An Interview With Chad Silverstein
Speak so people can hear you. We all have our own preferred communication style and personality that, when left unchecked, can be our default style when talking to anyone, no matter how different they are from you. As an upbeat, positive cheerleading type, I could come across as naive or dismissive of important topics through the words and demeanour I displayed. I could also lose people at my pace or frustrate people with too much context. When this happened, I also lost the ability to deliver the key message that I was there to share. Through coaching, I learnt that successful communication comes with having a flexible communication style where you learn to deliver messages to stakeholders in a way they can hear it. It’s not about you, it’s about connecting with them so they can hear what you want to tell them.
The competitive edge in business often comes down to a combination of strategy, foresight, and professional development. For executives looking to level up their skills, an executive coach can be their biggest asset. In this feature, we talk to business leaders who heavily invest in personal and professional development opportunities, coaching, and leadership programs. They’ll share why they invest so much and the impact it has on their life. Today, I had the privilege of speaking with Janine Manning.
Janine Manning is an accomplished executive coach specializing in personal branding and Imposter Syndrome navigation for mid to senior-level professionals eager to accelerate their careers. With over a decade of experience, Janine is known for her ability to help individuals gain greater visibility and credibility in their industries. She combines her international marketing and PR background with her expertise as a Gallup CliftonStrengths Certified Practitioner to help clients build strong personal brands, develop career strategies, and unlock high-performance potential.
Thanks for being part of this series. Let’s jump in and focus on your early years. First off, can you give us a snapshot of your life before you started your career?
Before I pivoted into building my executive coaching business, I spent 14 years working in marketing and public relations across the globe. I started aged 19 in Perth as a team of three hosting the Fremantle leg of the Whitbred Round the Word Race. This was a steep learning curve in dealing with stakeholders of all ages, seniorities, and cultures. I was working with global sponsors through celebrities, local businesses and hundreds of volunteers. I then moved to London where I honed my PR, marketing and communication skills in the advertising industry and luxury goods market at BMW.
Returning back to Perth, I joined the Marketing Team for Telstra Rally Australia and led the Corporate Hospitality team, where I was knee-deep in budgets, contracts, service agreements, concept design and execution of the client experience. Tired of the crazy hours, I leveraged my experience for the position of Director of Community Relations & Development in the education sector, overseeing a team responsible for marketing, communications, fundraising, alumni relationships and community development.
Love took me to NZ next, where I stepped into the role of GM of a SaaS software company, which provided me with the catalyst to dive deep into the psychology and methodology for uniting siloed teams and finding ways to elevate communication and culture. I started to become certified as an Executive Coach and was then offered to join an executive coaching business servicing NZ and AU.
What was it about personal and professional development that attracted you to start investing in yourself? Also, can you share when you started and what your first investment was?
In my 20s, I started investing in personal and professional development. I was driven by a belief that there had to be a better way to do things. At that time, my development journey was more focused externally on how best to support my team or find efficiencies across teams. So I was investing more in leadership psychometrics and reviews. As I moved into my 30s and the complexities of business and role responsibilities grew, my focus changed to the development of self and the desire to navigate identity vs business brand, balance, resilience, and also addressing Imposter Syndrome feelings around commercial and financial decision making.
Can you think back and share one of the biggest blind spots you had that someone helped you see and something specific about what you learned and how it showed up in your life?
I was trying to be a leader, but wasn’t being authentic. I was comparing myself to others to identify what competence looked like and constantly fell short. When I realised why I always felt on the back foot and that it was okay to give myself permission to lean into my strengths and shape my version of successful leadership, everything changed. I was more genuine, I felt more competent, this built greater rapport and trust in me, and I felt more resourced to make the big decisions.
If I were sitting down with your coach, and asked “What’s the one thing your client needs to work on more than anything else in the world” what would I hear them say about you?
Progress over perfection. I still aspire to get it all right; I struggle to let go of things when I know we can elevate them and leverage them more either for efficiency or for client experience. One of my top Strengths is Maximiser, and it is one of my superpowers that clients always comment on, and my brand is built on, however, when I overdo it, it becomes my Kryptonite. In a business, there is a point where close enough has to be good enough, or there is no time left to dedicate to innovation and scaling.
If you were questioned about your “ROI” (return on investment), is there anything you can point to that justifies how much you spend on being coached? If not, how do you justify it?
ROI for me is internal peace. When I feel I have the clarity, mindset and tools to honor myself as a business leader, I feel grounded, and I show up from a place of empowerment. It enables me to do my best work, which generates reputation, referral work and access to strategic partnerships and opportunities that were never on my radar.
Let’s dive into specifics. What are the top 5 things you’ve either gained or learned about yourself, where you specifically made changes, and have seen positive results. Be specific and feel free to give us either the background or story about each.
