Our Founder’s Story
Discovering coaching was a life-changing moment for me. From the first time I started using the techniques, I could feel the impact on how I think, work, and handle everyday stresses. Here was something that could really improve my life. Then I pivoted in my career so that I could help other people convert challenges into empowerment. I found my life’s calling.
But let me back up. I graduated from college with a degree in International Relations and worked in investment banking for more than two decades. This included positions in both the technology and strategy departments of a large multinational company — Barclays. Over time, I found myself gravitating toward people projects. A colleague of mine and I started this new initiative where people could come to talk to us about anything they wanted confidentially. I started doing this on the side, and then it wound up being a full-time job. I found that I loved helping people solve their problems within corporations. They are tough places to work.
Many of my colleagues were under tremendous strain, overwhelmed by work, concerned about making good impressions on their managers and stakeholders, meeting deadlines, and overall unhappy and unhealthy. And what people don’t recognize is that others can see the negativity and the struggle. Leadership is about recognizing these reactive behaviors and choosing another pro-active path. Over and over again in daily life, I saw these struggles. Then I started to see that struggles are amazing opportunities to grow. And that you really can reprogram your brain. That’s when I realized that this is my lane. Executive coaching is what I should be doing because I can help. And there’s science to prove it.
For over 25 years, I’ve been studying behavioral and social sciences to learn how to help people help themselves, develop business acumen, succeed professionally, and guide organizations to greater success. This, in turn, powers organizational success, increases employee engagement, and drives effective skills and management. And I've successfully demonstrated success with clients from companies like Barclays, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Deloitte, and JPMorgan Chase, as well as the United Nations, Google, the MTA, and the YWCA. I spent 15 years managing developers and other engineers. I know how they think. I know what their needs are. And I know where there are gaps in their leadership skills. For those reasons, I am passionate about helping analytical professionals be inspiring leaders.
I am also an avid supporter of diversity, was a founding member of several diversity networks at a major investment bank, and received a number of awards and the invitation to ring the opening and closing bells at the NYSE and NASDAQ (see photo below). I have partnered with the YWCA for over 15 years and was inducted into the YWCA’s Academy of Women Leaders.
Everyone is a leader — we are all responsible for the lives we create internally and externally. I can help you identify your leader within and lead confidently from that place. You always live in choice. You can be who you want to be at any moment. You get to choose.
Credentials
•25+ year organizational leadership experience managing large, global teams on Wall Street
•CTI Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC)
•International Coaching Federation (ICF) Professional Certified Coach (PCC)
•Hogan™ Assessment Certification
•Leadership Circle™ (TLC) Certified Practitioner
•Inspirational Public Speaker
Our Approach
We use a combination of classic coaching techniques and teachable business skills — drawing on more than two decades of work on Wall Street. What you come away with from coaching will impact not just your professional life but your personal life as well.
We start by asking clients the questions they need to hear and then help them come up with answers on their own. That’s a sustainable way to learn — as opposed to being told. That’s how coaching works. But our leadership coaching style also brings in business acumen, teachable lessons, and frameworks. For example, if your goal is to influence people, then we would apply a communication-style matrix so you would understand how to adjust the way you interact based on who you are talking to — in addition to understanding what limiting beliefs are holding you back.
In our leadership coaching program, we apply a four-step approach that pinpoints what great leadership looks like, identifies the missing skills and other blind spots, closes the gaps to achieve inspiring leadership performance, and can be handed over to management for ongoing development (if desired). Our behavioral science-based leadership development plan includes:
360-degree assessments, tools, models, and research
Accountability reporting
Results-focused exercises
Coaching summary document
shadow coaching (optional)
Guest Podcast Episodes
“Taming the Wolves of Wall Street”
The Balance Dilemma, Episode 7
I describe some of the crazier scenes I saw on Wall Street, gender bias, and how to manage the work-life balance as a woman (and mom) in finance.
“Women In Leadership”
THE MEANING QUOTIENT, EPISODE 4
I discuss what it was like to be a girl in an Italian-American immigrant family, dealing with patriarchal structures at work, and going through the financial crisis of 2008 from within a Wall Street firm.
“Coach Chat with Toni Cortese”
coACH CHAT, 4/15/21
Change your perspective, change your life. Coach Chat hooks you up with some of the world's leading coaches who share their expertise and give you tips and take-aways for expanding and improving your life and your business.
“Moving Up the Corporate Ladder”
Decoding Corporate America, Episode 3
I explain the importance of networking, creating connections, keeping your options open, and identifying your differentiating skills.
“Wonder Woman Toni Cortese”
WONDER WOMEN IN BUSINESS PODCAST
I explain how I have been developing leaders and teams to achieve their professional goals and guide organizations to greater success by increasing employee engagement, improving processes and culture, and impacting the bottom line.
Articles
“How women succeed in banking: interview with executive coaches Tréasa Fitzgibbon and Toni Cortese”
hernewstandard.com hns news, 4/15/21
Her New Standard tapped into the wisdom of Tréasa Fitzgibbon and Toni Cortese, executive coaches, to get some insights on how to advance women in this industry.
Reading Library
These are books that have inspired me. I list them here simply to share what’s worked for me and my clients.
