About me and my company...
If you're like me, before you invest your time and
money in going to a talk, workshop, retreat or a longer term commitment like coaching, you wonder if the person offering the
service has the skill, expertise, and life experience that you'll find valuable? So on this page I share – and answer
- some of the questions that I myself would ask!
My Professional Background...
Q: What professional training and experience do you have?
A: I designed VisionLegacy as a way of weaving together my
diverse range of skills in a way that could offer optimal benefit and service to my clients and the world. Before establishing
my company, I already had extensive experience in each of VisionLegacy's four core business areas - as a keynote speaker/
trainer, facilitator / workshop leader, and as a counsellor / interviewer and professional event planner. You can find more
about my specific experience in each of these areas can be found on my speaking, workshop, private coaching and consulting
pages.
Q: What academic training
do you have?
A: My training is
inter/trans-disciplinary. I have three degrees in three distinct areas of cultural history - eastern, western and indigenous
cultural history and thought. After my graduate training in western cultural history, I taught credit courses in cultural
history and ways of seeing at the university level for 5 years. I undertook my fourth degree, through graduate work in
Counselling Psychology, as a way of deepening my understanding of the bridging role that culture plays in the development
of the individual psyche. Most of my research for that degree focused specifically on Transpersonal Psychology and Transformative
Learning.
Q: How does your academic
training relate to what you offer through VisionLegacy?
A: My academic training in cultural history and psychotherapy has shaped my worldview -- my capacity to see
things in long-term, systems-perspectives and my capacity trace both individual dysfunction and potentiality to larger cultural
patterns. And my grounding in the cultural history of other peoples and times has lent me the capacity for seeing culture
– and personality – as something that is shaped and capable of change. It's also given me a great respect for
the worldview and thought systems found in cultures and peoples outside of the dominant western framework – to have
a deep appreciation for eastern and indigenous wisdom. Finally, my graduate work in western cultural history focused on times
of crisis and transition in the modern world... so I see things in terms of their historical context and the lessons they
offer us. This training forms the backdrop for the perspective I offer, the questions I ask, and the connections I see.
Dealing with the patterns in such complex wholes also allows me to, as one early client observed, 'cut through chaos'. And,
for those of you who see the limitations in a purely academic framework, please read on to My Story (below on this page)
Q:
What coaching training and experience do you have?
A:
I am now in my fifth year of full time work as a coach. I am a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC), through training
offered through the Coaches Training Institute (CTI), a program which is recognized as the most rigorous in the industry.
I have completed additional training in individual and small business coaching through MentorCoach. This latter training helped
me to refine the psychotherapeutic skills I had gained through my graduate training as a psychotherapist as well as the skills
I had gained through 5 years experience as an employment interviewer and counsellor. I have also undergone certification training
in retreat coaching with Helene van Manen, Master Certified Coach.
Q: Why is coach training & certification important?
A: Many practitioners who call themselves coaches have little or no formal training.
Training and eventual certification through a school recognized by the International Coaching Federation is important because,
aside from being intensely rigorous immersion in the core competencies of coaching, it guarantees awareness of the critical
ethical and professional standards of the profession.
Q: What business knowledge & experience do you have?
A: My business experience comes from 4 sources: working in diverse industries, training in business,
learning from mentors and owning my own companies.
Working
in diverse industries: I learned about business from the ground up, through being immersed in a wide range of business
environments while working my way through my 4 university degrees. Valuing the freedom, flexibility and range of experience
that contracting through temp agencies gives, I worked my way through school by offering marketing, administrative, co-ordination
and research support in almost every industry and business under the sun - from high tech industries, government agencies,
communications companies, transportation sector, a steel factory, universities, property management, retail, the not-for-profit
sector, arts associations, and professional training companies. During this time I worked closely with people from all walks
of life – from boards, top executives, volunteers, customers, high-end donors, lawyers and the general public.
Business Training: In the process of
establishing my present company, I underwent long-term, extensive business training with experts in the field of marketing,
sales and operations. And, I trained specifically in small business coaching with an executive coach from NASDAQ. Since then
I have successfully coached clients with MBA's and business experience in Silicon Valley. As a part of my ongoing development
I am constantly researching and learning from business experts in the field, and I pass that knowledge and contacts along
to my clients.
Owning my own companies:
I also learned about the ups and downs of business from the experience of owning a previous company which served high profile
trainers, facilitators and public speakers as its clients.
Business
Mentors: Since I began VisionLegacy I've always drawn from the personal support of trusted colleagues, marketing
mentors, and coach-mentors. If you'd like to get
in touch with me to see how we might work together, I'd love to hear from you! My contact information is below - or,
you can learn about my monthly newsletter by clicking on the link above.
Marilyn
Daniels, MA, M.Ed., CPCC
marilyn[at]visionlegacy.com
416 545-7848
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"Blanket
Dance", 2009
VisionLegacy's Story...
Q: What inspired you to start VisionLegacy?
A: VisionLegacy was the result of a lot of soul-searching and the frustration
of not being able to find a job or sector in which I could fully express my values, training, range of skills and feel like
I was making a significant difference on both a micro and macro-level. At one point, a career counsellor remarked to me that
the kind of integral organization that I was looking for didn't exist - that I'd have to create it. The impetus for finally
jumping off the cliff was being downsized. After spending 2 weeks in a cabin in the woods, and 4 months of working with
my own coach, VisionLegacy was born.
Q:
What's VisionLegacy's vision or purpose?
A: VisionLegacy's vision is to act as a catalyzing agent – to help transformative leaders expand their capacity
for deep learning, whole-systems thinking and wisdom-based leadership. The big picture, ultimate purpose of my work with clients
is the creation of solutions, structures and actions that can facilitate the paradigmatic shift in culture, systems and cultural
thinking that is needed for future generations to thrive.
Q: What does the name 'VisionLegacy' mean?
A: The name VisionLegacy was inspired by a quote by management consultant Peter Senge, who wrote;
“Our vision is our legacy”. But my understanding of that quote has been shaped primarily by indigenous elders
who have taught me that wisdom leadership is something that naturally takes into consideration the impact that our actions
can have seven generations into the future.
Q: How long has VisionLegacy been around?
A:
2009 is VisionLegacy's fifth year of full-time operation.
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