Ignition + Presence
I spend time with people and they open up like they never have before. They share things they don’t share. Ever. They tell me what it is like to live life, in their life. They tell me what they don’t want anyone to know.
There is a moment (and I have seen it hundreds of times) when a realization hits with a thud. Not a gradual shift. Not an insight to journal about. A thud.
And in that moment, something that was holding them releases. They are free to be. Free to act. No longer bound by the story that was running their life without their permission.
I’ve been that man. I am that man.
My work is not coaching in the conventional sense. It’s not a methodology or a framework. It is a sustained, private practice of sitting with human beings at the most important crossroads of their lives; and not leaving until something real happens.
I work with very few people. The ones who stay leave differently. Not improved, transformed. Not with a plan or affirmation, but with a self they recognize and trust.
I remember the most uncomfortable coaching session I have ever experienced as if it happened yesterday.
It was not one of my finest moments.
It was 2020, right before Covid hit the world hard. It had been a hellish morning. Both Air Canada and WestJet had changed several of my upcoming flights to Phoenix. I had to reschedule many of those flights for my sessions with my coach, Steve Hardison. Despite the frustration, I was proud of how calmly I handled the situation. I remember wrapping up the last of the details as Steve was walking into the coaching shed.
Steve commenced our time together by letting me know that he had to reschedule a few of our sessions in the coming months. The exact sessions I had been working on for the past three plus hours. My countenance must have fallen, and Steve knew something was up. In fact, he immediately got in contact with Gary in 1997. The Gary that became upset every time there were production snags and quality problems at Mahler Industries.
Shit, I thought I had ditched that dick years ago.
I fell silent and morbid. Steve just let me stew. We sat in quiet for 20 minutes. Steve smiling with eyes shining. Me furious. After what seemed an eternity he smiled and said, “WOW, you’ve been having a hell of a time over there.”
I felt awful, ashamed, and bashful. Steve came to me and hugged me. All my hurt came out.
“Gary Mahler is a master coach worth your time and deepest attention. He brings compassion and tough-minded clarity to mindsets and situations previously thought to be hopeless.”
Steve Chandler · Author · Speaker · The Godfather of Coaching
Gary has absolutely changed my life in a way I would have never thought possible. He has saved my career, he has saved my dignity and he has even saved my marriage. He has done this by helping me be the better person I’ve been wanting to be.
Mike Richie — Owner, Gloo Studios
I had reached an age where I felt that the doors to my dreaming had closed. By the end of the dinner, Gary had given me the key, and when I walked away, I was dreaming once again.
Dr. Bea MacKay — Registered Gestalt Psychologist