Deb Dib

Visionary, gutsy, fun CEOs, senior executives, and rising stars—with a strong profit motive and a social conscience—are my sweet spot. Like me, these leaders aren't interested in the status quo, refuse to let work suck the passion out of them, and are as dedicated to their companies, teams, and world as they are to themselves. And they are not sharks or suits! Sound like you?

Collaboration with savvy, smart, socially conscious people makes me so happy! Whether partnering with personal branding clients for coaching 1-to-1, delivering Reach personal branding workshops and keynotes to enlightened teams and companies, writing about personal branding with my brilliant colleague William Arruda, creating personal branding and career communications curricula, or teaching innovative new concepts to colleagues, I love my job.

My unabashedly idealistic and practical mantra? "Changing the world one executive at a time!" Everyday I get to help people catapult their careers, achieve their particular dreams, and make the world a little better (or a lot!). Once I took a fun political quiz that pegged me as a "liberal leaning libertarian." That contrarian label seems to fit my "profit with a purpose" vision.

I'm fascinated by how people do what they do, and what they've overcome, and I've found that successful people often have such contrarian pieces within themselves. For instance, I'll go to the mat for my family, my clients, my beliefs, or new ideas. Yet I was (and sometimes still am) a knees-shaking, change-reluctant innovator. Go figure. Over the many years of my career I've found that momentum is all about passion and hard work, and that progress (and pride) come from hurdling courage challenges that scare the ___ out of me. Now, when I'm passionate about something I gulp and "just do it."

Here's another contrarian fact: The oldest of nine children, I was born, raised, and worked in New York City. Now I live and work on Long Island, closer to the Hamptons than Manhattan. People often think of me as a "big city coach" but in my off-hours I'm happiest writing by the marina, walking the woods or the beach, feeding the birds, or reading a great biography or novel. That's why some of my favorite places, are Mid-coast Maine, Key West, Long Island's shores, and the woods in my own backyard.

What's your contrarian success story? I'd love to know!