Shoreline Business Spotlight: True North Professional Development

Kevin Barrett, True North Leadership Development

By Jeremy Gross

As part of our ongoing series highlighting Shoreline's small business community, I sat down with Kevin Barrett, a certified leadership coach and owner of True North Leadership Development. Through our conversation, I learned about his journey from financial analyst to leadership coach, his passion for helping others become more effective leaders, and his commitment to the Shoreline business community.

Read on to find out about Kevin's chance encounter with a psychic, his unique approach to leadership development, and valuable insights for both new and experienced business leaders.

Note to Readers: If you have a favorite business that you’d like profiled in Shoreline Area News, please let Jeremy know!

Jeremy: Tell me about yourself and your business. What exactly does a leadership coach do?

Kevin: What I am is a certified leadership coach. I help people really understand how they can be more efficient and effective in two different categories. The first category is for people that lead strategy & people. So, they need to make something strategic happen in their business and they need people in their business to implement that strategy. The second category would for people who manage tasks & people. Those might be supervisors, or brand-new managers.

Many organizations make the mistake of taking the best accountant and making them the accounting manager. Or they might have the best salesperson teach others how to sell. But those are two completely different skill sets. Unfortunately, it happens all the time.

They take somebody who is incredibly talented and contributing to the organization. And then they put them into a new role - set up to fail and without any lifeline whatsoever.

Jeremy: Do you find yourself usually brought in the middle of the “struggle” to triage and figure out how to move the puzzle pieces around?

Kevin: I do that a lot! Smart organizations realize that putting somebody in the deep end of the pool isn't going to work. And what I'm also seeing more often is that individuals are saying, “Well, my company is not going to help me and I need to help myself.”

In some cases, they're paying for it. Or sometimes they're bringing it to their boss and saying, “Hey, I want build these skills” and the organization will pay for it.

But yes, a lot of times it's to come in and triage and figure it out. But the ones that I really enjoy are where someone is promoted and the organization wants to help guide them through it.

I've had some really great success stories where someone was at the same level as everybody else on their team, and now they're promoted and having trouble drawing the lines between being a friend and being the boss.

Jeremy: It’s like, “I used to go to happy hour with my work friend, but now I need to tell him that he's doing something wrong at work.”

Kevin: Yeah, exactly right. And over the years, I also have developed leadership development programs & classes that address both categories – the people who lead strategy & people, and the people who lead people & tasks.

The one that I'm using right now was actually developed by someone else – but I was brought in to put in a framework & structure around the program. And when they retired, they were looking to sell and I wanted that program. So, I purchased the program and the company, and then incorporated that into my own company.

Kevin hosting the March Chamber luncheon

Jeremy: How did you get into leadership coaching & training?

Kevin: Long ago, maybe 25-30 years ago, I was a financial analyst and working for a mortgage company. The economy was dipping and I was asked to figure out how many people needed to be laid off. Then three months after the first layoff round, they decided to do a second round. They said, “Kevin did such a great job with the first analysis, let’s have him do it again!” But then they took those numbers and shut down the entire division that I worked in… and so I was laid off.

They gave us a career counselor as a part of the package. And that career counselor said to me, 'What parts of your job did you really like and what didn't you like?'

Even though I'm highly introverted and I don't necessarily like being in front of groups, one of my duties had been to help with training on new software. I really enjoyed that. But the average job tenure for a software trainer was about 1.5 years because of burn out. So, I actually developed a software trainer program to help keep trainers longer. By the time I left my role as a software training manager, I had increased the average tenure to 4.5 years, and the program I developed was rolled out company-wide.

I had a natural affinity for helping people be more efficient and be more effective, and finding ways to keep people longer, which is always a huge benefit to companies.

Along with the leadership training programs I developed, I decided to really formalize that by getting a coaching certification.

I actually now have two coaching certifications, which really taught me to be much more effective at helping people do what they need to do, to be able to understand how they get in their own way, and how to be able to understand how they're perceived by others.

