Listen in as Kaitlin Fahey, CEO & Founding Partner of Magnify Strategies and former Chief of Staff to Senator Tammy Duckworth, tells a story about the impact Deb Loftus had on her own development as a leader (extracted from Kaitlin’s 2021 keynote commencement speech at Northwestern’s School for Professional Studies).
“Professor Loftus questioned me…she pushed me out of my comfort zone…her class fundamentally changed me for the better.”
… eye-opening and extremely beneficial…
“I began the coaching process with some skepticism about whether I would learn anything that I didn’t already know or would otherwise be useful. Dr. Loftus conducted a series of one-on-one interviews to collect feedback. The resulting data was amazing in its completeness. There were many new insights … and some total surprises. Most importantly, I got a very clear picture of my role, effectiveness, and the changes that needed to be made.
The entire process was eye-opening and extremely beneficial. Deb was invaluable in boiling the information down to the essential points and translating these points into a detailed action plan. The coaching process has been invaluable to me, and I would recommend it to anyone in a managerial position.”
… 100% of the attendees found Deb’s work with us valuable…
“My function has worked extensively with Deb in work that has ranged from high level visioning & strategic planning to helping us improve our abilities to work together as a team. She is the whole package – she brings valuable content, is able to communicate it in an engaging manner and elicits rich discussion which results in personal and group insights. As an example, in a recent a post-meeting survey, a full 100% of the attendees found Deb’s work with us valuable (versus 60% approval ratings for another vendor we used in the same meeting). The results were no surprise to me given the many experiences I’ve had working with her as a partner in improving the performance of my function.“
… gain credibility and build strong working relationships…
“Deb Loftus was my coach when I stepped into a new general counsel position. Her coaching enabled me quickly to understand both the company and the legal organization and to gain credibility and build strong working relationships within each. Deb also provided significant organizational coaching to our law department, making us stronger as a group and as individual lawyers. Quite simply, Deb is spectacular! I’ve gained tremendously from working with her.”
… valuable and effective…
“The coaching that Deb Loftus did was both valuable and effective. She helped me see and understand myself from a different viewpoint and played a pivotal role in my success in being promoted. The work we did together has helped me grow both personally and professionally.”
… a delight to work with…
“Deb and I have collaborated on many team and organizational assignments together. She is creative, well spoken and can take even the most difficult of situations and handle it with ease. She is a delight to work with and never ceases to surprise me with her innovation, tremendous insight and gift for thinking through the most difficult of situations.”
… extremely insightful…
“Deb is a terrific executive coach. She worked with me to identify my mental models and how they impact my leadership & decision making. Deb has challenged me to identify alternative ways to handle issues and is extraordinarily insightful. She is a true pleasure to work with.”
… integrity and expertise far exceeded my expecations…
“Debra is a highly skilled professional with demonstrated results. Her coaching approach is structured yet flexible enough to adjust to multiple situations. Her integrity and expertise far exceeded my expectations. She is one of the best practitioners I’ve seen in the discipline.”
…insightful, compassionate, professional…
“My descriptors for working with Liminal Solutions include “insightful, compassionate, professional, informed perspective, thought provoking and direct.” Our work had an immediate impact on my self awareness, helped me communicate with people on tough subjects and added confidence & speed to my decision-making.”
“I lost count of the number of “ah hah” moments during our session.”
“The team development session Liminal Solutions conducted for us was truly outstanding and my leadership team left wanting more. We had planned an hour of time devoted to the more mundane work of the Division, but the unanimous choice was to defer that work and get the hour back to further mine the rich materials and learning all of us were doing. Several sidebar conversations since our session tell me that we made some really good progress.
Our facilitators did a great job of explaining the tool and the thinking behind it. They also helped us better understand the practical implications. I lost count of the number of “ah hah” moments during our session. They also succeeded in holding their own with my sometimes challenging “thinkers.”
All in, it was great investment of our time and resources. I would be happy to serve as a reference to other leaders who may be contemplating taking their team’s through this work.”
… incredible experience and a passion to help her clients…
“I have worked alongside Deb Loftus in strategic planning situations over the past 10 year period. Most notably, at a $2.5 billion dollar business with 3000 associates, we chose Liminal Solutions to help us develop and implement a corporate strategic plan for a very complex and slow-changing business.
The clarity of Deb’s process and the quality of the output were what we would have expected when working with the world class, large strategy firms. What we didn’t expect but gained as an even greater value were the empowerment, education and development of a new culture within our entire leadership team.
Deb pushed us to explore all strategies, engaged a dynamic group of diverse leaders and finished the delivery of our Corporate Strategic Plan. She has incredible experience and a passion to help her clients define and get after cultural and financial success levels they don’t always see themselves.”
… challenged our thinking…
“Deb facilitated a one-day retreat for our team. Not only did she do a wonderful job of building rapport and credibility immediately with the group, but she challenged our thinking and drove us to a deeper level of dialogue than we had experienced in the past. Her approach was very business-focused yet fun too. We had a fantastic day and the findings of the session have continued to drive our thinking and strategies a full year later.”