Ash Merchant With Lionheart Partners

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Coach the Coach radio brought to you by the Business RadioX Ambassador Program, the no cost business development strategy for coaches who want to spend more time serving local business clients and less time selling them. Go to brxambassador.com To learn more. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:33] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Coach the Coach Radio, and this is going to be a fun one. Tell you on the show we have Ash Merchant with Lionheart Partners. Welcome.

Ash Merchant: [00:00:42] Hi, Lee. Glad to be here!

Lee Kantor: [00:00:44] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about Lionheart partners. How are you serving, folks?

Ash Merchant: [00:00:49] Sure. Thanks, Lee I Lionheart Partners is basically in the business of really two things, and that’s business advisory work and leadership development and executive coaching. So on the coaching and the leader development side, I work with mid to senior level executives and C-suite executives on helping them to get better, sharper, more effective with their teams in a corporate setting. And then on the business advisory. Part of my business, I serve as a brand ambassador to a couple of different companies where I help them grow their organizations.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:25] So what’s your backstory? How did you get into this line of work?

Ash Merchant: [00:01:29] So my back story is I spent a little over 20 years in the corporate world and worked for global companies, worked for Fortune 200 Company and really just built a traditional corporate career, had a couple of entrepreneurial detours along the way. And then in twenty eighteen, I left the corporate world, decided that I wanted to take my family and my family, and I decided to take a midlife gap year where we traveled the country and lived in an RV for a year. I was able to step out of the corporate world for that year and really get some definition and some clarity around the kind of work that I really love doing. And that was being with people and representing great brands and really coaching and guiding leaders. So upon our return is really when Lionheart partners started to grow and and really take off and I decided, you know what? I’m I’m OK with stepping away from the corporate world, but still serving the corporate world as an entrepreneur.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:37] Now what was that transition like for you? Just personally? Because going from being part of the large enterprise to being kind of your own boss in this kind of manner is risky for a lot of people and is not the smoothest transition for a lot of people. Was it smooth for you? Were you able to kind of navigate the waters from going from, you know, having a very deep bench of support to kind of being on your own and the kind of building as you went?

Ash Merchant: [00:03:06] Yeah, it’s a great question, Lee. And really the the things that I was used to in the corporate world where not only support but also frequent collaboration with a fair amount of people. And when you are a solopreneur or you start out on your own, it’s it can be very lonely feeling at times and at times. And what I found was I missed that and really have had to be a lot more thoughtful and intentional about creating opportunities where I’m able to collaborate with people, I’m able to work with groups and teams of folks to help replicate that. Of course, as an entrepreneur, there’s the risk-taking element to it. You’re basically going from some level of fixed salary or a fixed guarantee of income to the roller coaster ride of bootstrapping the company and getting it up off the ground. So that certainly from a pure timing standpoint, when we got back from our trip, it was the summer of nineteen and seven months later, we found ourselves in the middle of a global pandemic. So launching a business and growing a business in that environment certainly had its share of ups and downs and some uncertainty there.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:19] Now what does it look like when you’re dealing with your executives that are part of these larger organizations? What’s the temperature there? How are they feeling about what they’re seeing around them selves when it comes to the chaotic navigation of these kind of, you know, probably once in a lifetime time. So we’ve gone through over the last couple of years.

Ash Merchant: [00:04:41] You know, it’s interesting the the vast majority of the executives that I’m speaking with right now certainly have have gone through the just a strange and uncertain time that we had with regard to COVID. But even coming out of it, what has become front and center for many of my clients is this issue of retaining their best talent and continuing down the road of successful transition planning, succession planning. If you want to call it that and really getting this next generation ready to to take the reins. The recruiting market in many industries is hot right now. I would say that there’s a lot of a lot of folks that are back in the money truck up and they are poaching talent, and that’s pretty heavy on my executives minds right now and then.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:34] Are they seeing kind of a strategy that allows them to navigate this great resignation trend that we’re seeing in the marketplace, where lots of people are just pulling the rip cord and saying, you know, OK, life’s too short, you know, enough’s enough here. Let me take my break, and maybe they are going on their own version of your sabbatical, but they’re definitely pausing.

