Maureen Monte
At her core, leadership coach Maureen Monte is a people person, which led to her passion for helping others find their inner road to success. Her two books and companion programs, Destination Unstoppable and Win Like a Girl, help develop a competitive advantage necessary to succeed in life from the locker room to the boardroom.
Thousands of people have participated in the Destination Unstoppable® and Win Like A Girl® workshops globally, including nearly 2,500 athletes, coaches, and U.S. Olympic teams, Monte said.
“These concepts work because all teams are comprised of people, and the people part is often the hard part, but that’s what we concentrate on,” explained Monte, an engineer and business consultant with a masters in Leadership and Business Ethics, from Duquesne University. “I think there’s a basic misunderstanding that teams shouldn’t struggle, but the reality is all teams struggle, whether in sports or in business. I provide confidence training and exercises to assign each teammate a specific role, measure the untapped talent in the room so everyone feels valuable, and align with clear success metrics – both the WHAT we want to achieve and HOW we behave to get there – a process that can cross over from sports to business, parenting and more.”
Monte’s first self-published book, Destination Impossible, chronicles the real life depiction of these success principles in action, involving the 2015 Cranbrook-Kingswood Boy’s varsity hockey team. When their coach called and said they were on a losing streak and struggling, she knew she could help.
”The team’s ‘trust bank’ was broken and I got them to commit to helping each other make ‘deposits’ rather than ‘withdrawals,’ and transformed them from fractured to unified, implementing important systems of success,” said the 65-year-old leadership consultant. “There is no prescription ‘confidence pill’ unfortunately. Confidence requires training, tracking progress, relentless encouragement and not removing fear, but building bravery.”
After only a few hours working with Monte, and a talent assessment evaluation she uses called Clifton StrengthsFinder, the hockey team became state champions six weeks later – a real-life testament to the benefits of the program.
Experiencing the tragic loss of her father as a child became a driving force behind the success coach’s goal to create personal confidence in others.
“I had no tools to deal with the crisis situation, and I wanted to create a roadmap for other young girls to feel empowered and confident to handle their own lives.”
Her book, Win Like a Girl, inspired by thousands of athletes and coaches she’s worked with, contains the framework for that navigation system. “It’s important to start early, around age eight, to help develop powerful girls that choose conversation and agency to overcome challenges like being ridiculed on social media, saying no to alcohol and drugs, and asking for help if they are struggling in sports, school or life,” Monte said. She is also an advocate for teaching self-leadership before anything else. “The only way to become a great leader is to first master your own emotions and take full responsibility for yourself,” she noted.
Monte Consulting programs all translate to the business world as well, as she helps bridge the cultural gap between older partners and new employees, and guides executives through multi-billion-dollar mergers.
Free time this summer will find the confidence coach biking or stopping at a favorite spot for breakfast, the Rugby Grille, at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham. “I also love taking a road trip Up North to gems like Houghton or Mackinac Island, and this year I’m looking forward to a wonderful staycation – my life is so booked that an empty schedule feels liberating and relaxing.”
Story: Susan Peck
Photo: Laurie Tennent
