Fred Jones

A former coaching client took on a new role, and looked to me as he began establishing himself on this bigger stage. With a member of his new leadership team, we built an approach to framing and working through strategic issues. The goal: productive conversations toward timely and quality decisions.
All of this has a larger context of historic patterns, those in which leaders tend to use their power to get their way over consideration of the greater good and through principled decision making. My ongoing work helps this senior leader and the team imagine and craft directional shifts in what lies beyond their control, while also watching themselves and how they are leading.

My background in health care has lived on with clients in care delivery systems, insurance, and biotherapy and medical device development. Added to that are bigger and smaller players in the tech sector, manufacturing, professional services, higher education administration and network-centric non-profits enabling social change.

First, by taking on challenges myself as a leader within organizations and letting them develop me. Secondly, by being around people who look far and wide while also reflecting deeply. I discovered that I stay vital by relentlessly experimenting, often drawing on insights and practices formed over decades (and longer) about the complexity of humans and our shared world.

I am a writer and reader, like being by the sea more than in it, enjoy baking bread almost as much as eating it, and joyfully chase rescue dogs around the house and yard. My wife and I love the theater, and while acting isn’t my thing, I have a flair for the dramatic. My spiritual sense has evolved greatly over a long time, leaving me with more wonder and curiosity than ever.

Methods vary based on how we are exploring the inner world and the outer world of challenges faced. It is important to do both. Methods to get at what’s going on “out there” are somewhat different from accessing what’s going on “in here”—whether “in here” means the dispositions and mindsets of individuals or a collective. I have researched and practiced around how people sense what’s possible for change, and selectively use visual tools that enable people to see more and inquire better than they might otherwise.

I work with whole people, but not in a therapeutic way. I always work to understand the particulars of client situations, but don’t serve as an advisor or pretend to be an expert on what you do. I use my experience and expertise to outline what I believe can be helpful and what may not be helpful, and if I don’t think I am well positioned to partner with you, I’ll tell you why.

I have developed three platform-like approaches as a basis for coaching and workshops. Meanwhile Studio supports adults creating time and space to reflect and explore at key times in their lives. Leading on Stage uses theater metaphors to explore the tension between being yourself authentically and being responsive to context. Keeping It all together frames the necessary, inter-related routines for leadership effectiveness, and serves as a repeatable method for developing inexperienced leaders.