EXECUTIVE COACHING
"I am very impressed with Break Through Consulting. The coaches are
extremely effective and professional. They get to the core issues and offer
solid advice with ROI top of mind. No fluff and great just-in-time
coaching. What more could you ask for?"
Jill Weaver
Director, Organizational & Professional Development
Monster.com
"I highly recommend coaching with Break Through Consulting for your executives. Accenture is a long-term satisfied client. Merry Marcus is focused and experienced. She is intent on clarifying the goals from the start of the coaching assignment and delivers results!"
Larry Solomon
Chief Operating Officer for Human Resources
Accenture
"Merry was an amazingly effective coach. I came to her for advice in improving the quality of my interactions with members of our leadership team, which after a long and successful executive career had suddenly taken a turn for the worse. She did much more than simply provide me with tools and techniques to become a more effective and appreciated communicator. Merry asked all the right questions, was able to quickly uncover the more basic issues I was wrestling with and, just as quickly, helped me learn how to help myself address them. She peeled the onion back to my basic interests, motivators and strengths as a business professional and worked to leverage those throughout our coaching relationship. Ultimately, she helped me build upon my existing capabilities and successes and to understand how to adapt my style to a changing and evolving leadership team."
"As a result of working with my coach, I was able to restore a considerable amount of energy and professional commitment that I had not fully realized was gone. My confidence level in dealing with our senior leaders is improved, and I feel that I have a natural and adaptable "executive communications style" that is effective in any variety of formal and informal settings."
"I would recommend engaging in a coaching relationship with Break Through Consulting to anyone looking to improve their effectiveness as a business executive. Merry takes a holistic approach…she helps you understand the kind of person you are, what keeps you motivated, how to leverage your strengths, how to build new strengths by identifying and adopting traits you admire in others and how to stay focused on adding value and staying relevant in leadership settings."
Marc H. Weinstein
US Human Resources
Accenture
"I never believed that coaching programs would be of any benefit to me. So when High Point announced that the officers of the corporation would start working with coaches, I was a bit reluctant. However, Merry "read" me quickly and was able to immediately provide value. Coaching supported a higher level of impact on the executive board and my leadership growth. I learned to be a better listener, ask better questions and work more collaboratively. In addition, coaching assessments revealed a set of "unspoken" expectations the leadership team had for my group. Uncovering these has allowed us to take action to deliver results. Coaching helped me increase my visibility at industry and company events in a way that was comfortable and genuine for me. My coach supported me in developing succession and development plans for my team. Coaching was one factor that contributed to my group exceeding all service, profitability and expense management objectives in '04."
Lisa Lasky, CPCU
Vice President, Policy Services
High Point Safety and Insurance Management Corporation
"Personally, my coach transformed how I viewed myself and my capabilities. She made me realize that all that I needed to be happier, and subsequently more successful, was in me already. I just needed to recognize it, understand it, and release it. I feel very, very good about who I am, my capabilities and what I can accomplish. My personal relationships with family and friends are at an all-time high."
"As a result of coaching, my confidence is much higher than anytime in my career. I know what I can contribute and I know what I can deliver. This new found confidence has enabled me to accomplished things that previously I'd only dreamed of in frustration."
"With the support of Break Through Consulting I am accomplishing much more, and more quickly. My ability to work with all levels of people, especially top executives and political leaders has improved to the point where my opinion is sought out routinely."
"I absolutely recommend coaching with Break Through Consulting! Merry's approach to helping people understand who they are, what they have to contribute, and how they can bring out the best in themselves by strengthening relationships with all whom they interact, is a formula for success with significance."
Don Shaw
Director of Operations Improvement
City of Hartford
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President, Board of Directors
Hartford Area Habitat for Humanity
"Merry Marcus was instrumental to my professional & personal growth as I made the transition to a headquarters role. She helped me to recognize over reliance of my technical & quantitative skills could become my career derailer. She was invaluable in coaching me to exercise discipline in self-observing and taught me practical techniques to pace myself and manage my situational communication to create resonance with my audiences. As I made progress in developing my aurora & savvy in the headquarters environment, Merry made sure that I am in touch with myself and hold true to my personal value. Merry was more than a professional coach to me. She has truly been a mentor."
Business Director
Fortune 100 Company
COACHING WOMEN EXECUTIVES
"Working with a Break Through Consulting coach was one of the best professional development experiences I've ever had. My coach helped pull to the forefront the high impact considerations of self-awareness, leadership style and executive persona that have become invaluable in achieving my professional and personal goals. I am better equipped to be an authentic leader and develop cohesive teams that win in the marketplace. As a woman and senior manager being groomed for partner, coaching helped me communicate and position myself for partnership."