Jeremy: At what point did you transition from the corporate world to more of an entrepreneurial adventure? Did you start with coaching on the side?

Kevin: I had a pretty full plate with the number of employees that we had, but I was coaching on the side. I had been in a position for almost nine years with a retail company that had hired me to do leadership development – but it kept being pushed off. If anybody's ever been in the retail world, they know that whatever is selling is the most important thing, right? So, there was sales and product training. But we never fully got into leadership training. And I got to the point where that's what my passion was, and so I decided to leave.

I worked as an independent contractor for about a year creating leadership development training for different organizations. That's how I ran into the program that I ended up buying.

I also hired a career coach who told me that I needed to open my own business. But I had been down that road before I was a financial analyst - there just was some bad stuff that I didn’t want to go back to.I told her that I didn’t want to start a business and we finished our coaching session.

She called me about 20 minutes later and she said: “I have your first client. You need to call her at 10:00 tomorrow morning and don't mess it up!”

Within days, I was filing incorporation papers for my own business! That was in 2017 – so I’ve been in business for a little over 7 years now.

Jeremy: What was your apprehension?

Kevin: When I was in college, I had owned a carpet cleaning business with a really good friend of mine. And it just imploded. And my friendship also imploded.

As anybody who runs their own business knows, it looks all glamorous on the outside, right? But you’ve got to figure out how to pay the mortgage and you're constantly having to think about where the next client is coming from, how am I going to work with people, how am I going to get people to pay their bills, am I charging the right price?

Jeremy: As a kid, did family or friends point out anything that indicated you’d be doing something like leadership training?

Kevin: I think people recognized that. Particularly in high school and through college when I was in management for McDonald's. People would say that to me all the time.

More importantly for me, and this is really an odd piece of information, but I happened to go to a happy hour with a friend of mine one night. And at the bar they had psychic readings for 5 bucks. I thought, “Oh, this will be fun. I’ll have some beer and get a $5 reading.”

And the psychic said something to me that nobody had ever said to me before, which was: “Kevin, you're a teacher.”

Now I'm always very cautious with somebody who's a psychic because, you know, if I was a psychic, I would be looking for certain cues that would tell me what to say. I was very cautious about what I told her.

But she said, “You're a teacher.” I was like, “No, I'm not a teacher.” She said: “Yes, you are. You're a teacher and you're going to help people to be better at what they do.”

That was the first time that I went, “Oh, ok, you know what, she's right.” There are all these little things that I do that point to “I am a teacher.” And I'm just very, very passionate about leadership and about having good leaders because there are so many bad ones out there. So that all kind of came together!

Kevin with Lara Grauer at the 148th Light Rail Station opening

Jeremy: I love that story. It's like, “oh, the fortune cookie said so”!

Kevin: I think it just created a shift in my mind to look at myself a little bit differently and what I was actually was doing in my life.

Jeremy: What does the future look like for you? Are you sticking with the solopreneur thing? You mentioned you have some different programs that you've developed.

Kevin: We offer a number of different training programs. I still do some software training and communication training. But more and more I'm focusing on our leadership development program.

We have two programs under the umbrella of what's called “Success Minded Leader”. One is focused on people that are managing strategy and people, and the other is one for managing tasks and people. I'm in the process of writing a book about that whole concept as well.

Initially, those programs were all face to face in a classroom over 5 days. But the world doesn't operate that way too much anymore and it's really not all that good for learning either. So now those are six-month programs with about four hours of work every two weeks – and much of it is online. There are also 2-hour sessions with other people in cohorts. We try to keep them small so they can really interact with one another.

They become very, very close over the course of the program and they're very supportive of each other.

I get kudos at the end of the programs for being their teacher and coach – but the biggest comment that we get is around the coaching that was done by their cohort, and how that really helped them. We teach them how to be coaches. We give them situations where they can coach each other.

That's really where we're headed - really focusing on building out those programs.

