Iris Grimm, Dog-Gone Leadership (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 446)
Iris Grimm, an executive and leadership coach for over two decades, developed a leadership program based on our relationships with dogs called Dog-Gone Leadership. She joined John Ray in the studio to share how this idea came to be, how she uses the metaphor of relationships with dogs to assist her clients, who she loves to work with, and much more. North Fulton Business Radio is broadcast from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.
Iris Grimm (Master Performance Inc.)
For the past 21 years, Iris has guided executives, small business owners, and leaders in a variety of capacities and industries to reach the next level(s) of their success. 
Their definition of success is as unique as their paths:
- be more effective in their role as a leader, hence supporting their team better and having them be more engaged
- start/expand their business or their career promotion in a purposeful way,
- create more balance between work and personal life,
- get out of their own way and show up at a better version every day and many more.
All these goals require an upgrade on inner leadership, trust in oneself and others, as well as letting go of unproductive habits, mindsets, and approaches.
Dog-Gone Leadership
Dog-Gone Leadership is a unique and innovative approach to optimizing performance in your company by utilizing canine relationships. Stop feeling resigned to the status quo and create better outcomes and connections with ease.
Dogs are not just (wo)men’s best friends. They can mirror our behavior and thinking. They reflect our leadership and energy. They can reveal our blind spots. They uplevel our performance and commitment.
Therefore, dogs are ideal partners for creating more conscious leaders, whether they are already in an official leadership position or not.
Dog-Gone Leadership with Iris Grimm steps outside of the conventional leadership development box.
- Dogs shake off their stress with ease. Great leaders shake their stress off quickly and return to an emotional state that serves the situation best.
- Dogs can read the energy of a room very quickly. Great leaders can read the energy in the room and adjust their style/approach accordingly.
- Dogs let go of the past quickly (unless the humans get in the middle of it). Great leaders take nothing personally and let go of any grudges and conflicts swiftly.
- Dogs reflect our leadership in vivid pictures and behaviors. Great leaders surround themselves with coaches and teachers who point out blind spots and challenge them to grow.
We take the boring out of leadership development and infuse playfulness, love, mindfulness, surrender, commitment, and many more leadership principles and skills that we can learn from dogs.
Dog-gone leadership is merging leadership performance with canine guardianship – pulling out analogies, pointing out differences, and applying principles and skills with the dog that can be translated into the business world. This program is about bringing the best out of everyone – the leader, their team, and the dog.
As a result, participants transform their leadership with, from, and for their dogs – making this a win-win-win situation.
Company website | LinkedIn | Facebook
Iris Grimm, Executive/Leadership Coach & Trainer, Master Performance, Inc. and Dog-Gone Leadership
Iris Grimm has been in the coaching and training industry for over 20 years. Whether her clients are executives in larger companies, business owners, or entrepreneurs, she loves to support them in creating richer experiences in their lives and work.
Iris is also the founder of Dog-Gone Leadership, an experimental training program where her clients transform their leadership with, for, and from their dogs. Her love for dogs and her extensive experience with dogs, combined with her devotion to support people to perform better as leaders, makes her training programs engaging, practical, and life-changing.
When she is not meeting with her clients, Iris loves to hike with her dogs and spends time in nature.
Questions and Topics in this Interview:
- What is the focus of Dog-Gone Leadership?
- How did you come up with this concept?
- With the pandemic, many people finally adopted a dog since they work from home. And once they returned to the office, they felt reluctant leaving their dog at home by themselves. What is your opinion about pet-friendly workplaces?
- When you present this program in companies, does every participant have to bring their dog?
- Is having a dog a requirement to participate in the Dog-Gone Leadership program?
- What lessons can we learn from dogs?
North Fulton Business Radio is hosted by John Ray and broadcast and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, and others.
Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has grown to become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions with over $13 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.
Special thanks to A&S Culinary Concepts for their support of this edition of North Fulton Business Radio. A&S Culinary Concepts, based in Johns Creek, is an award-winning culinary studio, celebrated for corporate catering, corporate team building, Big Green Egg Boot Camps, and private group events. They also provide oven-ready, cooked from scratch meals to go they call “Let Us Cook for You.” To see their menus and events, go to their website or call 678-336-9196.
