40-day Series: Thank You Shushan Aleaqui

Have you ever met someone that after you met them you wondered how you got as far in life as you did without them? This sums up how I think about Shushan Aleaqui. Talk about a person who has an amazing life story....she was born in Armenia. Her family came to the United States to escape the tumultuous state of affairs and give their children a chance at happiness. They didn't just move anywhere they moved to Hollywood, CA....can you imagine?? You don't know any English, you are not familiar with American customs and the first introduction you have to the country is Hollywood?? Wow!

I'm guessing the big time challenges she experienced as a kid left her with always striving for more. She left a successful design career when she decided to try something more technical and started all over again in the telecom industry. She built her way back up and became an executive at Nextel. I met her fairly soon after the Sprint/Nextel merger as she was then working directly for the Chief Network Officer (CNO). My role at that time was as manager with a side gig creating presentations for the CNO so I ended up working with Shushan quite a bit. Little did I know when I met with her that she would open the door to the biggest opportunity I would ever have at Sprint.

Shushan was instrumental in getting me the staff manager job which was an executive development role working for her but directly supporting the CNO. More important than helping me get the job was all that Shushan would teach me in 3 short months before she would leave to take on a new role. I relished the 1-1 time I had with her and would try to everything I could to soak up all the knowledge she was willing to share with me. She was direct, immediate with her feedback and yet gentle when she recognized I was hitting the overload button. She took the time to truly coach me...not just tell me what I wanted to hear or harp on the obvious but honest to goodness coaching. She didn't tell me what I did wrong but would lead me to realize it on my own which really helped me own it. Even when she wasn't purposefully coaching she was still teaching through modeling the most professional behaviors I have ever seen from a business colleague.

She was proof that you could make business personal and still be professional, fact based, to the point and deliver knock-out results. She was willing to share life lessons as well as business knowledge and would point out how they intertwined together. Her education is never-ending as there are things I have just started to experience that make what she taught all the more relevant and applicable. She pointed out to me that to truly coach takes courage as it has to come from within and many are afraid to be so transparent. I would add not only courage but time, patience and authenticity which makes a good coach that much harder to find. I am blessed to have had Shushan as a coach in my life and forever thankful for the friendship we share.

Golden Nugget: Take the time, show the patience and have the courage to be authentic when coaching others.

Be who you are and learn to be better,
Lisa