Ash Merchant: [00:05:58] There’s certainly some of that. I think what what we have to be careful of is that companies don’t actually lose sight of what the roots and the foundations were that actually kept people at those organizations. And I think it’s easy to it’s easy to throw down the card of, hey, we’re going to move to one hundred percent remote workforce or distributed workforce or the option of that. The reality is most companies are not suited for that 100 percent remote environment. And frankly, most employees, you know, unless you’re in a field that that’s the norm coming to an office, being in a location, maybe it’s not five days a week, but to but to go completely away from that. I don’t think that our economy is is going to be indicative of that. I think there are a portion of people that are going to take advantage of that in a good way. But I do believe that people still enjoy coming to work. People still enjoy the just even the informal banter or perhaps collaboration that takes five minutes versus, Hey, I need to go into somebody’s calendar. I need to schedule a 20 minute meeting on Zoom that just feels a bit sterile when it comes to relationship building and really just overall relationship management.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:22] Now, do you think that that’s generational? Do you think that the young people that have been born and raised on this kind of digital lifestyle and this kind of asynchronous conversations feel the same way?

Ash Merchant: [00:07:35] I think some do. I think what’s missing is, and I had this conversation with a client of mine is law firm, and we were talking about younger colleagues in the junior colleagues that are just sort of coming into the firm. And while they are used to a little bit more remote and perhaps more digital based work, what’s missing for junior colleagues is the ability to be coached and mentored and guided by perhaps senior level colleagues or even mid-level colleagues that there’s no substitute for doing that face to face. And I think it’s OK to have folks from a flexibility standpoint. But when it comes to really spending time and showing the ropes to our next generation, there’s only so much of that, in my opinion. And I’m a Generation X guy, and in my opinion, there’s only so much of that you can do in a remote setting.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:34] Now, part of your services are executive coaching. Are you finding that executive coaching is more and more prevalent throughout the organization rather than just at the highest levels nowadays?

Ash Merchant: [00:08:45] I think it’s starting to pick up speed at mid-tier levels. Certainly, it’s always been around for the senior most, you know, the C-suite and maybe one level below the C-suite. But what I’m finding is over the over the last few years, it’s that middle tier of of leaders that these are future officers of the company. These are future major decision makers within an organization and companies that are actually investing in that level right now. They really stand to benefit over the next decade or two as they prepare their leaders for bigger and better roles.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:22] Now, are you coming into organizations to help them kind of implement and set that up so that it can trickle down throughout the organization?

Ash Merchant: [00:09:31] We do, and we have conversations, and I also collaborate with other partners for these conversations. And you know, it’s funny when we talk about this type of work. Oftentimes the the phrase that’s thrown around as well, that’s that’s really soft skill development and and my biggest pushback on that is there’s nothing soft about these skills. I mean, these are these are tough and difficult skills to learn around emotional intelligence and executive presence and learning agility and resilience. I mean, these are these are not just loosey goosey terms that that we use. These are these are skills that oftentimes they might even trump somebody technical expertize. If you’re able to get work done because you have a high degree of emotional intelligence, or perhaps you’re just more savvy at dealing with executives.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:24] Now, do you think that those executives that are a little more skeptical about that feel that this is something that that budding leaders should be bringing to the table on their own? Or like, where do they think they should have gotten this kind of training?

Ash Merchant: [00:10:37] I think there’s a mix of it. You know, sometimes external candidates that come from other organizations that actually placed a higher priority on it. I think executives sometimes will expect that, you know, this is why we hired you. This is where you came from XYZ Corporation. That does this very well. But I do think that there’s there’s pretty widespread recognition right now that these are skills that do, in fact, not only need to be taught to some who’ve never been taught them, but reinforce to others who who maybe they have had it in the past, or maybe they have had exposure to it in the past. But like any training or development, it’s only as good as what gets reinforced on an ongoing basis after the training is done.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:20] So now in your work, you mentioned that you have a variety of kind of offerings advisory services, leadership development and executive coaching. What is usually the kind of the initial point of entry for you?

Ash Merchant: [00:11:34] So for the leadership development and the coaching work, it tends to be with business unit leaders, it tends to be with the heads of HR, it tends to be with what I would call anyone that sits in the C-suite that has recognized within their organization that there’s there’s a gap in terms of leadership or or some type of executive development. Types of folks that I’m dealing with tend to be presidents. Cfos rose in some of the larger companies. And then, of course, in the midsize or perhaps the private companies, it tends to be more the owners of the principals of the company.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:12] Now what are kind of some of the breadcrumbs that lead those executives to say, Hey, you know what, we should be calling the Lionheart, folks?

