I've love to learn, I love to explore new cultures,
meet new people, and really see the world from a global perspective.
And as such, I've always really sought opportunities where I could experience,
and hopefully at the same time have impact back into the communities in which
I'm living and working.
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>> My name is Laurie Fuller.
I'm second year as a business coach with Stanford Seed, supporting East Africa.
I'd been doing some mentoring.
I was a little bit frustrated, to be honest, because it was remote,
it was online.
And so while I found that I was making an impact,
I felt like there was something missing.
I felt like there were opportunities to have a bigger
impact that I wasn't able to do from a remote perspective.
I'm Stanford alumnus, and so
I've always been really close to the university and then through the GSB,
I discovered Stanford Seed and that became I felt the best of all possible worlds.
Be there, be present, be engaged, and
then really be able to think about impact on a much broader scale.
I love enabling change, I've always found myself very comfortable with change,
both on a personal and professional level.
And so I think this idea of change in transformation
really driven me to Stanford Seed.
The way that the business coach works is it's for one year, you generally work
with five companies for six months and then you work for other five companies.
You work in all kinds of industries with all kinds of companies.
So industrial product, fast moving consumer good, restaurant tech, finance.
I've even worked with a band.
There's such a diversity of companies.
But the key is that they all want to accelerate impact.
They all have their own transformation journey.
And you as a business coach, you're there supporting them and guiding them and
just helping them along that journey.
>> Coaching has been amazing because after you finish the C program, you've got so
much information and you don't know where to start.
So what coaching does it comes in tells you,
okay, and Laurie really like to use this phrase, what does success look like?
So with her, you go through a process of defining what does success look like, and
then she's able because she's to come every week, the coach is
able to now start saying, okay, then this is what we need to focus on.
And get your mind thinking about that.
>> When I first got here, when I talked to people, they're like, and where's your
office, and really what I think of is the office's the company that I'm working in.
I'm part of their team, their offices, my office, and
that's where we really spend our time.
That's the element of the on the ground, face to face that I love so much.
I think what's great about the role as a business coach is that the companies
have come through the STP.
They have what we call a T-plan, a transformation plan, and
that's really helping them understand who is it that they want to be?
What are some of the things that they need to focus on in order to get there?
The Stanford Seed is all about impact.
And as coaches, we play a big role in the impact story,
because we're all about execution of the plan and helping them down that journey.
It's about how and where do they focus on the business to enable impact,
and to grow and transform as they've defined it in the plan.
>> The coach took my hand and literally helped me work
the smallest details that I didn't think I will ever have time to do, and
helped me put priority to what is important for
the business to do, rather than to focus on the urgent firefighting matters, right?
It's as having the wind being underneath your wings,
like they help you flap it, so that you can keep on going, does that make sense?
>> It really does become personal and
that's what makes it one of the most rewarding roles I've ever had in my life.
Because it is personal, you become personal friends,
you spend time with them on a personal basis.
You get to know their families.
You get to know the communities that they live in.
And what I love about these executives and
these management teams that we work with, is they're open to the change,
they're open to the evolution that they want to make.
>> If you've got something out of the STP,
then you'll get much more out of the coaching experience.
I would say that don't do it if you're not prepared to work hard.
I think there's a lot of sort of misnomers about the fact that a coach can come
in and help you and do everything for you, but actually, there's a lot more work.
I would basically put it as doing a workshop every week,
which is hard work, but it's very rewarding.
>> It's just been such an incredible experience.
Living and working in East Africa, getting to know the real people,
their challenges, the way they think about business, it's addicting.
Don't treat it as a business trip.
Don't come in and out to the hotel, the company and back.
Take time, get to know people socially, people are so warm and hospitable.
It's such a fulfilling opportunity, both from a professional and
personal perspective that I encourage anyone that's considering it,
just to do it, don't think, just do it and you'll really enjoy it.
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