me access to learning executive skill that has been useful to me in major corporate-wide implementation of supply chain initiatives, development of executive teams and successful management of complex leadership and interpersonal challenges. I am continually amazed and delighted with the simplicity of his approach. Focus on design and learning of upgraded conversations has served to build both my own and my team’s ability to accomplish and implement new and large scope initiatives that had a long history of resistance. I often make notes from our conversations. Some of these notes I have kept for at least 10 years (and still review). I am satisfied that the relationship with Tom has served to not only make me a better leader. It has helped me become a better man and have the chance for a better life. He is a truly high integrity, good human being. I am grateful to him for all that he has contributed to me and the people I have the good fortune to lead. My team and I recently participated in Tom’s advanced leadership course, which he is piloting and refining. Even in this early version, our team has begun to use the skills of the course to a remarkable extent. Three of the four person team have already put their initiatives into action and are accomplishing results that break precedence in our corporation. I think his course holds exceptional promise. | Carlos Barroso
Senior Vice President, R&D, PepsiCo International Foods
I have enjoyed working with coaches over my career, but work with Tom has had a unique quality. Tom emphasizes conversations to improve results and relationships with my key partners. Indeed, we use conversations between us to understand and eliminate some habitual patterns of conversation and find that the simple practice of upgrading conversations is both easy and potent. Tom encourages one to reflect on the meaning and impact of our conversations that may be taken for granted. No matter what issue or problem I throw at Tom, in a matter of an hour or less, we can discover a new and innovative conversation that both improves my career opportunities and improves the performance and attitude of the people I talk with. Tom has discovered a simple, practical and useful strategy for learning leadership. His work is very useful, even for people who are at advanced stages of building their results as leaders and executives. Mark Schiller
Senior Vice President/General Manager
Frito-Lay Convenience Foods Division
I hired Tom as my coach in the midst of one of the most difficult assignments of my career. We had the responsibility for a newly formed Division and faced an uphill battle to reach success. Tom focused me on several key dimensions, including how to have the conversations that built the effectiveness of my people, how to overcome resistance and how to build a team that could achieve success. We not only overcame the obstacles, we produced unparalleled results that ensured the future success of our division. But the most important lesson I learned from Tom’s coaching is how to build the foundation for my own life. That gave me the energy and peace of mind to create breakthrough results during a very challenging period. I recommend Tom as a leadership coach for any executive who wants to take results to an unprecedented level. Bob Brown, Ph.D.
Director of Nutrition and Regulatory Affairs
Frito Lay Inc.
I am using Tom’s coaching to lead a major reformulation of our product’s identity in the marketplace. Even though we have solid research and scientific support for this idea, resistance is high. At the same time, if we are successful, it can mean a virtual transformation of our position in the marketplace. This is not just another “innovation”. It is a chance to alter the way our entire corporation thinks. Tom’s coaching helps me remove obstacles, gain support, build enrollment and enthusiasm, and leads to people volunteering to put resources and time behind our endeavor. All this by the simple coaching he provides in how to listen to people and how to create conversations in which people can express their concerns and build their ideas. With his coaching I am able to build partnerships with people who were opposed in the beginning and lead people well beyond my own boundaries of authority or position. I am experiencing what Tom’s work helps an executive accomplish. His contribution to me, my colleagues, and our corporation is extraordinary. |