Ash Merchant: [00:12:21] Typically what what breadcrumbs I would say is, let’s say, for example, you have a leader that’s new in the role and somebody that’s probably been promoted a little bit, maybe a little bit ahead of schedule or maybe it’s their first time in that particular type of role. I tend to be brought in when it comes to helping leaders adjust and really get settled into a new role. I also tend to get brought in when there are situations where. We want to take leadership teams or senior level leaders to a next level. Maybe there’s a level of performance that has been historically good or maybe even very good, and leadership might bring me in to help get that leader to, OK, how do I take this up a notch? How do I take this up to the next level?

Lee Kantor: [00:13:13] Now, can you share a story of maybe one of your clients where you’ve had? I don’t want to say the largest impact, but maybe the most rewarding for you impact that you kind of move the needle in their business. Obviously, don’t name any names, but just maybe tell the back story that the challenge that we’re facing and how you came in and and kind of help them get to this new level.

Ash Merchant: [00:13:35] Yeah, happy to. I had really a wonderful opportunity over the last year to get to get to work with a medical device organization and then and was brought in to help a handful of their leaders to. And one in particular who just was very good on the technical side of things. I mean, nobody was going to beat this person in terms of technical acumen and and really understanding what that business was all about in the technical nuances to it. But as people skills were were sometimes rough or sometimes perceived as just not not as effective as you would want them to be. And so they’re they’re head of global manufacturing, brought me in and said, Hey, listen, you really do like this person a lot, and their contribution to the company is significant. We really need to help them really delegate more to their folks, really bring their bring their teams up in terms of performance and really help help this person not just be the superhero that puts on the Cape every time, but how do we amplify his his team leadership effectiveness? So over the last several months, I’ve had a chance to work with this particular gentleman, and in our sessions, you can just tell that over time, he’s starting to implement some of the ideas that we’re talking about. And they’re not my ideas. I’m asking any good coach will tell you that it’s never about the coach’s idea or the coach’s recommendation or consulting to that client. It’s about the coaches ability to ask the right kinds of questions to draw out the solution that the person most likely already has inside of them. They just need to find it. And it’s been incredibly rewarding, rewarding to see this person just sort of come into their own and uncover and unlock those solutions himself.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:38] Now, are you working primarily in a specific niche or is it kind of industry agnostic? Your work?

Ash Merchant: [00:15:45] I’m industry agnostic. I mean, my background professionally is in the professional services organizations, consulting organizations in that so as a as an industry area of expertize, that’s always an area that that I’m anchored in, and I could probably provide just some industry specific nuances around that. But outside of that, the beautiful thing about coaching and being an executive coach is many of the issues are in industry agnostic when it comes to how people are leading teams, how people are building executive presence, how they’re building their leadership brands, that that tends to not have leadership, it tends to not have industry requirements around it.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:33] Now any advice for the the budding coach out there that maybe isn’t an enterprise level role right now and is thinking of making the leap to being an entrepreneur, any kind of things you could share that might kind of smooth that transition.

Ash Merchant: [00:16:48] I think the biggest I think the biggest thing for folks is know what you’re good at. Know what kind of conversations you’re going to be good at. If you have particular areas of expertize within your organization right now, know I was having a conversation with a budding coach who’s coming out of the health care industry. And the comment that I made to her recently was, you have such domain expertize in this area, and health care tends to be one of those industries that really prizes that and really values people that are coming in with health care experience. And and I said, dig into that and really show people what kind of domain expertize you have and how that can, how that can benefit your client.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:32] Well, if somebody wants to learn more about your practice and maybe get it on your calendar, is there a website?

Ash Merchant: [00:17:39] Absolutely. Please visit me at lionhearted partners and I’m active on LinkedIn as ash merchant and happy to happy to respond via email as well. Ash at Lionheart Partners.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:55] Good stuff as well, thank you so much for sharing your story today, you’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Ash Merchant: [00:18:00] Lee, thanks so much. It’s a pleasure being with you today.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:03] All right, this is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you next time on Coach the Coach radio.