Jeff White knew exactly where his time was going. He also knew it needed to change.
As President and CEO of the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF), the province’s leading startup investment foundation, Jeff was leading an organization with real stakes and serious ambitions.
NBIF was evolving, moving toward bigger things, and Jeff needed to evolve with it.
But most of his energy was going toward the companies NBIF had invested in – working alongside them, supporting their growth, helping them succeed. It was necessary work.
It was also crowding out the forward-looking leadership the moment required.
“I was 75 per cent in the business and 25 per cent on it,” he says. “I needed to flip that.”
That recognition led him to one-to-one coaching with Vision Coaching’s Marilyn Orr — and to a meaningful evolution in how he leads.
With Marilyn’s support, Jeff introduced structure and discipline to how he worked: clarifying priorities, protecting time for strategic thinking, and enabling his team to step more fully into their roles. The shift was deliberate, and it was real.
“She helped me get tools, accountability, and pathways – not just to adjust my calendar, but to enable the people around me to take on responsibilities in a meaningful way.”
The sessions themselves – guided, adaptive, building on each other – kept him engaged and accountable. “I’m all in on these sessions,” he says.
The impact has been both personal and visible. Colleagues have pointed to a new clarity in how he communicates direction – a shift one team member described simply: “You’re shifted. You are showing up.”
Jeff felt it too. At an all-team session in January, asked how he was feeling, two words came without hesitation.
“I’ve never been as calm and never been as confident.”
His output has climbed without his workload increasing. His thinking has sharpened.
And he’s convinced enough in what coaching has done for him that he’s now bringing it to members of his leadership team – because he knows, as CEO, there are limits to what he can offer them himself.
“I can’t be their coach,” he says. “I’m their mentor, their authority figure. That’s a different frame of mind.”
His advice to any leader sitting on the fence about coaching is simple: watch what it can do for you – and for the people around you.
“The work is on you – to make yourself bigger and better, so you can be in a better position to provide leadership, direction, and clarity to the people around you.”
To find out more about the power of one-to-one coaching from Vision and how it can help you or your organization, reach out to us.
