I am excited to bring you another Bright Arrow Coach Spotlight, featuring Natalie Siston. I hope you enjoy getting to know our coaches and getting a glimpse into their personalities and coaching style. All of our coaches are highly trained, experienced, certified, and hand-selected for our clients. Serving as executive or leadership team members for organizations of all sizes, our coaches have walked in your shoes. Bright Arrow coaches spent decades navigating the business landscape and successfully climbing the corporate ladder prior to entering the executive coaching field. Our coaches have experienced the same volatilities and uncertainties, complexities, and ambiguities prevalent in most organizations today.
Let’s get to know Natalie Siston, Bright Arrow Coach.
Why did you become a coach?
I met with a colleague at my last company and he asked me if I had ever considered becoming a coach. At the time, he was the 5th person to ask me the question. When he told me he was on the faculty at one of the top coaching programs in the world, I listened closely and signed up that week. That was in 2016 and I haven’t looked back a day since starting the journey. There is something powerful about creating a relationship with a stranger and seeing them transform over a 3-, 6- or 12-month experience.
What are your special focus areas as a coach?
I enjoy working with leaders in order to help bring more of themselves to their role, team and organization. We do this by thinking about connection, community, and contribution.
What is it like to work with Bright Arrow and Bright Arrow clients?
Because they are part of an ecosystem of coaching and leadership development, they are ready to go deep. They are ready for transformation at a personal and team level.
What do you believe is important that leaders embody in order to be effective in the future?
Leaders need to care about their employees as people now more than ever. Covid-19 has literally brought co-workers into one another’s homes through our virtual work environment. When leaders can see and appreciate their team members as full people, they can usually tap into previously untapped potential or discover hidden motivation. At the simplest level, when team members are cared for, they have positive, healthy things to say about work at the dinner table.
What is the best advice about leadership you’ve ever received? OR your favorite quote about leadership?
The following was the quote on my calendar on my 40th birthday: “Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work, one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson – In a world where women, in particular, are told not to have too much ambition, this is a daily reminder to go after our dreams and what is important to us.
Tell us a little about yourself.
I was born and raised in Republic, Ohio (population 600). It is where I learned my greatest leadership lessons regarding work ethic, commitment to community, and problem-solving. Since leaving Republic for college at Ohio State, I’ve worked in non-profits, higher education, Fortune 100 companies and start-ups.
What do you do in your free time?
I like to run, write, read, and watch my two daughters play all of the sports (soccer, softball, track, cross country & dance).
Something people are surprised to learn about you.
I was once a competitor in the Ohio Junior Miss scholarship program. I acted and played piano for my talent.
