Meet Wendy Reed | Positive Intelligence and Life Coach

We had the good fortune of connecting with Wendy Reed and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Wendy, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
Life coaches are not in the business of telling people how to live their lives. When I tell people I’m a coach, they often think that I give my clients advice or act as a life consultant. They are sometimes surprised to learn that coaching is about helping clients find their own way to their life and work goals, in a way that is in alignment with who they are fundamentally. While there’s a part of me that wants to have my own Life Advice booth a la Lucy from Peanuts, it’s a concept that’s flawed from the start when it comes to coaching. Coaching as an industry is built on the premise that the client is naturally creative, resourceful and whole. Should a coach step out of this framework and begin to dole out advice, the client is no longer in the driver’s seat of their own life.

What coaches do is help clients see themselves and their situation through a fresh lens; get clear on what they are after and why; and get into consistent motion on their goals. We often serve as thought and accountability partners for our clients as well. When our clients get unstuck and begin to accomplish their goals, they can see how they made it happen and apply their learning and experience to their next life challenge, not dependent on a coach to “advise” them.

Alright, so let’s move onto your story. How did you end up becoming a life coach?
While the thread is there, it’s hard to draw a direct line from where I began my career, as an assistant language teacher in Japan to where I am today, running an independent coaching business. There have been many stepping stones along the way, including one of which I’m most proud. Thanks to the faith my boss Ann Bailey had in me, I had the opportunity to found and direct national behavior change campaigns for the ENERGY STAR program at the US Environmental Protection Agency. I did that for 8 years and found it deeply gratifying to build relationships with corporate partners and catalyze a positive measurable national impact.

The underlying themes for me throughout my career have been communications, behavior change, relationship-building and making a positive impact. Life coaching is no exception. I’m applying my macro behavior change specialty at a micro level right now — 1:1 and in small groups — and I love generating newsletter missives that offer up perspectives and tips related to living life calmer, more fulfilled and at peak performance (on your own terms).

I’m excited about making a positive impact in individuals’ lives, about learning more about “life” as I go and, most recently, about applying Positive Intelligence mental fitness training to my coaching practice and to my own life.

What sets me apart from other life coaches is my Positive Intelligence niche, in which I train my clients how to recognize their stress and stuck patterns, do exercises to interrupt negative thinking, and encourage them to step into a more positive mindset in order to bring the best of themselves to the table. Most of my clients come to me stuck around something important to them and I help them find their way into sustainable motion vs. the more common way many of my clients have of pushing themselves to act through negative motivational strategies. These strategies create unnecessary stress and are rarely effective.

My own path hasn’t been easy, whether we’re talking about a personal or professional path. Professionally, making the shift into coaching was challenging, as I was dealing with a loss of confidence that came in part out of splitting my time for several years between independent consulting and at-home parenting and feeling like I wasn’t hitting anything out of the park. Who was I to sit in the life coach seat? Through facing down these issues directly — using therapy, coaching, my love of learning through reading, and ultimately by taking the 6-Week Positive Intelligence program with fellow coaches — I emerged feeling whole and fully capable of coaching others, especially those who struggle with confidence themselves. I especially enjoy coaching people who feel like they’re getting in their own way of their personal brand of “success.”

I’ve learned a lot of lessons, and they continue to come. Most importantly, I’ve learned how to shift into a better mind space and how critical this is to mine and my clients’ ability to live, relate and work well. This lesson has been a game changer.

When it comes to my story, I’d say it’s still being written! I’m excited to welcome in more clients interested in getting to the other side of their life and work challenges and am looking forward to creating more high-impact opportunities that generate a positive ripple effect in my clients’ lives and in the lives of those in their direct orbit, whether it be their spouse, children, friends or colleagues.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live in the Washington, DC area, and there’s so much to do over a week’s time. We would ride our bikes from my place down to the National Mall to get a lay of the land, visiting the Smithsonian Museums and having lunch on day 1 at the Museum of the American Indian, where we’d try a range of interesting foods. We’d have to hit the Natural History Museum to see the Hope Diamond and all my favorite gems and minerals there and then ride on to the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial. The museums could happily engulf 3 or more days. We now have the African American Museum as well, which is beautiful and very interesting.

The best time for this? Cherry Blossom season in late spring. We’d spend a day walking around the Tidal Basin area and hanging out under the cherry blossoms, eating sushi and drinking green tea.

Another day would be spent driving out to Shenandoah National Park, about 2 hours away. We’d bring a picnic lunch and hike Old Rag Mountain, then stay the night in Sperryville, having dinner at Headmaster’s Pub. The next day, we’d stop to hike at Sky Meadow’s Park and if we’re lucky, we could stay past dark for a night of stargazing with night sky enthusiasts who’ve brought their telescopes.

For our last adventure, I’d take us an hour outside of DC to Annapolis for a day in a fun older town that gives off a distinctive East Coast air. You have to have crab cakes here, do a little shopping and take time to have a drink looking out at the water.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Five years ago, my husband Ken went for his check-up with the dental hygienist we both went to at the time, Jenae, and they started talking about me and what I should do career-wise. I was, for the first time in my working life, in a “starting fresh” moment and was working with a certified coach to determine my next move. My husband came home that day and told me that he and Jenae had decided I should be a life coach, given I suppose by the fact that I could get her talking even with dental tools in my mouth! Their timing was perfect, as I’d been thoroughly enjoying the 1:1 experience of being coached and going deeper to understand myself and what made me tick. I did my research on the coaching profession and decided to pursue certification.

It was at least a year later when I had the realization that I was doing work on par with what I’d declared I wanted to do more than 20 years earlier while still in college. I had a mentor at the University of Denver, Dr. Mike Spangle, who invited me to co-create and present stress management workshops with him. I’d gotten sick the year before and had to drop out of a quarter; it became apparent to me that I’d gotten sick due to stress and overwork. Dr. Spangle helped me turn that experience into a gift. I sent him a letter after I earned my coaching certification to let him know that his influence was still making a difference in mine and others’ lives.

Website: wendyreedcoaching.com

Instagram: @wendyreedcoaching

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/enviroreed/