“The reason compassion is so important is that we are all human beings—we are all emotional, alive human beings who need psychological safety. We need to feel belonging, we need to feel trust, we need to feel trusted. We need to believe that people think we're competent.” – Edward Sullivan
Velocity Coaching works with hyper-growth companies, helping founders who have found product-market fit scale their businesses 10-100x. Their clients include DoorDash, MasterClass, Airtable, Google, and Apple, and they’ve worked with some of the biggest names in tech, including Tony Hseih of Zappos. Edward Sullivan has coached and advised start-up founders, Fortune 500 executives, and political leaders for over 20 years. At Velocity Coaching, Edward Sullivan serves as the CEO and Managing Partner for a team of over 25 coaches located around the world.
For more, explore the transcript of this episode.
Topics discussed with Edward Sullivan
- 00:02:37 – Background on Velocity Coaching
- 00:06:17 – Velocity’s philosophy when working with clients
- 00:19:04 – The current state of executive coaching, and how leadership coaching differs from life coaching
- 00:25:02 – The coaching journey
- 00:27:43 – Focusing on compassion
- 00:30:59 – Constructive vs. deconstructive conflict
- 00:39:12 – Common themes in coaching
- 00:45:29 – Work self and home self are one
- 00:51:31 – Leading with heart
Edward Sullivan Resources
- Connect with Edward Sullivan: Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Website
- DoorDash
- MasterClass
- Airtable
- Apple
- Nike
- eBay
- John Baird
- Sequoia
- Dunbar's average
Books Written by Edward Sullivan
- Leading with Heart: 5 Conversations That Unlock Creativity, Purpose, and Results by John Baird and Edward Sullivan)
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