Michele Gunn

I attribute my success to God and the inner struggle with my faith versus what society tells us, which is basically to bury it and not have it out in public. When I was working for the church and we were looking at bringing in Gallup Clifton Strengths to help get our parishioners more involved, we looked at getting a coach, and financially it made more sense to have someone on staff get certified. I had an interest in that and the pastor supported that. When I took the assessment and saw what my results were, there were a couple of things that were surprising, but more of it was a confirmation of who I am and who God created me to be. It really helped me understand that yes, I've been in management for many, many years and I can do it well, though I do get burnt out. It helped me understand why I could do certain things well, but why it was not in alignment with who I was created to be. I'm one of the people that needs to continually learn, and I am really for people. I want to see people succeed. I want to help them succeed. So the Clifton Strengths Assessment was the absolute turning point that helped me understand my God-given talents and how to use them to live out my purpose.

The best career advice I ever received was to pray first. That simple guidance has shaped how I approach everything in my work and has been foundational to my success.

I would tell any woman, first of all, that she needs to figure out who she is, not who people tell her to be, not who necessarily others think she should be. I mean, there are cues from other people, and you can take that into consideration, but you really need to get to know who you are and who you're created to be, so that you can use those innate talents to find and live your purpose. In my industry, I think that is especially true, because in coaching, it's really about connecting with people to really have a relationship to help them be successful through the coaching process. If you don't have a clue who you are, it's really hard to help other people.

The challenges in my field are that a lot of people are mainstreaming and they call themselves a coach, and they want to say, join this group coaching for $20 a month. A lot of people are attracted to that because of the low cost, but they're not getting the quality, and everybody's looking for a quick fix, and a lot of times, most of the times, it's not a quick fix. There's also confusion between coaching, mentoring, and counseling or therapy, because that is a huge, huge difference. But the opportunities are also the challenges. The challenges give you the opportunity to stand out and to show people what you actually have to offer and what sets you apart.

In my personal life and really in my work too, family is most important. Being able to have time to not just go to church, but actually have a relationship with God, that's important. That's a struggle for a lot of people, you know, to be able to live their faith while they're at work. Integrity, honesty, and authenticity are also critical values for me. You need to be able to trust people, and without those things, it's very hard to trust people and believe what they say.