Delray Beach resident Georganne Goldblum is a coach
who helps executives grow their businesses.
Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
Georganne Goldblum of coastal Delray Beach has always been driven to accomplish things.
She’s a go-getter, a dynamo, a regular Energizer Bunny.
“I don’t know where that drive comes from,” she says. “My older son Ben is that way, too. We did the Metropolitan Museum in an hour and a half — and he says I slowed him down!” she laughs.
These days, not even a fractured tibia suffered during a skiing accident over the holidays can slow Goldblum down. She’s still holding daily meetings with clients and making plans for business travel, crutches or no crutches.
For the past 11 years, Goldblum has been an executive coach for Vistage, an international business networking organization. Her clients are C-level executives (CEOs, CFOs and the like) whose companies generate annual revenues of between $5 million and $200 million. She draws on her marketing management background to help clients build skills, recognize opportunities and grow businesses faster. Coaching is done in groups and individually.
“As your business grows, the skill set you need for a $50 million business is different than for a $5 million business,” Goldbum says. “In addition, we provide a peer group to bounce your ideas and decisions off of. They’re in the trenches with you.”
Last year, the South Florida Business Journal named her one of the Top 25 Most Influential Businesswomen in South Florida.
Earlier in her career, she had a goal to become CEO of her own company. But when her son Matt was diagnosed with a learning disability called sensory processing disorder, she re-focused her energies.
“Mainstreaming him was more important than anything I was going to do,” she says.
She enrolled her son in an array of therapies — psychological, vision, occupational, social — and found a school in Vermont that accommodated his needs. The special attention paid off: Matt is now an honors student at FAU preparing to graduate with a dual major in information technology and finance.
“What I learned through that whole experience has helped me become a better person, and a better coach,” Goldblum says. “I gained patience and humility and understanding of people that I did not have in my early years in business.”
She also became determined to start a local school for learning disabled children. She is a founding board member of the Florida LD School, a planned nonprofit K-12 school now raising funds to hire a top-rated headmaster and establish a site in Boca Raton.
Goldblum, now 60, clearly has a talent for developing people. And businesses. Her dream for later in life is to return to the African safari camps she has visited and coach the local proprietors.
“You know … don’t pay me, just let me stay at the safari camp and I’ll go through what they’re doing to help them improve their marketing,” she says. “They could be doing a lot more to market themselves.”
— Paula Detwiller
Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A. I grew up in the town of Broomall, a Philadelphia suburb. I finished high school at age 16 and attended Simmons College in Boston as an undergrad, then got an MBA at NYU’s Stern School of Business. I got a great business education from the schools I attended and the companies I have worked for: Gillette, Bristol Myers, General Foods, and Unilever.
I’ve lived in Boston, New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, large metropolitan areas that are stimulating and diverse. Having lived on both coasts, I prefer East. I love the depth of the people and the energy here, and I feel it’s a better fit for me.
Q. What professions have you worked in? What life accomplishments are you most proud of?
A. I’ve worked in consumer package-goods marketing for five Fortune 500 companies. In addition, my husband and I bought an office furniture company in Philly and grew it five times over the next four years before selling it. I’ve been a marketing consultant, and transitioned into CEO coaching after we moved to Florida.
I’m proud of being promoted to senior product manager with General Foods, the premier marketing company at the time. I’ve held increasingly responsible management positions with Unilever and the Mars Corp., and managed a $150 million business and reached a six-figure income before age 30.
I would have to say that I am most proud of my family — my husband, Rick Edick, and our two sons, Ben, 28, and Matt, 22 — and how they have changed my life. They have made me a better person, and without their love and support I could not have achieved my level of success in life.
I’m particularly proud of being the No. 1 Vistage Florida chair for the last five years. The reason this is important is that I have been able to help a large number of CEOs and “C” level executives accomplish their goals. I’m also proud of the important coaching role I’ve played in the sale of several of my CEO members’ companies; two of those companies sold for over $70 million each in the past year. Another CEO member whom I have coached for 10 years has grown his company from under $3 million to $30 million in sales.
Q. What inspired you to start an executive coaching and training business?
A. We moved here in 2000. There were few large companies here, and for the small- to medium-sized businesses here, there were no marketing analytics available to help me understand where/how I could make a difference. So I decided not to pursue marketing. I was introduced to Vistage. I saw an opportunity to help CEOs develop personally and professionally. I find it very rewarding to help motivated people reach/exceed their goals and have an impact on the many they influence.
Q. What role has gender played in your professional career?
A. I’ve always challenged ideas in the workplace. However, it was not always appreciated at the Fortune 500 companies in which I worked. So I moved into a role that allows me to challenge ideas and use my strengths to influence others and make a difference, which is always what I wanted to do. And gender is not a factor in my current line of work.
Q. What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today?
A. Identify your strengths and your passion, what energizes you. Find a company where you fit the culture and can utilize your skills and can grow and feel appreciated.
Q. How did you choose to make your home in Delray Beach?
A. We were looking to live on the ocean and had looked at a lot of options. I met Mary Thompson, who’s now a good friend, and she said, “If you haven’t looked at Delray, you haven’t looked at Florida.”
When we visited to see if the Evert Tennis Academy in Boca Raton was right for our son Ben, who was in eighth grade at the time, I met Mary Thompson and another friend, Barbara Murphy, for lunch on Atlantic Avenue. I knew immediately that I could live here. It’s one of the few places in Florida with a downtown. It has the ideal combination of services and charm. And, we were fortunate to find a home on the beach. Every day, I know how lucky I am to live here.
Q. Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A. I’ve always had mentors in my life and been open to personal growth and being a better person. I found a coach several years ago in California, Beth Adkinson, and rely on her to help articulate my goals, keep me focused, and hold me accountable.
Q. Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?
A. I have several. These are from Beth, my coach in California: Look for gifts; each person is valid and valuable. Help others bring out their own magnificence. Give people a possibility to live into, not an expectation to live up to.
I’ve also developed some of my own words to live by: Don’t be afraid to take risks. And don’t be afraid to challenge the status quo. Be tenacious; always be learning to take care of yourself physically and emotionally, so there is more to give.
Q. If your life story were made into a movie, who would you want to play you?
A. Meryl Streep. She’s an amazing actor, adaptable and flexible. I think she could capture the depth of my personality, and my humor.
Q. Who/what makes you laugh?
A. My family — especially my husband, who has such a great sense of humor, and makes me laugh. I’ve learned to laugh at myself and at life.
Comments