March 8, 2010 – Bangkok Post – Thailand
“Khun Kriengsak, how was your business last year?” Khun Aree asks me.
“It was good,” I reply. “I had more new business than the year before, but I wasn’t happy with my performance.”
“What happened?”
“My new clients were ‘castoffs’ from the economic crisis. But I approached them with the same coaching style I always use. That got me thinking, I need to find a coach for myself. Khun Aree, I know your company uses another executive coach. How would you rate him?”
“He’s good. We use Dr David T. Binnion from Indigo Consulting Group Co. He coaches our CEO and two senior executives. I’ve received positive feedback from his clients. One of his strengths is that he is quite disciplined with them.”
“Perhaps he could improve my coaching performance. I’m not good at disciplining my students.”
“But he’s expensive,” Khun Aree chuckled.
“Could you connect him to me?”
“I’ll e-mail him this afternoon.”
The week after, I had lunch with Dr Binnion. After the strong reference from Khun Aree, he did not disappoint me. He was calm, demonstrated very good listening skills and, most importantly, asked several good questions.
After we chatted, he told me more about his background. He is a seasoned executive after being regional manager of Johnson & Johnson (Ethicon), founder of Johnson & Johnson Medical in Korea, director of Hay Group Thailand and now co-founder and managing director of Indigo Consulting.
Three days after the lunch, he sent me his proposal. I was impressed with his quick response. Lesson No. 1: work quickly.
He proposed to coach me for a year – two sessions a month for the first three months and monthly sessions after that. As expected, his fee was high.