Jeremy: With needing to eat and sleep at some point during the day, you're limited with how many people you can take on. How many clients do you have?

Kevin: With the programs, I’ll have 6 to 8 people in any cohort. And I'm doing individualized coaching sessions with each of them as well.

In addition to the programs, I coach between about 4 and 6 individual clients. That all keeps my schedule very, very full.

Jeremy: How do you manage your time between business and personal life?

Kevin: When I was in the corporate world, it was very out of balance - particularly because I traveled quite a bit. One advantage to owning your own business is you can balance a little bit more. You have a little more freedom to say, “I'm going to take Tuesday morning off.”

But early in my business, I was working all the time. There may not be full days, but I'm working seven days a week. At one point, I think I was on my 29th day in a row working on my business and I was like, “Something's got to change here.”

My style of work tends to be working for a while followed by a short 5-to-10-minute break to get up and walk around, do some things, then come back and keep working.

I've gotten to the point now where I know the signals for when my brain is checking out! I just need to look at the news or open up Facebook for a few minutes, or grab some water or walk around the neighborhood a little bit, you know?

Jeremy: You have a number of business years under your belt. What feedback would you give new business owners to help avoid any mistakes you’ve made?

Kevin: I think passion is not enough. You need discipline to look at the financial things and to say, “No, I'm not going to spend the money on that thing right now.” And entrepreneurs have a million ideas, things that they want to do right now. So, it's really focusing on what is needed right now.

Particularly in stretches where I literally was going from one thing to another to another to another, I wasn't taking a step back to look at the big picture. I wasn’t asking myself: “I want this business to sustain for a long time. What should I be doing to make sure that business lasts?”

It's very easy to get caught in the daily grind. Keeping a view on the long view is really important.

Jeremy: That makes a lot of sense. But how do you do that?

Kevin: What I teach to people all the time is to look at your week ahead of time. Either Sunday night or Monday morning, look at what needs to happen and when you are going to do those things. And actually getting that on your calendar. Otherwise, it’s very easy for other people to grab your time.

I have a couple of times that I refer to as my prime times. I know that I can get a ton of stuff done from 7:00am to 9:00am. And later in the afternoon from 1:00pm to 3:00pm, although I'm not quite as productive as I am in the morning. I’ve blocked those times out and I only release them if I think I don't need them that day.

So, if I have to get a budget done, I’m going do it from 7 to 9 because that’s when I’m the sharpest. And then I have to balance that with getting up and taking a walk!

Jeremy: Ok, good – right now, we’re talking in the 1-to-3 prime time window. That means I have fairly-sharp Kevin now!

Kevin: You picked a good time! Absolutely.

Jeremy: How does Shoreline fit into your business? Your business is not necessarily hooked to geography - you can kind of be anywhere, anytime.

Kevin: Shoreline really came into my life primarily by being asked by the Chamber of Commerce to speak at one of their lunches. I got to know some of the board members and the president at the time asked me if I would facilitate a planning meeting.

But the thing that has kept me here is Shoreline is such an incredible city with a great group of government people. It's got a great chamber and it's a very, very blossoming community.

There's just so much that can happen in Shoreline that's going to be really, really exciting to be a part of. I’m the current vice president of the chamber and next year I'll be the president.

With my educational and business background, I can really impact business owners within Shoreline to be more effective and more successful at what they do.

The Small Business Administration says that only 25% of small businesses make it through the first five years. And it drops off even more after that. So, to have businesses last more than five years, it really takes people that are sharp and can manage their business well. That's been my driving force to get very involved with business owners in Shoreline.

Jeremy: Do you work in any specific niches? Do you have an ideal client profile?

Kevin: I don't have a particular industry that I only work with or a niche. My skills can help all different businesses. For some reason, I've had a lot of credit unions drawn to me.

