Meet Life Leadership Coach Lou Ionis (WPCC, PCC) from Portland, Oregon, USA
As an ICF Certified Whole Person Coach, Lou’s wide range of experience and skills give him the capacity to tailor leadership development for individuals in any role or industry. With an accomplished corporate background, he is uniquely positioned to meet executives, managers, and other business leaders where they are. Building upon their present situation, Lou offers the supplemental insight that helps them improve their existing skills, performance, and career. His wide range of experience and capabilities across industries, functions, companies, and life also give him the seasoned foundation to help his clients achieve their short- and long-term goals, efficiently and sustainably.
What brought you into coaching?
After years of leading people and organizations, I realized my energy and happiness wasn’t a product of my functional role. It was the one-on-one interactions with direct reports, peers, and those I mentored that truly inspired me. Specifically, I relished the opportunity to connect with others and help them understand what they needed for personal and professional development.
Walking away from these conversations, I felt a charge of energy. I discovered coaching as a mechanism to do this full time.
What was your background prior to coaching?
Most of my career has been spent in the corporate world. I’ve held roles at many different levels, from direct line management to executive leadership. I’ve worked for large global companies like Nike and HP. But I’ve also worked for medium-sized organizations, as well as smaller startups and mom & pop companies.
This broad experience allowed me to tap into a wide cross section of industries. I have experience with everything from apparel, technology, and manufacturing to environmental services and education. My responsibilities also covered the full spectrum of business management. I was presented opportunities to lead teams, resolve political conflict, and grow other people’s careers. At the same time, I worked to mentor and develop collaborative relationships among an extensive and highly diverse set of stakeholders.
These roles were a natural fit with my education. I hold degrees in accounting and management information systems, as well as a master’s in business administration.
What types of clients do you work with? Most of my clients are individuals seeking to become a leader in life. These are usually managers who are either currently leading people or looking to step into that role. I also work with many executives who want to grow their teams and organizations to have a transformational impact on culture, innovation, or bottom-line.
The commonality among my clients is that most are individuals who actively want to take control of their life. I help them do that in a way that is authentic and sustainable by building on their strengths and experience. Together we work toward the skills and mindsets that align them with their stated goals, whether they happen to individual or organizational.
What is your secret sauce in helping others?
Confidence! Confidence is such a critical component to success. It impacts not only our outlook but our decisions and the way we show up in every aspect of life.
Clients often come to me for help with a specific task like public speaking or mitigating conflict. But the roots of their struggle can often be found in a lack of confidence. Think for a moment how it affects your daily life: confidence in overcoming fears, confidence in your abilities, confidence in communication and presenting, confidence in making decisions, confidence in prioritizing yourself in your life.
That’s not to say I help others operate from a false sense of self. Just the opposite in fact. I encourage each client to pause and take stock of their reality, setting aside outdated stories to get to the truth of that individual. Confidence is a natural product of that exploration and insight.
What else should we know about you?
I truly view my clients from a whole person perspective, understanding what makes them unique by considering every aspect of their life. All too often, the fear or apprehension we have of a task, like public speaking or career advancement, is the result of a focused development on one aspect of our life while neglecting the others.
By relying on wisdom gleaned from both the logical and mindful perspectives, I help managers, team leaders, and business owners dive to the root source that’s preventing them from moving forward. The right path is already there. You just have to know where to look and how to see your reality for all the potential it holds.
Learn more about Life Leadership Coach Lou Ionis: