At 26, a stroke changed everything. Eleven days in ICU. Months of recovery. And a complete reset on what matters.
I had lost my dad at 24. Now I had almost died at 26. The math was clear: we don’t have as much time as we think. I was done wasting mine on work that didn’t mean anything to me.
I left my corporate job, earned a graduate degree studying how people actually influence each other and change, joined Gallup’s management consulting practice, became a certified executive coach, and eventually started my own practice. Along the way, I became a running coach too—because running was where I learned the most about myself.
And through all of it, I kept noticing the same problem: most of what passes for “coaching” is really just advice-giving in disguise. Smart, well-intentioned leaders keep telling people what to do, then wonder why nothing changes.
So I wrote a book about what actually works instead.
Credentials
Research fellow, UNC Chapel Hill (MA, Communication) · Senior Consultant, Gallup · Certified by the International Coach Federation, NeuroLeadership Institute, and in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction · RRCA-certified running coach · Featured in Forbes and Huffington Post
Jenn Farrer 