Courtney Spitz
Consumer and Industrial Products Business Consulting
Accenture
"Coaching absolutely contributed to my success in turning around the Commercial division. Coming from Sales and Marketing I had no operations experience whatsoever and was promoted into the GM role 2 years earlier than planned. In addition, I was given 2 divisions to manage - one of which was losing $1 million a month. My condition for taking on this extremely difficult challenge was that I would have an executive coach to support me. What was most valuable was Merry's own experience in P&L management and running a business. Merry worked with me to manage myself through the learning process so that I was learning the skills I needed as GM and simultaneously making decisions to turn the suffering business around."
"Merry was very good at asking questions to shine the light where I might not normally see. She made me stretch. I did not want to play politics. I just wanted to do my job. Merry helped me see that politics was part of my job and supported me in creating action plans around this."
"Coaching helped me approach work/life issues and figure out how to take back some time for myself and not have it look like it's because I am a woman. Personally, the quality of my life and the quality of my work life was raised immensely. I no longer feel like a victim being pulled in two opposing directions."
"As a leader, I am much more thoughtful and well rounded. I understand better how my words and actions are perceived by others."
"Coaching with Break Through Consulting had a huge impact. It supported me and my team in turning around the Communications division - preserving 200 jobs and saving the company $1 million a month."
Susan Kuchta
Vice President & General Manager
Flint Ink
"The opportunity to participate in coaching has been a tremendous benefit to me. Coaching supported me in clearly defining a leadership style that is authentic for me and prepared me to be successful in a new role. It gave me a "toolkit" to tap into that has helped me be more self-aware and to capitalize on my strengths. I'm also now more aware of the points where my strengths can become weaknesses and am able to self-correct, prepare more effectively, and tailor my delivery or style. The skills I learned from coaching help me appropriately balance my strengths in strong operational skills with consistent strategic focus. I'm now able to adjust and grow quickly as my responsibilities change or increase."
"I also experienced significant personal growth and am more effective at balancing my career with my desire to focus on my family. As a result, I am more creative and add more value by thinking and acting strategically. Thanks to coaching I am a confident, effective leader. I saw clear evidence of this through a significant increase in my leadership survey scores. In addition, I've quickly found ways to use what I learned from executive coaching to coach others on my team and in the organization. I highly recommend working with a Break Through Consulting coach. Coaching clearly delivered business results and returned Accenture's investment many times over."
Mary Birks
Associate Partner
Accenture
EXECUTIVE ONBOARDING
"Through coaching with Break Through Consulting I learned to deeply appreciate and best apply my core values in a business setting. I've also learned that true success is how a person day-to-day contributes and affects the people around oneself."
"As a leader, I've gained tremendous confidence through the gradual discovery of my authentic self that coaching revealed. This has enabled me to more easily transition into my new global role."
"I would definitely recommend coaching with Break Through Consulting to other leaders. Merry is extraordinary in her ability to listen and lead a person to self-discovery. This is the real power, and once uncovered, the possibilities are endless."
"Coaching with Break Through Consulting has been the most positive professional experience in my career development. At the beginning, I was unsure of where this would go and what would be accomplished. It took about 2 months to really get started, but little by little Merry earned my trust, and she began to truly help peel the layers back. Underneath, after all these years, I discovered who I really am, what my values are, how to play the game to win, and how to remain one's authentic self. Self-discovery is a journey, and it took time and patience. But the results will sustain me for the rest of my life. Thank you so very much, Merry."
Mary Bastrentaz
Director - Global Business Travel
Accenture
"Merry has a wonderful way of making you reach inside yourself to produce the best for yourself, your team and your business. Coaching helped me lead my unit to meet a challenging deadline for new product development. My coach encouraged me to tap into my strengths, while developing new skills in team building and communication. The coaching experience not only prepared me for my new role by helping me view things on a more object and less personal level, but also helped me blossom as a person in the work place and at home. My relationships are more satisfying. I have developed new personal interests, enjoy greater respect and have reached a new level of personal fulfillment."
Carmen Castillo
Director Research and Development
L'Oreal
TEAM BUILDING COACHING
"Merry is very good, very professional and a terrific listener. I can really mow people over. Merry stood her ground and was not timid and didn't back off. She's honest, diplomatic and can really 'cut to the chase'."
"Coaching with Merry produced results for me on 3 levels…bottom-line business results, in my style as a business leader and for me personally. I certainly recommend coaching with Merry Marcus."
"My boss and I agree that coaching supported a $15 million better budget allocation due to my improved ability to communicate at the CFO level."
"Coaching with Merry supported me as a business leader, improving the focus and overall morale of my team which was demonstrated through improved retention."
"Merry helped me realize the importance of the 'soft issues' to my team and how success here, breeds success in 'hard' business results."
"Personally, Break Through Consulting created a space I never created for myself…time to focus on me, my career and what actions will truly get me to my goals."
William J. Drucker
Executive Director
Verizon
360 FEEDBACK & ACTION PLANNING
"The 360 Feedback and Action Planning Session was an excellent investment to me. We take very little time to invest in ourselves, and it was helpful to talk through some things and get your fresh perspective. There were 2 points that really struck home with me. The first was to "listen to the language" as one moves up the corporate ladder... - it gets shorter, more concise, more directive, and less personal. And the other point is to "trust myself".... I found our discussion to be very helpful."
Mary Bastrentaz
Senior Manager
Accenture
"It's very valuable to dedicate some time to look at owns professional life and see where we have to improve. Break Through Consulting's work was very helpful."
Montse Vilagut
Facilities & Services
Accenture
"It's very helpful to get an independent perspective about self. And, while much of the discussion topics were not new to me, reevaluating the things I should be focusing on was very helpful. I have thought of our discussion many times and have put to practice some of the recommendations you made. Thank you and kind regards."
Elaine H. Lobo
Business Travel Services
Accenture
"I think our 360 feedback session was an excellent investment. I have already started to work on several of the actions that we developed together. Taking time and responsibility to develop one's role is too often forgotten in a very busy working environment. Consequently this opportunity was well worth the effort."
Hans Otto Hilsen
Facilities & Services Director
Accenture
"The 360 feedback discussion was very helpful -- supportive -- it was very good to have a "removed" person available to speak to candidly - it gave me the opportunity to voice concerns and emotions that I wouldn't generally discuss internally."
Daniel B. Johnson
Global Director, CRE Workplace
Accenture
"No question, the 360 feedback session was an excellent investment into my professional development."
Christoph Heinzelmann
Accenture Holding GmbH & Co. KG
SALES LEADERSHIP COACHING
"Merry Marcus is an excellent coach and my work with her over the past year has played a key role in my work to optimize my direct report team and my work with my peers."
"Merry is willing to "ask the hard questions" and challenge the link between the coaching work and delivering results for the business. I'd highly recommend Merry's services to others."
"Merry's own "real life" background as a woman executive makes her a particularly good coach for women professionals."
"Merry coaches the 'whole person' and provides particularly good advice around finding a balance between work and other interests."
Senior Vice President of Sales and Operations
Global 500 Company
"I felt extremely comfortable with Merry right away. Her personality put me at ease very quickly. I had intense personal conversations with Merry that I rarely have with others."
"Merry could have just told me what to do to improve my leadership, but instead she helped me to understand more about what motivates me.
Then, she offered suggestions to modify my style in a way that was comfortable for me."
"Coaching with Merry had a big impact on my business. She helped me see some mistakes I was making and supported me in correcting these. She helped me put the proper team in place to achieve better business results."
Senior Vice President of Sales
Fortune 50 Company
BUSINESS CONSULTING
"I had been thinking a lot about starting my own business. Coaching with Break Through Consulting helped me breakthrough the barrier I had about moving from a Fortune 5 executive to a business owner in the venture capital arena."
"Coaching with Break Through Consulting really helped me focus my efforts and supported me in thinking 'outside the box'."
"Coaching with Merry Marcus has definitely impacted my bottom-line business results. Merry really is a business coach. It's her experience as a business executive and entrepreneur, added to her skill as a coach, that really helps me to broaden my thinking."
"Most coaching is psychological, but that's not Break Through Consulting's focus. They're interested in improving bottom-line business results."
"I've always had a mentor through my entire career having worked for a Fortune 5 company that hires coaches for all of its senior executives. I view coaching as an extension of mentorship. But better. Merry Marcus is the best coach and best mentor I've ever had."
"Break Through Consulting got me to look at myself objectively and improve my business transactions - particularly in negotiations. My coach challenged my negotiation strategies, helping me see options for strategies that I hadn't even considered before."
Dan McKinney
Managing Partner
Next Stage Advisors
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