Today, I’m talking with Cameron Yarbrough, the Co-Founder and CEO of Torch Leadership Labs, a leadership development company built on principles of psychology and management best practices.
Leaders aren’t born, they’re bred.
Sure, some people may naturally be more inclined to exhibit leadership skills, but nobody becomes a great leader without real work. A certain amount of that needs to come from hands-on experience, but anybody learning exclusively through their own experience is make the journey harder than it needs to be.
This is where coaching can be invaluable–it’s never an easy journey, but with the right coach you’ll be able to make faster progress and go further than you could on your own.
Unfortunately, finding the right coach is anything but easy.
Cameron and his team at Torch hope to change that by not only using technology to find you a coach, but also to bring accountability to the process and make sure you’re heading in the right direction.
In our chat, we dive into what it takes to get the most out of coaching and we go behind the scenes to talk about the challenges of rapidly scaling the company to more than $12 million in funding and dozens of employees over the last 2 years.
Topics covered:
- Company background
- What exactly is Torch and what does the business look like today?
- How did you get started with coaching?
- Founder’s lessons
- How would you describe your role today?
- What unique advantages do you personally bring to the business?
- The value of coaching
- What does your first session with a student look like? What happens before that session begins?
- Is there a Torch “methodology” or does each coach have their own approach?
- How do you maintain quality as you add more coaches?
- What founders are the best fit for Torch?
- Behind-the-scenes
- Do you have a coach?
- What has been the hardest part of building the business for you personally?
- What does success look like to you?
- “Rapid Fire” questions
- Where can listeners go to learn more?
Resources mentioned:
- Co-Active Training Institute
- New Ventures West
- Y Combinator
- Appeasement: Chamberlain, Hitler, Churchill, and the Road to War by Tim Bouverie
- The Founder’s Guide to Discipline: Lessons from Front’s Mathilde Collin
Where to learn more:
To find your own coach, head to Torch.io.
To hear more from Cameron, you can follow him on Twitter or LinkedIn.