Level Up with Ethan Evans (retired Amazon VP)

Make the Most from an Executive Coach with Ethan Evans & Sue Bethanis

37 snips

Jul 4, 2024

Guest

Sue Bethanis

Guest

Ethan Evans

Former Amazon VP Ethan Evans and executive coach Sue Bethanis discuss the significance of executive coaching, key focus areas, maximizing coaching relationships, career transitions, securing sponsorship, confidentiality, and choosing the right coach. They emphasize feedback, company vs. self-paid coaching, and the importance of mentorship. Wrapping up with insights on feedback in the workplace and contact details for coaching services.

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INSIGHT

Why Executives Seek Coaching

Executives seek coaching primarily to "up their game" in leadership, influence, and executive presence.
Coaching helps executives navigate complex relationships and strategically influence outcomes in their companies.

ANECDOTE

Ethan and Sue's Coaching Start

Ethan Evans was introduced to coach Sue Bethanis to "soften him" at Twitch due to leadership tensions.
Their coaching relationship grew into a long-term partnership beyond his executive roles.

INSIGHT

Key Executive Coaching Areas

Strategic influence and executive presence are the core focuses of executive coaching.
Managing team engagement and stress are also critical for executive success, especially in hybrid work environments.

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Level Up Newsletter & Community paid members and the Mariposa Leadership Community were invited to join this live event with Ethan Evans and Sue Bethanis discussing "How to Get Support for an Executive Coach, and Make the Most of It" followed by a live audience Q&A.

Sue was Ethan's executive coach (last and best) when he was an executive at Amazon/Twitch.

If you’re already in executive roles (e.g. Director, Sr. Director, VP) and want to optimize performance or move up further, consider Ethan and Sue's live online course, Cracking the C-suite 'How to Get and Master Key Executive Roles'.

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Show Notes:

00:00 Introduction

03:04 The Importance of Executive Coaching

03:50 Ethan's Personal Coaching Journey

07:48 Key Areas of Focus in Executive Coaching

16:08 Maximizing the Coaching Relationship

30:06 Career and Transition Coaching

41:53 Securing Sponsorship & Making a Business Case for Coaching

44:16 How to Ask for Coaching

45:43 Exploring Company Coaching Programs

46:30 Confidentiality in Coaching

53:15 Deciding Between Company-Sponsored and Self-Paid Coaching

56:55 Choosing the Right Coach

01:13:02 The Importance of Feedback

01:19:57 Conclusion

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About Ethan Evans

Ethan retired from Amazon as a Vice President after 15 years where he led global teams of 800+ and invented businesses such as Prime Video, Amazon Video, Amazon Appstore, Merch by Amazon, Prime Gaming (formerly Twitch Prime), and Twitch Commerce.

70+ patents.
Reviewed 10,000+ resumes, conducted 2,500+ interviews, and 1,000+ hires.
Was an Amazon Bar Raiser and Bar Raiser Core Leader, responsible for training and maintaining Amazon's group of interview outcome facilitators.
Helped advocate for and draft the Amazon Leadership Principle (LP) “Ownership” — the words, “They never say ‘that’s not my job.’” are Ethan's (read the story).

Ethan retired from Amazon as a Vice President in September 2020.

Join Ethan's Level Up Newsletter & Community to get ongoing career advice and leadership networking access.

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About Sue Bethanis

Sue is the CEO/Founder of Mariposa Leadership, Inc., a 15-person San Francisco- based ﬁrm, which provides executive coaching and design thinking to high-tech leaders.

Sue is the author of the well-received business book Leadership Chronicles of a Corporate Sage and hosts the popular show WiseTalk, a monthly leadership forum, and WiseSpace, a Zoom coaching community.

Sue has worked with many Silicon Valley and San Francisco companies and non-profits, including C-level Executives and VPs at Amazon, Apple, Cisco, eBay, EqCA, Expedia, GoFundMe, Google, Guru, HPE, Intel, LinkedIn, Microsoft, MongoDB, Monite, Paypal, Pinterest, Roku, Twitch, Workday, Yahoo!, and Zynga.