Q&A

The leadership coach retail execs rely on

What top performers gain from Carolyn Mahboubi’s coaching framework

Mind over matter? They say success is as much a state of mind as it is a healthy bottom line. Carolyn Mahboubi helps entrepreneurs achieve both.

Before she became a certified life and leadership coach, Mahboubi held executive and management roles at luxury retailers Hermès, Yves Saint Laurent, Bulgari and Gucci. And she owned her own business for 17 of those 30 years—the first U.S. Versace franchise.

The skills she developed during 30 years in retail are many of the same ones that she uses to help her clients create more prosperous and purposeful lives for themselves. Here, she shares what the journey taught her and why talking and listening (listening more than talking) are two skills that every successful person should cultivate.

—Interview by Marcy Medina, edited by Bianca Prieto

How did you transition from retail to coaching?

The core disciplines of seeing deeply and hearing forensically are the foundations of life-changing coaching. And I practiced these skills for three decades in a seemingly unrelated field. So when people ask me today how long I’ve been a coach, I say four decades, although I officially launched my practice 10 years ago.

Which aspects of working for retail organizations did you bring into your coaching practice?

It’s really interesting to be coaching someone who was once your boss or CEO. I know what retail executives are dealing with because I’ve been on the other side. I’ve experienced what their blocks are and I know where they could do better.

Although I always had management roles, my not-so-secret guilty pleasure was spending time on the sales floor. People often thought that I found any excuse to get on the sales floor because I loved selling. But they had it all wrong. I loved the conversations that ensued in the intimate and magical space of the sales floor and the dressing room. Never, ever did I “sell” anything. What I did do, quite masterfully over time, was to create space for deep, meaningful conversations.

What did your past jobs teach you about client relationships and shopping behavior?

At the level of luxury brands that I worked with and for, none of the customers were making purchases based on “need.” Not one of them “needed” another handbag or a suit. The magic of the brand would entice them to step into the store for the first time, but it was the conversations that had them returning again and again.

How do you help your clients get into the success mindset?

First I help them understand the distinction between clarity and vision. A vision of where we want to get to, however imperfect it may be, is the start line of all successful endeavors. But unlike what we are led to believe by Instagram, vision doesn’t dawn upon us like a Balinese sunrise!

Vision is harvested through the practice I lead my clients through. The central discipline in skillful coaching for cultivating is the ability to hold deep, skillful conversations. I’m often asked what I do in a coaching session that is so valuable. The simple answer I give is, “We talk and your life changes.”