- Play to your strengths. Identifying and owning your strengths enables you to maximize your value by focusing on work that you naturally excel at. I was always so fixated on what I wasn’t great at, i.e. financial modelling and would spend umpteen hours trying to build clarity in an area that was a clear weakness. When I learnt this would never be a strength and gave myself permission to delegate it to someone who it was a strength for, I got a better financial model than I could ever produce. Meanwhile, I had more time to dedicate to what I do best — coaching and facilitation. Because I was more visible and had a positive impact, this led to repeat business and marketing through word of mouth. None of which would have happened if I had remained stuck, pulling out my hair and working on something that was sucking the life out of my soul.
- Curiosity is king. You learn a lot less when talking and pretending to know something versus being curious and willing to say ‘I don’t know’. When I first started working with clients across diverse industries, I would invest vast amounts of time studying to sound knowledgeable. I would leave those meetings feeling relieved I wasn’t found out, but I also didn’t leave with a lot of meaningful information. Learning that it’s ok not to have an answer to everything and instead embrace curiosity through smart questioning enabled me to optimize my preparation, show up being more present and engaged, learn more and, as a bonus, make the client feel heard, understood and important.
- Focus on what makes money. Being an entrepreneur can often mean you are out of your depth as you wear multiple hats. For me, this led to times when I could lose days or weeks focusing on tasks that made me feel in control because they were in my wheelhouse, i.e. website building or attending networking events. The reality was I needed to prioritise the tasks that would drive sales. Having a coach in my corner enabled me to see that I had mastered the art of procrastination to keep myself safe, and I realized I needed a different approach that would allow me to balance my day with both sales-driven activity and tasks that give me a sense of confidence and momentum.
- Speak so people can hear you. We all have our own preferred communication style and personality that, when left unchecked, can be our default style when talking to anyone, no matter how different they are from you. As an upbeat, positive cheerleading type, I could come across as naive or dismissive of important topics through the words and demeanour I displayed. I could also lose people at my pace or frustrate people with too much context. When this happened, I also lost the ability to deliver the key message that I was there to share. Through coaching, I learnt that successful communication comes with having a flexible communication style where you learn to deliver messages to stakeholders in a way they can hear it. It’s not about you, it’s about connecting with them so they can hear what you want to tell them.
- Build a personal brand. Be mindful that people’s experience with you in every situation shapes their perception of you and what they will say about you or how they will engage with you in the future. I used to always be busy being busy, rushing in from one meeting to another. It wasn’t until I was unpacking some feedback from a third party about appearing scattered that I realised that I had built a reputation as someone who was not in control of my time, never accessible, and always rushing, so never fully present. I love being busy, so I haven’t changed that, but I now have a short break between meetings; I walk in poised, unrushed and often early to make my grounded presence known and make time to engage in conversation before we get down to the nuts and bolts of the meeting.
What advice would you give other entrepreneurs who don’t think it’s worth investing in a coach or spending money to join a leadership program?
You don’t know what you don’t know. Remove your blinkers and be open to discovering opportunities to elevate your impact on yourself, your team, and your business. Soundboarding ideas, removing roadblocks, and maximising strengths are powerful ways to create sustainable success. Remember, it’s not a lifetime commitment. Start with a six-month program, review the personal and professional ROI, and work out if it’s for you or not.
Do you have any examples of how being coached had an impact on others who work around you? How has it spilled over to your team or your family?
Absolutely! I’m a better human. Through coaching, I now understand my strengths and weaknesses and how to rely on others to help me; I’ve learnt to ask for help, creating opportunities for others to step up and gain experience. I now know when I’ve been triggered and how to manage myself emotionally, which is gold at both home and at work. I’ve learnt to establish boundaries for greater balance and family life, to communicate in a more flexible style, and to lean into conflict constructively versus avoiding or getting defensive.
There are so many executive coaches out there. How did you go about selecting the right one for you?
A good executive coach doesn’t have to have industry experience. Still, they do need to have the capacity to understand your industry, draw on their personal experience and coaching expertise to ask transformational questions at your level and challenge your thinking for growth. I would advise asking for recommendations, reviewing feedback and having an in-person or video call with them to experience their style and your fit. Be aware of how quickly they get you, how thought-provoking their questions are, and whether you feel safe to open up and explore life outside your comfort zone. An ICF Certification indicates a commitment to ethics and best practice, and a niche speciality could offer a more focused deep dive into a critical challenge.
Lastly, where can our audience go to follow your journey and perhaps get inspired to make their own investment in coaching?
They can find me at www.janinemanning.com or on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/janinemanning/.
Thank you so much for joining us! We wish you only success.
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein, a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of experience as the Founder and CEO of multiple companies. He launched Choice Recovery, Inc., a healthcare collection agency, while going to The Ohio State University, His team earned national recognition, twice being ranked as the #1 business to work for in Central Ohio. In 2018, Chad launched [re]start, a career development platform connecting thousands of individuals in collections with meaningful employment opportunities, He sold Choice Recovery on his 25th anniversary and in 2023, sold the majority interest in [re]start so he can focus his transition to Built to Lead as an Executive Leadership Coach. Learn more at www.chadsilverstein.com
Janine Manning On An Inside Look at the Benefits and Impact Of Working With an Executive Coach was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.