About Our Founder, Bob Monte, Executive and Leadership Coach

I consider myself one of the luckiest people I know as I have had a most engaging and fulfilling career, helping executives, professionals and entrepreneurs in leading edge organizations assess their challenges and implement creative and innovative solutions. Today, I help individuals and groups meet their goals by overcoming obstacles, challenges and relationship problems. I love what I do, particularly the new challenges and learning opportunities my clients present. I feel really privileged to be allowed to work with such successful, respected, intelligent and highly creative individuals. I believe with all my heart that the very best solutions and decisions are not imposed on, but rather are drawn out of the people already in place—that is what coaching is really all about. So many outstanding superiors, teachers and mentors have helped me “draw out” my strengths, to get to where I am today, at the ‘top of my game.' I feel a
call to share with others what I've learned and been through, but inevitably I end up learning much more than I teach (although my clients always claim that THEY learn more than they teach me).

My work facilitates the development of real leaders! Warren Bennis nailed down the essence of real leadership in his book ORGANIZING GENIUS – The Secrets of Creative Collaboration. He says, “the most exciting groups…the ones that shook the world…resulted from a mutually respectful marriage between an able leader and an assemblage of extraordinary people. …In today's Darwinian economy, only organizations that find ways to tap the creativity of their members are likely to survive.” I endeavor to bring that sentiment and style to every individual I meet and every assignment I undertake. Bennis is smack on in concluding that “none of us is as smart as all of us” and that “the true leader “finds greatness in the group. And he or she helps the members find it in themselves.”

Can you blame me for being excited about getting to do this work every day? And if you're wondering what has
led me to this place, read on to learn more about where I have been and the challenges that made me who I
am today.

In 1975, I began my corporate career with the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). When I left in 1990, I was Board Secretary, responsible for Strategic Planning and Forecasting, Data Quality and Collection from the entire industry across Canada. What kept me there from 1975 to 1990? Here are a few highlights…

As Provincial Governments continually threatened to nationalize auto insurance, Rating Boards were set up to regulate how rates were calculated and to impose rate caps. My job was to manage all of the branches that covered provincial government relations and develop reports using industry data to redirect government nationalization proposals. I was the team leader for all contract and in-house actuaries, economists, demographers, futurists, opinion leaders and world experts in insurance and planning. I also built relationships with a broad spectrum of industry, academia, think tank, political and regulatory officials. I collaborated on studies with other large insurance organizations, government agencies/departments, think tanks and large consulting firms like Booze Allen Hamilton, McKinsey and KPMG.

At IBC It often fell to me to represent user groups as large IT projects were being planned and implemented. Itranslated the needs of ultimate data users for IT professionals and discussed options with them, then translated their findings in everyday language to our senior management team and move things smoothly to implementation. (I also led the building of the on-line interactive, data base driven MLS system at the Toronto Real Estate Board – a system that in the early 90's, was far ahead of it's time.)

After I left IBC, facilitating Change Leadership and Business Turnarounds played a major role in my career. In the midst of worst real estate recession to date (1991) I was appointed Executive VP and COO of the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) where I led its transformation into a world class company that provides quality products and service excellence. From 1992 – 1999 I led North Waterloo Insurance through a complete systemic overhaul, going from a worst-in-class, unfocussed Insurer, to a best-in-class niche marketer of Agri-Business Insurance services. Annual revenue increased from $10.3M to $23.M in 4 years. 75 staff were reduced to 50 through attrition. The Company was recognized by National Quality Institute for qualitative improvements in operations and I was nominated for the Caldwell/CTV, 1995 National CEO of the year.

In the late 1990s, I founded my own consulting firm, providing Strategic Planning, Data Analysis, Policy Planning and Issues Tracking services for clients that needed to ‘ramp up' their planning and policy/issues tracking capabilities. Often they needed help obtaining greater data, and analyzing that data, to enhance their strategic planning and strategic operating implementation. Frequently this required simplifying data requirements, analyzing and ‘translating' data into accessible and usable tools for my clients. But as I have always found people far more interesting and intrigued than even the most interesting data, my focus shifted to helping individuals and groups meet their goals by overcoming obstacles, challenges and relationship problems, and Icon Executive Coaching was born.