I've been doing some Coaching with Patti Russo to assist her with career reinvention and renewal, now that she is pursing a solo portfolio career. Patti was Meatloaf's long term singing partner for 20 years, having worked with Cher, Queen, Bryan Ferry, Betty Harris and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, to name a few. She has also appeared in the Theatre as Esmeralda in the London production of Notre-Dame de Paris and as Killer Queen in the Las Vegas production of We Will Rock You. How then do you set about coaching someone on a portfolio career when they themselves have made their own way through their life, having dealt with some of the most passionate people with the largest egos on the planet? I would do anything for love, but just how would I do "that"??
Coaching crucially depends on the HR academics call a good "psychological contract". Talking with Professor Adrian Furnham, we boil these down to the following "essentials"
I'm pleased to say that Patti was pure joy to work with in this respect. This was particularly pleasing as she takes no prisoners and we did not have a great deal of time!!
The Process
1. We started out by mapping out Patti's life. This revealed a number of patterns and more importantly potential connections to assist in the next phase.
2. From this, a series of goals emerged. Our psychological contract was for me to actively provoke as well as just support her. In short we used the full range of coaching styles available. It would have been a mistake to go for the goals first without the background and career and life mapping approach. I hold John Heron's model in my head as a kind of "internal software" to help me determine what the client needs most and used most of the styles available in an intuitive way on reflection.
Some of the coaching strategies that lurk as "software" in the back of my mind.
3. Through a series of follow up sessions, we then "joined up the dots", actually making connections as we went. It's the old adage "The longest journey starts with the smallest step". This included some cathartic purging of stuff in the longest coaching car journey ever undertaken as I drove Patti back from Henley to London late one evening after a corporate HR performance with me.
4. Like all good coaching, it rests with the person themselves to do the hard work and I'm delighted to report that Patti has set herself on a course towards realising her aspirations. Whilst Patti is best known for her singing and acting, as a result of this she has decided to develop a wider but linked portfolio for the next stage of her career.
The Results
Alongside her role as a singer-songwriter and actress, Patti's career portfolio now also includes some new options:
Inspirational speaking – Patti is a credible and passionate speaker. I gave her an initial platform at Henley Business School, which was incredibly well received. Henley had this to say about the event:
TV and Media appearances – We are currently pursuing a number of avenues to develop Patti's career in these areas.
Writing – Patti's story is a true tale of "gypsies, tramps and thieves", to quote Cher, starting out with nothing and climbing to the top. She got her job with Meatloaf by answering an anonymous ad in the Village Voice in NYC and had experienced several hard knock backs before that. There's a book in this somewhere …
Reflections on the process
It's a real joy to deliver coaching when the person on the other end participates fully with passion, energy and commitment. Work like this does not feel like work at all !
That said, it still requires a professional approach and I had to be intellectually tough to work with someone who clearly knows her own mind.
Sometimes great work comes out of pure serendipity. In our case I met Patti whilst she was having a cigarette outside the Paradise Club in London. I had no idea who she was but passed her a business card … the following morning I got an e-mail:
