Athena Alliance Members – A Closer Look at Carrol Suzuki

Since I started the Athena Alliance blogtalk radio show I have had the opportunity to share with our listeners the expertise of our diverse group of trainers, facilitators, coaches and consultants.  Each member has a profile featured on our website and I thought for upcoming blogs I would share with our readers a more personal look at some of our partners and in no particular order.

Carrol Suzuki

A few years ago a fellow Toastmaster sent me an email and said he had just attended a course on listening and the facilitator was incredible and that I needed to connect with her.  It took several months before Carrol and I were able to meet.  What can I say?  It was love at first site!  She was everything and more that my friend had describe.  I was so impressed with how she listened to me and I think for the first time in a long time I felt really understood.

I knew right away she was definitely someone I wanted in my alliance. I always do my due diligence with all my new partners and Carrol was no different.  I participated in a program with three other leaders.  It was a really affirming to me that I was a good listener.  We were all able to identify the areas we wanted to work on and through various exercises were able to deepen our ability to really listen to others.  One lady in our group was really impacted by the second session we had together.  She saw how the way she was listening to her boss was affecting her ability to connect with him.  She used the techniques taught by Carrol and reported to us in our third session, things has really changed in their communication and relationship.  I too was able to identify a few filters I had for the people in my life and applied my learning and now have much more open communication with those individuals.

Our clients have consistently complimented me on how great her courses are and continue to use her services as both a facilitator and as a coach.  I too look forward to working with Carrol for many years to come.

Here is a link to Carrol’s profile:

http://webmarketingnorth.net/athena/alliance-partners/carrol-suzuki-b-sc-m-ed-acc

Athena Alliance Members – A Closer Look at Linda Cousineau

Since I started the Athena Alliance blogtalk radio show I have had the opportunity to share with our listeners the expertise of our diverse group of trainers, facilitators, coaches and consultants.  Each member has a profile featured on our website and I thought for upcoming blogs I would share with our readers a more personal look at some of our partners and in no particular order.

Linda Cousineau

Linda was referred to me by our alliance partner Claire Sookman.  I was looking for a bilingual experienced facilitator and coach for a clinic who had an office in Montreal.  During our first conversation it was clear to me that Linda would be a great addition to our alliance.  After checking her references I was able to connect her with my client.  They were thrilled with her work.

She is one busy lady and travels globally delivering programs, in fact she is in Paris at the time I am writing this email.  Recently I had the pleasure of working with her more closely when I was training her on my sales program that she would be delivering in French for me.  I got to experience her in a new way and saw that Linda is a seasoned professional in every way.  Her years of experience are evident as soon as you speak with her. 

Once when she was in Toronto I was introducing her to one of my clients.  We were having lunch together when my client mentioned that she was going to Greece in a few weeks.  Linda got all excited and shared with us the details from her recent trip to Greece.  In just a few minutes my customer and Linda talking like they had known each other for many many years.  That is just how Linda is friendly, authentic and easy to talk to.

I am sure if you ever get the chance to meet her you will agree with my experience of her.

Here is a link to Linda’s profile:

 http://webmarketingnorth.net/athena/alliance-partners/linda-p-cousineau

Athena Alliance Members – A Closer Look at Sharone Bar-David

Since I started the Athena Alliance blogtalk radio show I have had the opportunity to share with our listeners the expertise of our diverse group of trainers, facilitators, coaches and consultants.  Each member has a profile featured on our website and I thought for upcoming blogs I would share with our readers a more personal look at some of our partners and in no particular order.

Sharone Bar-David

When you meet Sharone you experience a very calm, confident and well spoken lady.  I have enjoyed working with her these past few years as she has developed her niche in training and coaching programs that create respectful workplaces.  She has recently become Canada’s first Boss Whisperer.  When I first heard the term I was a little unsure as to what it exactly meant. It means she works with managers who have an abrasive tone about them and she works to help them to become more respectful with others in the organization. Sharone has a passion for helping organizations create respectful workplaces and provides the training and coaching to those who want to move in that direction.  She works both with groups and individuals to identify and change those behaviours that may be experienced by others as bullying or harassment.  A lot has changed in corporations in the past few decades and Sharone is definitely the go-to person when a company has any of these types of issues.

One of the things I respect most about Sharone is her commitment to results.  We once had an organization that was experiencing harassment issues from a senior executive and I was called to help. I connected this company with Sharone and when she couldn’t get anyone from the senior team to return her calls or emails she declined working with them.  When she called and explained that she would not work with them unless the senior team supported the program, I totally understood.  She is committed to results and without buy in from the top, it was not possible.  I feel very fortunate to have Sharone in my alliance and look forward to working together for many years to come.

Here is a link to Sharone’s Profile:

 http://webmarketingnorth.net/athena/alliance-partners/sharone-bar-david

Athena Alliance Members – A Closer Look

Since I started the Athena Alliance blogtalk radio show I have had the opportunity to share with our listeners the expertise of our diverse group of trainers, facilitators, coaches and consultants.  Each member has a profile featured on our website and I thought for upcoming blogs I would share with our readers a more personal look at some of our partners and in no particular order.

Julie Ruben-Rodney

A lot of my alliance members came to me via personal referrals and that is how I came to know Julie.  Dorothy Lazovik had connected with Julie at a networking function and told Julie about my alliance and recommended we connect.    Julie is a veteran trainer/facilitator.  She holds many certifications including Myers Briggs, HBDI, DiSC, McQuaig and De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats to name a few.

Like Dorothy, Julie and I met for breakfast and I knew right from the beginning she was exactly the level of professional I wanted in my alliance and after checking her references it confirmed I was right.

I was able to connect Julie very quickly to one of my customers who was launching an internal college for their managers.  It was a new initiative for this company and Julie was able to support her in creating and delivering the leadership curriculum to start the program going.  That was in 2006 and I am delighted to say that relationship has continued and Julie has consistently been able to address the ongoing and changing needs of this client.

Julie is also an amazing instructional designer and was able to help a client with their internal program that was not delivering the results they wanted.  Julie worked with their internal team to redesign the program, did a train the trainer so this client was able to achieve the outcomes intended for this program.  Julie has also delivered many effective communication programs for our clients.

A few years after joining the Athena Alliance Julie’s husband Jordan also joined our alliance.  His background as lawyer and HR professional has served our clients well in many situations.  Jordan has worked with senior teams and has done one-on-one coaching.  Having both Julie and Jordan on our team has enabled me to support our clients with the level of expertise and professionalism required to deliver the most powerful  leadership programs possible.  They are a team that delivers above and beyond expectations delivering sustainable results.

Julie’s Profile:

http://webmarketingnorth.net/athena/alliance-partners/julie-ruben-rodney

Jordan’s Profile:

http://webmarketingnorth.net/athena/alliance-partners/jordan-rodney