Brett Kaufman recounts joining a YPO forum where he stood out by defending someone others disliked, which led him to connect with a coach named Chet. He describes early meetings (Northstar lunches), learning what coaching meant for him, working through coaching frameworks ("six pack") to find his "opus," and ultimately deciding to leave his employer to start his own venture. He believes he was Chet's first client and continues to engage him for leadership-team coaching.
Chapters
Oh, we're in a YPO forum. Go around the room. Seven good minutes. It's, you know, eight, nine CEOs. Most of them were older than me. And, you know, when Chat left, we went around the room. Everybody said, what you think? They all hated him. I said, I love that guy. I need to figure out what he does and how I can work with him. We went to Northstar. That was the beginning of our many, many North Star lunches. And, you know, I had to basically, like, prove to him that I was a worthy client, you know, discovery questions. I was still working at my old company, and I didn't really know what coaching was. I didn't have any understanding, any context, any reference for, like, a life coach. I had been in therapy, but I didn't really know what a business or life coach was. I just knew there was something about Chet that, like, in my soul, I felt like I knew he could help me. And I think it's like you were kind of describing, you know, going. Becoming a built lead coach. Like, you don't really have any idea what you're getting into, but you think you might have some idea. And it turns out to be so much more. And that's what happened. You know, I just. I knew there was something there, and we started working together, and we did that for, you know, a few years, really, trying to find my op and do all the work, you know, the. Go through the six pack and do the work, and then find the opus, see if I could make my existing gig my opus. Could I bring my opus enough into that company and really put my, you know, my footprint on it in a way that felt aligned and. And then you know, ultimately decided that I had taken that as far as I could really take it and really, to be able to go, you know, chase the. The big dream, I needed to go out on my own. And I think I was Chet's first client. I'm. I'm certain, actually, that I was Chet's first client, that he started from scratch with where there were no employees, no nothing. And, yeah, you know, he was. I was just on the phone with him an hour ago talking about session he had with my leadership team, so.