I’ve also had a lot of businesses with a married couple that's running it. That's a very interesting dynamic because very often it's the… I'll just say it’s one of the spouses… that thinks they know everything and the other spouse is usually managing the office and the day-to-day. Once in a coaching session, I was told, “this must feel a little like marriage counseling to you.” And I'm like, “Yeah, it kind of does, but I’m not a licensed psychologist! But I can help you work through and find the most important thing to focus on for the business.”

Jeremy: Do you ever get any push back from clients that you’re trying to coach? Maybe they’re thinking that they’re not doing anything wrong?

Kevin: Over years and years of coaching, I have recognized that some people think they want coaching, but they're just not ready. My goal is always to meet the client where they're at and be very frank with them. Especially with someone who's very resistant about anything they're doing. They might get defensive or they put up that wall of “it's not me.”

I've had this in the corporate world as well. Someone will say, “Hey, I want to bring you in to fix these people.” Then I'll start to ask them questions and let them know that some of issue may be coming from their approach to managing.

One time, I actually had AVP of Sales who said, “Oh, you're one of those guys… it's all my fault.” I replied with: “I'm not telling you it's all your fault. I'm just saying the dynamics and the culture comes together not only from the people that you bring in and what they're doing right, but from your leadership as well.”

You really have to look at it holistically.

Jeremy: I know you're mostly working with clients in a business capacity. But there must be a huge impact in their 360° life as well – at home, with spouses, partners, family, friends.

Kevin: Without question, it is transferable. That's one reason that I really focus with people on building their vision – not just for business or your work or your team – but their overall vision. If you can incorporate your vision for your personal life with your vision for your professional life, you're going to have a much better life with better balance and more satisfaction.

Rather than 2 different visions that actually clash with one another. Maybe they’re traveling more than they want to be, and missing their kid’s Little League game or recital.

Jeremy: What's one thing you wish people knew about your industry or business that is often misunderstood?

Kevin: A lot of people decide to become coaches because they have been good at giving advice. Maybe their colleagues or their neighbors or their family always come to them for advice.

But a coach is not someone who gives advice. A coach is someone who listens and then helps you by asking key questions to really come up with the perspective that works best for you.

There are just a ton of people out there calling themselves coaches, but really are just advice-givers. It's really important for anybody who's looking for a coach to understand what certifications that coach has.

Most coaches of any merit will give you at least 30 minutes for free to get to know them, make sure there's a good fit, and that you really understand how they're going to help you.

Otherwise, you might get folks that are just not qualified to really help you get where you need to go.

Jeremy: That’s a cool distinction between advice-givers and question-askers. It's like giving them the fish instead of teaching them to fish.

Kevin: There's just been a ton of research on that. If somebody decides what to do on their own through gaining perspective, they're much more likely to do it... compared to if I say “go do this and then that.”

Now I can't say that I’ve never done that. There are times where I'm like, “you're not listening, you're not picking up the perspective, you need to go try this.” But it is a position of last resort for me.

That's one of the things that I tell people throughout the program, and particularly at the end. Now it's in your hands. You've got to figure out how you're going to sustain all of the self-awareness. I'm encouraging people to journal because it's very revealing when you write about yourself, your decisions, and your obstacles.

I'm really trying to help the person discover answers on their own because then they're more likely to make it happen and be more sustainable. That’s their biggest chance for success.

Jeremy: What's the best way for people to reach out to you or learn more about you?

Kevin: My company website is TrueNorthSkills.com and our programs are at SuccessMindedLeader.com. I am on Instagram and Facebook at TrueNorthSkills. I'm on LinkedIn under Kevin Barrett. Or you can always reach me at 425-835-2124.

Business Contact Details

Visit https://truenorthskills.com and https://successmindedleader.com. 

Or call Kevin at 425-835-2124.


Interviewer Details

Jeremy Gross is a personal & business finance and cash flow coach for small business owners. He loves learning about each business owner’s journey into entrepreneurship and helping others on their business adventures! 

You can reach him at jeremy@youpluscash.com or learn more at www.youpluscash.com.

Previous Business Spotlight stories can be seen here.