Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan Clarine.
Susan, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
After a lifetime of trying to figure out what I’m good at, what I enjoy and what gives me purpose, I finally found it in my fifties! There are many paths to finding one’s niche in life. Here is my wandering and wondering path!
I graduated with an MA in theatre. Like most broke and struggling actors, I spent my twenties doing every kind of job you can think of while acting in plays: waitress (bad at it!), truck loader, bill collector, house cleaner, bartender, night-club dancer, commercial extra, singing telegram performer, restaurant hostess, hotel concierge, Disney character, Universal Studios show performer, retail sales, receptionist (I could keep going).
I’ve been hired, fired and laid off many times. Turning thirty and tired of being broke, I went into real-estate sales. I was O.K. at it and liked the interpersonal connection with clients. But it wasn’t my passion. I didn’t know what my passion was.
Real-estate sales led to a career in sales training, which led to an eighteen-year career in leadership development, training, and organizational development. During that time, I went back to school and received a graduate certificate in Organizational Development from DePaul University and became a certified professional coach through the Institute of Professional Excellence in coaching.
Four years ago I became a certified emotional intelligence coach. Why emotional intelligence? After years of coaching executives, managers and teams, I witnessed a consistent theme across all levels of leadership and all types of people. People struggled with fundamentally shifting their core perceptions, thoughts, judgments and paradigms about themselves, their circumstances and other people.
They made the surface, momentary changes but resisted evaluating and challenging personal values and beliefs that weren’t serving them or those they interacted with. Ineffective habits, old viewpoints, and default judgments would eventually resurface. I wanted better tools and techniques to empower my clients to make significant, lasting, sustainable change.
When I began practicing emotional intelligence, or EQ, it was like finding a magic key to help people achieve personal leadership and make choices resulting in more meaningful, engaging, purposeful lives at work and at home.
What is EQ? Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others. Emotions affect everything you do in life. Decisions, relationships, stress, health, happiness and goal achievement.
Based on neuroscience, EQ allows you to rise above judgments, make choices that de-stress, and create new possibilities. I believe wholeheartedly that emotional intelligence concepts and insights are transformational.
As I look back at my journey, I realize the personal values and interests that led me to become a professional coach and run my own business were there all along. Self-actualization, curiosity, collaboration and continuous learning.
I expect the best in the future and work to achieve it. And admittedly, my early life as an actress was a great training ground for coaching. Great actors don’t “perform,” rather, they respond at the moment, they forget themselves and focus on the other person in the scene, they intuit and most importantly, they listen.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’ve experienced three recurring struggles starting my own business:
1. The “spray and pray” approach! Wanting to do everything, every new idea, opportunity FOMO. This results in distraction and fractured energy. I’m like a cat that wants to chase every new shiny object. Or if I say “no” to something, then I feel guilty for not going after every opportunity. But I learned pretty quickly, it’s not effective.
2. Patience. I want to prove myself, to myself, and others who are supporting me and I’m impatient to do that. I’ve had to reframe my thinking about what success looks like…year one, year two and onward. I’ve had to change from wanting to be the rabbit to the slow and steady turtle.
3. I’m a detailed person who likes to research and understand things…this tendency is not serving me well in my new role as a solopreneur. I admire entrepreneurs who just jump into the deep end and figure out how to swim afterward. I’m aware of my “comfort” tendencies and I’m still working on getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, or knowing when it’s in the best interest of the business to spend the money to hire experts instead of trying figure everything out on my own.
Please tell us about The Ei Coach.
As an emotional intelligence (EQ) coach, I’m committed to helping managers and teams gain insight into how their emotions affect their work, relationships and results. Teams need to do more with less, are stressed from constant change, shifting priorities and organizational urgencies. As teams come together, they need to quickly establish constructive, collaborative, high trust relationships, mutual goals and “de-silo” personal agendas.
Managers need to get things done through others… it’s about becoming a transformational rather than transactional leader. I offer scientifically based and validated emotional intelligence, communication and team-based assessments that help people learn and apply the principles of emotional intelligence resulting in positive energy and engagement.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
This is hilarious… in junior high, I was in a MIME TROUP! And yes, today I sneer at mimes as much as the next person. What can I say? At the time, Shields and Yarnell were the bombs. For those born after 1970: Google it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.theeicoach.com
- Phone: 1-312-504-9556
- Email: susan@theeicoach.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/theeicoach
- Twitter: @coach_ei
- Other: www.linkedin.com/in/susanclarine
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
