Bob has been vulnerable enough to share with us the “stories” he’s told himself through life—limiting factors based on perceptions. Initially I dispelled the thought that I was doing storytelling of my own. Also I was cautious not to buy–in too heavily to merely chanting, “I think I can”. But the stories I’ve built about myself are limiting beliefs. By …
I had the pleasure of having Bob Berk speak to one of my CEO Groups this summer. He said something that resonated and that I have used subsequently to reduce stress for myself and others. “Everything in Life is Neutral …it’s the story that you tell yourself that creates Stress”. Now when events happen that would have traditionally been stressful, …
For several years, Bob volunteered to teach a leadership seminar at the Walter Payton College Prep for our students. The moment he incorporated a discussion on “stress”, it was the talk of the school. Additional conversations followed and we established several avenues for stress relief at the beginning of the school day for students to “focus” their work and day. “Living” in a high achieving high school in Chicago is …
As a conservative CEO of a highly leveraged company, my management style was (and is) to be risk averse. As my Vistage chair, Bob continually challenged me to move beyond my comfort zone. We often joked about my resolute refusal to move down the “J” curve of making significant investments in advance of expected returns. Due to Bob’s persistence in …
Bob runs meetings as a constant example of accountability. So many times in my experience, members leave a meeting without owning what action will be done by whom and by when. Bob’s practices identify those specific things and he makes it transparent if any of us doesn’t live up to our commitments. I have seen this raise the level of …
Bob excels in helping leaders achieve new levels of leadership success. His ability to impact others is grounded in the belief that the whole person shows up to lead. This means he focuses on building self-awareness; challenging limited thinking; and encouraging leaders to access their full potential. Key to his success is that he works in a non-judgmental way and …
Over the years I’ve experienced a number of career moves that put me in increasingly challenging CEO roles. Through my one-on-one coaching sessions with Bob, he has helped me tremendously to identify where and how I should focus my time and effort in leading my teams. Bob has an uncanny ability to see through all the issues facing a CEO, …
Before having met Bob, there was a feeling that I was at the top of my game and that I had accomplished what every successful CEO sets out to do—create, grow, grow some more, then sell. And that’s exactly what we did. That being said, I was amazed to see what happened after my partner and I left our company. …
Bob has encouraged me personally, as well as the entire executive team at Riverside, to stay curious. By that I mean that he has encouraged us to look at things from a different perspective, think broader, and realize that we often learn more by asking the right question rather than having the right answer. I have learned that everyone has …
Bob Berk is a pro at helping people be their best. He combines proven business experience as an accomplished CEO with a natural curiosity and love of people to help the leaders he works with lovingly, playfully and critically question issues and, just as importantly, themselves.
