Part of Carole Ann Penney’s role as a business leadership coach is being a myth buster.
Cultural notions of achieving a successful career by a series of predetermined steps have evolved, she points out. Gone are the stringent expectations that every employee will graduate from a four-year college with a degree in their chosen field and climb the corporate ladder, earning sequential promotions and positions within that field and discipline.
The founder of Smithfield-based Penney Leadership LLC, Penney works at building clients’ skills in areas such as leading in a crisis, leveraging networks and setting effective goals. But society’s notions on what constitutes a successful career path are often outdated, she said.
“The idea of a linear path is a false one,” Penney said. “Being a doctor or lawyer or accountant … there are so many choices even within those fields. As a nurse, for example, you can be in a school or hospital or visiting in homes.
“There are a lot more decisions to make” compared with the collective view of such professions decades ago, she said.
‘Being tied to a job title or industry is a liability.’
CAROLE ANN PENNEY, Penney Leadership LLC owner
Working with clients from around the U.S. and in places as far away as Panama and Japan, the 2007 Brown University graduate offers phone consultations, virtual workshops and speaker presentations. She works to build mission-driven leaders who have purpose and resilience.
And the COVID-19 pandemic has provided a crash course in resilience, Penney noted. “This should not be a case of wondering when things will get back to normal,” she said. “Change is constant and we need to get better at it,” with the ability to navigate twists and turns.
Penney advocates that leaders ground themselves in who they are and what they stand for, getting clear on what strengths they bring to the table. In this way, leaders can better spot opportunities suitable for them and better pivot as new jobs emerge from this crisis or any others.
“Being tied to a job title or industry is a liability,” Penney said.
The path to her own professional purpose – leadership coaching – was sparked after she took part in a Brown University “Life After Graduation” panel discussion. It was five years after she had earned her bachelor’s degree in education studies, having left her home state of Vermont to attend college. After graduation, she decided to make Rhode Island her home.
On the panel, Penney found herself comparing her career path in the nonprofit sector with that of her peers. They all appeared to have found their purpose, while her resume appeared to be more random than strategic, she said. She had spent the years after graduation working at the Providence Children’s Museum; at the Providence feminist arts organization The Hive Archive; and at Rhode Island Council for the Humanities.
But she said she hadn’t done the work to determine what her strengths were and in what ways she could best contribute to the world around her.
“At that moment, I felt very lonely,” Penney said about attending the panel discussion. “But I know now that that’s how most people feel when they come for coaching.”
She set about establishing her own inner leadership compass. As she continued to refine her management and coaching skills, Penney took on more-senior titles over the next seven years. She began acquiring credentials that would allow her to help others become grounded in their leadership skills and define their vision of success.
In 2017, she stepped down as associate director of the Council for Humanities to lead Penney Leadership full time.
Penney has a certification in Nonprofit Management & Leadership from Tufts University in Massachusetts and a certification in Professional Coaching from the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching.
A facilitator of Harvard Business Publishing’s leadership-development programs, she is also a mentor in Brown University’s Women’s Launch Pad program for emerging leaders, and in the Institute for Nonprofit Practice.
With these tools and experience, Penney served 70 clients in 2019. Most, she said, were mid-level professionals who were in some stage of transition, most in their 30s, 40s and 50s. For maximum effectiveness, she prefers to work with them for two months at a time.
“Executive coaches are around; I’m there for everybody else,” she said. “Clients come to me when they get a little lost. They want to be more intentional about where they want to go next and there is momentum in that experience to launch them.”
A common theme among Penney’s clients, whether they are company-sponsored cohorts of emerging leaders or individuals who reach out for one-to-one coaching: a desire for work with purpose. People are seeking meaning in their work, she said. Leaders want to feel they are receiving value and that they are valuable, with research showing it is key to employee satisfaction and retention.
This sense of value, and the sense of fulfillment and satisfaction it brings, is unique to each of Penney’s clients, and to herself. For her, fulfillment means a life where she can integrate work and motherhood. She and her husband, Ian, just welcomed their second daughter, Eliana, who joins big sister Avery.
“I shape my career around that,” said Penney. “Not some frantic race to the top.”
