Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremy Dawsey-Richardson.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Jeremy. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I grew up here in San Diego, the middle of three children. My childhood was filled with sports, commitment to our community of faith, searching for a cure for my boredom on what felt like endless summer days, and more fighting than I’d like to admit with my siblings. I attended Helix high school (where my oldest now attends!) and went to undergrad at SDSU, where I got my BA in English Literature. During my college years, I reconnected with a high school acquaintance and we started dating long-distance while she was at UC Davis. Kim and I married on New Years’ Eve almost 19 years ago. We’ve since had three wonderful, very different children (ages 14, 13, and 7). I started grad school about three months before we had our first child and completed my Master’s in Transformational Leadership in 2009. It’s interesting to reflect on my decision to pursue that specific course of study… almost like I knew where I was headed. I really had no idea at that point.
My career has meandered with stops as a Music Director, Data Analyst for a drug research firm, office Business Administrator, Media Director, Director of a Recuperative Care Unit for people experiencing homelessness and finally, as a VP of Programs in a local non-profit focused on addressing homelessness and addiction. Each experience taught me a different facet of leadership and has prepared me well to step into my current role as a leadership coach and consultant. Unlike some of my more entrepreneurial friends, I really hadn’t dreamt of, or envisioned, starting my coaching and consulting business. After many months of reflection, processing with my inner circle, and beginning a coaching certification through the NeuroLeadership Institute, that was exactly what emerged as the next step for me. So, in March of 2020, I launched JDR Coaching + Consulting. In spite of the difficulty of building a business in Covid-times, that decision was, ultimately, such a gift for our family, as I needed to be available for my kids who are still (like so many others) distance learning. I shifted my approach to be a protracted launch and focused my energy on my kids, and in October, I shifted some of my focus back to my business, so this article is timely! My varied experience and my focus on my own growth as a person and a leader through therapy (including somatic experience work) coaching and spiritual direction have, in aggregate, laid the foundation for my current work as a leadership coach.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’d like to meet someone who’s had this smooth road you speak of! Not at all smooth, but I think most good leaders realize that there’s more to learn from the challenges and “failures” along the way than there is from the successes. Nelson Mandela said, “I never lose. I either win or learn.” On so many levels, he was ahead of his time. He is articulating one of the fundamental elements of what we now refer to as a growth mindset. Cultivating a growth mindset is an elemental part of my coaching and something I take pains to cultivate in myself. It took – and still takes – intentionality on my part to not view my circuitous career path as having wasted time.
Our western perspective, specifically here in the US, is overly preoccupied with the destination, efficiency, and productivity. None of those pursuits are problematic as the means to an end, but too often, leaders view them as the ends themselves. There really are too many struggles to name and myriad small decisions I wish I could have back, or deliver differently, or avoid altogether. However, when I’m able to appropriately reflect and right-size those challenges, I find myself grateful for the learning and growth. Seminal psychologist John Dewey wrote: “we do not learn from experience; we learn from reflecting on experience.” This has become a mantra of mine, and I think one of the fundamental roles of coaching: serving, in part, as a mirror to leaders so they are able to see themselves more clearly in order that they might reflect more fully.
We’d love to hear more about JDR Coaching + Consulting.
I started JDR Coaching + Consulting in March of 2020 after completing a Brain-Based Coaching Certificate from the NeuroLeadership Institute. I come alongside people who are looking for some help identifying their goals, creating a road map, and then I serve as a partner and guide to make sure that each client makes measurable progress toward achieving the goals that we identified together through a structured process at the beginning of our coaching engagement. My specialty is understanding the neuroscience behind decision-making, recurrent barriers, and using curiosity and questioning to help leaders come to insight around how they might be getting in their own way. I provide individual and group coaching engagements and organizational consulting around change management, building healthy teams, and non-profit program analysis.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
That’s an interesting question. I’m proud of taking the risk to venture out on my own in starting my coaching practice, but more specifically, I’m proud of the work I’ve done with my clients become more whole-hearted, present leaders who are expanding their capacity to remain grounded in the midst of upheaval and change; growth in any one of those areas translates to results regardless of the industry.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.jdrcoaching.co
- Phone: 619-672-1432
- Email: jdawseyrichardson@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jdr_coaching_and_consulting/
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