Scott Verrette is a Leadership Coach at Reverb. Scott has 30+ years of experience in organizational and leadership development roles. He has spent the majority of his career as an independent consultant working with organizations of all sizes, from startups to Fortune 500 companies, both for-profit and not-for-profit.
Although Scott officially had the title of “leadership coach” for many years, he has been coaching his whole life. Scott remembers being the “go-to” person that his friends sought out for their challenges.
For Scott, the field of coaching wasn’t a formal practice area as he began his professional life. Throughout his career, he has held various positions, including claims supervisor in the federal government, operational auditor, and financial analyst. Throughout all these positions, he continued to be the person people wanted to talk with about hard decisions and pivotal moments in their lives – a common thread that ultimately led him to coach.
The following conversation with Scott has been edited for length and clarity.
What is the most fulfilling part of your job?
I just love knowing about people. I’ve always been inquisitive, and I love building relationships and trust with people, particularly when it starts with something that is challenging and then it gets really great and the other person gets engaged. I love the moment when the effort of building trust starts to pay off.
What is one of the most frustrating parts of your role, or a misconception about coaching?
I get frustrated with the field of coaching when it is distilled into only asking questions and avoiding any talk about ideas. I believe that coaching is an art and a science, and if you just ask someone “well what do you think you should do?” they might not even know where to begin, so sometimes you have to give some guidance/a starting point (ie. if I was in your shoes I might consider X / I’ve had a similar experience with X).
I don’t like when coaching becomes artificial. Coachees need something – a starting point, reference, context. More experienced leaders don’t need as much of that but even with them, I really call upon my past experience and get vulnerable with my clients, sharing phrases like: “I remember what that was like when X.”
I show up authentically and build human-to-human connections. You have to meet people where they’re at and trust their judgment. I don’t like the “professionally detached” way of connecting with other people – this leaves a critical element missing, even if you’re checking all the boxes and “doing the right thing.”
If you could suggest three ways to get the most out of a coaching session as a coachee, what would the three suggestions be?
1. Show up inquisitive
- Ask questions to understand, ‘What is the intention behind this?’ ‘What would success look like?’
- Inquisitiveness is the want to explore new ways of seeing the world/doing things
2. Be committed
- If you’re not invested or just doing coaching to check a box, you’re wasting your/your company’s money
- This is a commitment, investment, and an opportunity to grow your skills as a person to be more effective in the world, and it’s a gift
3. Be willing to be vulnerable
- Don’t be afraid to be real and be messy
- Don’t be afraid to admit what comes easy/doesn’t come easy, etc.
Which Reverb value resonates the most with you? Any particular reason why?
Kindness, absolutely. Having kindness as a value sets Reverb apart from most other organizations. This isn’t to say that there aren’t kind people, but Reverb deliberately embeds it in its culture. Kindness includes EQ skills like empathy, understanding, and caring about the impact on other people. Kindness is a great starting point no matter what – friendships, relationships, work relationships, etc.
If human beings were kinder, more sensitive, and took more time to understand the situation before placing judgments on people, the world would be a better place to live in. In short, I like helping people – this is why I do this work.
Something I live by is “Holding people in a place of unconditional positive regard” – This means assuming that they are doing the best they know how to do given the circumstances until proven otherwise. The job of a coach is to create psychological safety so they can open up and be real and honest.
Rapid fire questions
- What is your go-to coffee order?
- Decaf americano
- What is a question someone asked you recently that had a lasting impact on you?
- If your career hadn’t ended up being an exec coach, what other path could you have seen yourself on that would have been satisfying?
- How would you describe your coaching style in three words?
- Compassionate
- Inquisitive
- Intentional
- If you could work remotely from anywhere in the world, and price, time zones, and wifi connection aren’t a problem, where would we find you?
- Pre-climate change – Spain.
- What’s on your bookshelf right now?
- It’s an absolute disaster zone. I am always reading some book that someone recommended. Right now I’m reading Agile Project Management and Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
To work with Scott or any of our other incredible coaches, or to see if coaching could be inspiring and useful for you or your company, reach out to our Practice Director, Marlyn Chu: marlyn@reverbpeople.com to start the conversation. We can’t wait to meet you where you are.
