Blame it on Bill (Wilkinsky)

I never saw my career going in this direction.  I wanted to work at Penn in order to gain experience planning events before starting my own business.  While acquiring that experience I decided to develop my leadership capabilities by enrolling in the Organizational Dynamics program.  Little did I know how much the program would change my path.

My fifth class in the program was, 637: Coaching and Facilitating Teams with Dr. William Wilkinsky.  From the beginning, Dr. Wilkinsky or “Bill,” as he likes to be called was the definition of dynamic.  His class challenged me to think about teams in a new way through his highly experiential teaching style.  Bill also introduced me to the idea of coaching and thus began my path to discovering my passion.

After Bill’s class I studied with Dr. Charline Russo and Dr. Ruth Orenstein and continued to discover the coaching profession.  Nine classes completed in the program, I realized that I wanted to pursue this line of work full time.  Although I was only three classes shy of finishing up my Master’s degree, I made the daring decision to restart my graduate school as a member of Organizational Dynamics OCEC (Organizational Consulting and Executive Coaching Program) Cohort III.

In OCEC I had the amazing experience of studying with three experts in the field, Dr. Rod Napier, Dr. Ruth Orenstein and Dr. Charline Russo.  I also had the privilege of learning in a cohort with amazing individuals who valued the learning as much as I did.

Now I live my passion everyday doing work I love.  And when people ask me how I got here, I tell them blame Bill Wilkinsky.  He’s the man who ignited a passion in me. He is one of the people who helped me discover who I was supposed to be.

– Holly Marrone