Coach

Take Charge of Your Life
Find New Paths and Play to Strengths

Do Good Great and Grow

Mark was very responsive, extremely knowledgeable, and inspiringly upbeat . . .I would highly recommend Mark!
Katie Riggs, Masterworks Chorale

"What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place," said Winston Churchill. And what could be more noble than to find your place as leaders? It's hard work for sure and requires sacrifice no doubt, but the good news is that almost all who focus on making the world a better place experience a high level of enjoyment in their work. They're “highly motivated, hard working, and deeply committed primarily by the chance to accomplish something worthwhile.”*
 

You are a fantastic coach!
I had no idea it was going to be so enjoyable–and helpful right away.

Anita Holmes, Executive Director, Mediation Center of Charlottesville
 

Mark is an upbeat and pragmatic leadership/management skills coach who helps others take charge of their lives to do great good. Credentials include International-Coach-Federation PCC level, Gallup Strengths, Center for Creative Leadership, and DiSC. Twenty years of management street smarts including bootstrapping a mom-and-pop into a top-30 arts center. Best practices and training chops from 10 years as a top-rated masters-level prof (DePaul & Case Western). Published writer of articles (Nonprofit Quarterly) and books (Results Now). Coach/Mentor/Trainer since 2014 for Chicago's Howard Brown Health (among the nation's largest LGBTQ organizations) including leading its Future Executives Program.
 

You have become, hands down, one of my most valuable resources.
William Hardy, Chief Executive Officer, Equitas Health
 

The road to something worthwhile can be demanding, which is why having a leadership coach on your team makes a huge difference. Says the dean of coaching Sir John Whitmore, the impact comes from "unlocking people's potential to maximize their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.**

Mark is the kind of leadership coach that Bill Gates describes this way:

"It’s important to have someone who you totally trust, who is totally committed, who shares your vision, and yet who has a little bit different set of skills and who also acts as something of a check on you. Some of the ideas you run by him, you know he’s going to say, ‘Hey, wait a minute, have you thought about this and that?’ The benefit of sparking off somebody who’s got that kind of brilliance is that it not only makes business more fun, but it really leads to a lot of success” (The Trusted Advisor).

I just want to sincerely thank you for your time and effort in helping me see what I wanted, and how to get there.
I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to work with you.

Catherine Langham, Director of Finance and Operations, SARSEF
 

Adding to Mark's substantial on-the-ground experience as successful leader, he is an International Coach Federation Associate Certified Coach and an iPEC Certified Professional Coach. He is a graduate of the Center for Creative Leadership programs in Coaching for Greater Effectiveness and Leadership for Development, and he is certified to use all of the Center's assessments. He is an certified Everything DiSC Workplace, Management, Five Behaviors facilitator, and a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach.

Experience, ability to listen and talent for getting to the heart of things.
Peter Toepfer, Executive Director, Chicago's Center for Housing and Health (testimonial)

Charles Handy writes, “In our hearts, we would all like to find a purpose bigger than ourselves [to] raise us to heights that we had not dreamed of.”*** Where better than Mark to find the partner you need to maximize your purpose and reach those heights.

Great results, personable, expert.
Nora Vondrell, Executive Director, SICSA Dayton

Check out Mark's work and reviews at Catchafire.

* Light, P. (2002). The content of their character: The state of the nonprofit workforce. The Nonprofit Quarterly, 9(3), pp. 6-16
** Whitmore, J. (2017). Coaching for performance: The principles and practice of leadership. Nicholas Brealey Publishing, pp. 12-13
*** Handy, C. (1998). The hungry spirit: Beyond capitalism: A quest for purpose in the modern world. Broadway Books, p. xix

1422 37th AVE, Suite 6
Seattle, WA 98122
(312) 799-1117
mark@firstlightgroup.com
MarkLight.com, FirstLightGroup.com, and GoodGreat.org are web addresses
owned by First Light Group®©. This website was last modified 6-9-23