Executive Coaching

Why I Coach At Kellogg:
For me, coaching is mission driven as I consider it my personal mission to help people grow. Coaching allows me to partner with individuals and small groups who are interested in self-development and personal growth. Coaching at Kellogg allows me to partner with students and professionals who want to make a positive and significant impact in their teams and organizations.

Who I Am As A Coach:
I tend to approach coaching in a structured way. I provide a framework with a beginning, middle and end. However, I can and enjoy going off course if needed. I can “dance” in the moment – but can tie it to the big picture in the end. I believe in having a full and balanced life – for myself and the people who I coach. Family, friends, my faith and my work are all interconnected. I advocate that those I coach strive for balance and fullness. I enjoy coaching people in the following areas:

• Motivated and committed MBA students
• Middle to senior level executives who lead others
• Executive directors and senior level professionals of non-profit organizations

My Strengths (per Strengths Finder 2.0):

• Achiever
• Relator
• Learner
• Strategic
• Responsibility

My interests are learning about anything, reading fiction, old movies and TV dramas, and travel. My unique qualities:

• A calm presence, even under pressure
• Intuitive
• Collaborative
• Organized
• Visionary & Executor
• Creative
• A team builder and good group facilitator
• Can manage complex projects

Education & Professional Certifications:

•  MBA & BA Economics – Stanford University
• Ph.D. in Organization Behavior – Northwestern University
• International Coaching Federation (ICF) - Associate Professional Coach (ACC)

Work Experience

• Current Positions at Kellogg School of Management
• Clinical Professor of Management & Organizations
• Director of Leadership Coaching Programs
• Past Work Corporate Experience
• Home Box Office – Financial & Systems Analyst
• Former Salomon Brothers – Equities Research
• Leo Burnett – Account Executive
• Consulting Experience
• Grocery Industry
• Financial Services Firms
• Non-Profit Organizations

Contact: bbooth@kellogg.northwestern.edu

Why I coach at Kellogg:
I coach at Kellogg because it is an extraordinary crucible for leadership development—a place where top-performing leaders come to reflect and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and define who they want to be. I also highly value being part of an academic environment that values knowledge creation, teamwork and teaching; frankly, there’s just no better place to be!

At Kellogg, in addition to my work with MBA students, I coach and teach in a number of executive programs including, among others, the Kellogg Management Institute, Executive Development Program, Women’s Senior Leadership Program, and the Not-for-Profit Center’s Developing High Performing People.

Who I am as a coach:
I have been in private practice since 2001, and am known best for my results-oriented pragmatism, “tough” compassion, emphasis on curiosity and experimentation, and a highly-personalized approach to the individuals I work with. I believe that coaching is, above all, a rich and engaged conversation, in which individuals evaluate where they are in their work and life, hear direct (and sometimes difficult) feedback, and, with this information, create their vision and action plan for change.

In addition, I am particularly focused on helping leaders develop mindfulness, agility and resilience, which are absolutely essential in today’s demanding business environment. My hope is that individuals walk away from coaching with a set of practices that allow them to respond, rather than react, to the challenges they face as highly successful business leaders. These mindfulness and reflection practices can also help leaders relieve stress, develop patience with themselves and others, and enhance focus and concentration on the things that “really” matter to them as individuals and to the organizations they lead.

My Coaching Focus/Niche Area:
I believe the real work of coaching and leadership development comes from the relationship that my clients and I create together, rather than a specific focus on a given industry or “tier” of professional. As a result, my clients come from all walks of life—from senior executives and “high potentials” in major corporations to academics and small business owners. My current clients are in sectors as diverse as finance, consumer products, technology, pharmaceuticals, law, education, management consulting, government, psychology, and non-profit management.

Education and Professional Certifications:

B.A.: University of Texas—Austin
M.A., Ph.D.: University of Chicago
CPCC, (Certified Professional ‘Co-Active’ Coach), Coaches Training Institute
PCC, (Professional Certified Coach), International Coaches Federation
Certified Emotional Intelligence Assessor and Coach (through Hay Group for all 360 EI instruments)

I am passionate about pursuing education on a regular basis to continually improve the breadth and depth of resources I bring to my coaching practice. In the past two years, I have been most strongly influenced by my work in mindfulness-based stress reduction practices for executives (and all other human beings).

Additional Experience:
My approach to coaching is informed by my multi-disciplinary background. I received my MA and PhD from the University of Chicago where I also taught business communications at the Graduate School of Business for a number of years. Before becoming a coach, my research focused on how ‘narrative’ and ‘story telling’ helped individuals define who they are and what was important to them and their communities (a theme that I return to again and again in coaching insofar as powerful story telling relates to powerful leadership). In my prior working life, I focused on adult-education and ‘non-traditional’ learning. My experiences in this arena included academic and executive positions at Cardean University, whose start-up online MBA program was developed with Columbia University Business School, Stanford University, London School of Economics, and the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business.

I have served on the advisory boards of Syrus Global—a leader in ethics, compliance, governance, and reputation management solutions—and the Center for International Rehabilitation.

I live just outside of Chicago with my husband and three daughters. When we’re not working, my husband and I can most frequently be found out and about with our girls—at the beach, camping, or taking advantage of Chicago’s amazing neighborhoods and cultural institutions.

Contact: b-vuckovic@kellogg.northwestern.edu