From Wrestling Coach To Executive Coach With Charles Livings
This episode of the Ace Coach podcast features Charles Livings, President, CEO, and co-founder of Tip of the Spear Professional Coaching. With over 20 years in the nonprofit sector and extensive experience helping veterans transition from military to civilian careers, Charles brings a unique leadership perspective to executive coaching.
A communications scholar and former wrestling coach, Charles has been coaching in various forms throughout his career, including roles as an adjunct communications instructor and career coach. His approach focuses on helping people navigate life's inevitable transitions - whether career changes, leadership development, or personal growth.
📚 What We Talk About:
01:42 Charles' diverse journey from athletics coaching to executive coaching
02:12 His impactful work helping veterans successfully transition to civilian careers
04:28 The biggest challenges coaches face and the rewards of seeing clients grow
09:02 How he leveraged his network when starting his coaching venture
11:15 The critical importance of building teams and developing leadership skills
13:38 The power of incremental improvement and why "practice makes permanent"
16:04 Strategies for engaging and empowering team members in the workplace
💭 Key Quotes:
"In one way or another, we are all in transition."
"Leadership always recognizes leadership. It also recognizes when there's no leadership - there's a vacuum."
"I always prefer a 60% success rate, as opposed to a 100% perfect plan that never got implemented."
"If you wanna go fast, go alone. If you wanna go far, go together."
"The trick becomes remembering which are the glass balls and which are the rubber ones."
"Transition is a team sport... get that collection of people that believe in you, that value you, that have your interests at heart."
"Don't slight yourself by minimizing the amount of networking that you're doing... provide value upfront, give away a lot of stuff."
