CEO Today Management Consulting Awards 2021

ITALY

CEO TODAY MANAGEMENT CONSULTING AWARDS 2021

What inspired you to write Coach Ricco, Coach Povero (Rich Coach, Poor Coach)?

marketing promotions. This significantly improved their share of voice, giving them a competitive advance in market shares after the lockdown. This allowed many clients to limit their damage to a minimum and helped many others to grow. In some cases, we saw an enormous growth, with some businesses growing as much as 180-200% during the lockdown. What are the most common business mistakes that you see among the entrepreneurs you advise? In my experience, the most common mistake – which concerns small businesses, but also happens often in large companies – is a lack of data analysis. Too often I have seen entrepreneurs or managers make decisions based on their own opinions, or those of a small group of people, without analysing the statistics at all. The second most common mistake is the lack of business systematisation. It occurs frequently in Italy, where companies work without a structured process, without an organised work method, or without necessary policies and procedures. Personally, I view business coaching as a professional support of strategies, tactics, and practical activities, such as business processes, which allow companies to achieve results. The business coaching program that I propose is based on the cognitive theory of self-efficacy, combined with business process consulting. The idea of self-efficacy was theorised by Professor Albert Bandura, a famous cognitivist who was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Obama. This theory shows that the basis of success is precisely the feeling of being able to obtain results (self- efficacy) and not simply based on motivation. Self-efficacy is fuelled by four main sources: persuasive processes (typical of the motivator) and emotions play a role, but more important are knowledge of effective strategies and successful experiences. What is the greatest challenge that you face as a business coach? The biggest challenge I face is to break the common belief that coaching is something theoretical that has to do with the mind.

The title was proposed to me by the publisher who asked me to write the book. My inspiration was to write a book that dealt with coaching for what it historically was, and not for what it has become in recent years. For me, being a coach means helping others to be successful, but lately coaches have become acclaimed stars who are more attentive to their own interests than to those of their clients (at least here in Italy). In my opinion, this poor-intentioned approach is not good for the coaches who try to win over clients every day. So, I defined a rich coach as a coach who manages to help others, one who has a solid reputation and is surrounded by people who value him or her for the real contribution he or she gives to others. These coaches also do well financially. For me this is what being a rich coach means. Do you have any advice to offer to aspiring business consultants and coaches? My advice is to systematise an effective method, paying close attention to defining KPIs of their progress, so that progress is evident. My second piece of advice is to make them work hard so that they improve and are satisfied. In this way, a coach can build an excellent reputation, which counts even more today than it did a few years ago.

What do you hope to achieve in 2021 and beyond?

My plans for 2021 are to consolidate the leadership positions in the Italian market, complete the training program for the 22 students who are currently attending the academy and start a new edition of the business coaching academy by the end of the year.

I hope to go international in the coming years.

Can you tell us about your academy?

It was started a few years ago, when some of my entrepreneurial clients asked me to share my coaching and business management skills. Since then, every 18 months a new edition starts, limited to a few select participants who have managerial or entrepreneurial experience, with the aim of letting them work with clients that I personally would not be able to follow. Once each of them has finished the course and has demonstrated the acquired skills, they are assigned some Business Coaching Italia clients. We ensure that quality supervision is carried out to guarantee that the service is the best possible. This has allowed us today to be the company with the highest number of business coaches in Italy. We would say that our academy is a bit like a boutique. We do not aim to have many students, but to select people carefully and to train them thoroughly to work with us.

We work by ensuring the implementation of practical and effective strategies, helping our coaches become successful.

The execution of effective strategies and the achievement of success, even small ones initially, increases our coachesʼ self-efficacy and thereby leads them to become increasingly determined, competent and effective.

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