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About Coach Steve - Self-Awareness Coach to Entrepreneurs
Steve Pfrenzinger - CXO to many and Certified Exec Coach to Ambitious Professionals, Entrepreneurs and All Innovators
I'm a successful CXO and entrepreneur myself and a Hall of Fame investor in entrepreneurs. And, a Forbes Coaching Council member and author, with high-profile coaching clients at Sony, Disney, Broadcom, and PwC. I've been published or interviewed in Forbes.com, AccelerateOC Podcast, Softwaremag.com, Computerworld.com, and many more.
Like all innovators and change agents, I'm driven to solve big problems and to help others do the same. My specialty is "all things" related to biz dev, communications, the entrepreneurial journey and a proprietary Self-Awareness Discovery Series comprised of 5 deep-dive feedback assessments. Including; Brand, Personality, Mindset, Visibility, and Journey.
The self-awareness concepts I teach are the same that helped me become unstoppable in my 3+decade business and coaching career. It allowed me build and sell two, 8-figure revenue tech services companies. To gain HOF angel investor status with a large number of 20-100X exits. To become a published author and speaker. Plus, a coach hundreds of entrepreneurs, innovators and change agents.
But there were many bumps and bruises along the way. I grew up in a broken, fatherless home for my first decade. Then a drunken and abusive stepfather stepped in and made my teen years miserable for me … and my mother and brother.
If that wasn’t bad enough, ADD kept me distracted and disengaged at school and an underachiever. I just couldn’t sit still and focus. Mom was lucky to have a job to pay for our one-bedroom apartment. Times were very tough and after high school, I hit rock bottom.
On the brighter side, I had two transformational events that changed my life. One at the start of my professional career and one at the end.
First, not long after high school, a random intelligence test told me that I was “wired for success” in the world of technology. That unexpected feedback caused me to take a crash course in programming at a local trade school. In a matter of months, I went from a dumb kid working at a car wash to a salaried programmer at a major aerospace firm. Who knew? My multi-million-dollar tech career was launched.
Second, after I retired from a fulfilling career and making millions in business and as an investor, I got the call nobody wants. My doctor said I had cancer and it was a 9 on a 1-10 scale. After the original shock, I began planning my own funeral. But by the grace of God and radical robotic survey, I am today, “cancer free”.
Here’s what I learned. My decades in business and coaching have taught me that “what you don’t know about you WILL hurt you”. It can be your Achilles’ Heel. The key here is the need for self-awareness and the honest feedback necessary to archive it. It changes everything!
That random intelligence test as a teenage did that for me. It gave me the feedback and confidence I needed to pursue a high-upside tech career. I also learned how precious life is and that even at the end of my career I still had the passion to help others make the same discoveries that I made.
My Why. After dodging that major health bullet and deciding to get back in the game, I realized my new lease on life had to be “purposeful”. Of all my career accomplishments, I decided what I enjoyed most was sharing and simplifying what I learned over decades to empower others. That meant focusing on entrepreneurs and getting feedback necessary to be fully self-aware. And, help them gain the superpower of “certainty” that comes with it.
In summary, what don't you know about you and your company? Have you ever wondered if you had special skills or talents that you simply don’t know about or are under promoted? Some amazing action or ability that would change everything? Or some silly little blind spot that is holding you and your company back. That is what self-awareness helps you discover via the often-feared, honest feedback.
Feedback can come from others that know us, or it can come from input we provide to tools like intelligent, personality or skills tests. There are 360 feedback surveys for you and your customers, and many tools to discover how others see us and our businesses. There’s also the direct method of asking others. For example: coaches, customers, bosses, peers, subordinates, and friends & family have what you need. If you ask.
The feedback is there, if you ask and if you engage in discovery. But most fear feedback when after decades of coaching I’ve discovered that 95% of feedback is either good news or easily fixable. Many have an irrational fear of honest feedback. Let that go!
Nothing would make me happier than to help you and your company make a transformational discovery, to gain a superpower! After surviving cancer, I came out of a comfy retirement for that very purpose. You can do this!