Barry Forward, PCC, CEC

A Certified Executive Coach and Professional Certified Coach (ICF PCC), former executive, and senior career management consultant, I have an extensive background working with senior leaders and professionals across a broad spectrum of industries. 

I deliver high impact customized one-on-one coaching to individuals and teams in optimizing their talents, skills and values to enable their own and others’ success. As a senior consultant to start-ups and executive teams, I have supported organizations with processes and approaches for creating and deploying their vision and values, business structure and the development of business and marketing plans.

I have experience in many sectors including technology, energy, mining, academia, financial services, government, and healthcare. This is a representative list of my previous and current coaching engagements and clients:

• Director, Regulatory Agency
• CEO, Food Distribution Company
• VP, Telecommunications Company
• Chief Scientist, Agricultural Business
• VP, Provincial Health Authority
• Chief Communications Officer, Crown Corporation
• President, Post-Secondary Institution
• Local Government Administrators Association
• University Business School 
• COO, Forestry Innovation Company
• Business Operations Manager, Financial Institution
• Professional Engineers and Accountants

When I graduated from university, I had no idea about what I wanted to be when I grew up. After four years of college – with a degree under my belt – I was still as lost and unsure of where I wanted to go. I spent most of the four years working at two campus radio stations. While I at school, I dove into this life-long passion of mine – Radio.  I did everything from spinning records (yes, this was way before CDs, with iTunes, and Spotify were even a glimmer in my eye), directing and acting in radio plays, securing guests and conducting one-on-one interviews, hosting live on-air shows and news coverage, as well as creating and producing feature shows. I loved every minute of it.  

As my introduction to lifelong learning came to a close, I went searching for what might be next. The journalism bug had bitten, yet the path down that career journey was as muddy as it was when I fantasized seeing myself on-air as I listened to late-night radio shows on my local station as a kid. 

As the final weeks of my college days wound down, I happened to wander by the counselling office and saw a small, nondescript notice posted by a small Canadian NGO on the bulletin board inviting grads to volunteer to work overseas.  On a whim, I applied.

I ended up spending the next year living in a poor barrio outside a large Central American capital city.  I found myself learning a new language on the fly, uprooted from my cultural safety net, transported to a climate significantly hotter and more humid than I had ever been exposed to, and meeting and getting to know people completely outside of my social bubble.  It tore open my phenomenological view of the world and offered me an introduction to life outside of Canada.

After my year of living dangerously (from my safe vantage point), I returned home with a strong and renewed feeling that my career was in my hands. I could to do whatever I wanted to do , and that given this gift, that I should follow my dream into the broadcasting business and pursue radio as a full-time career. 

I enrolled in a part-time radio program and used the demo tape from that class to land an evening on-air radio job at a small-town radio station.  Like university radio, I leaped in full force and immersed myself in the craft, spending 12 to 16 hours a day on-air, in production, and interviewing people.  Years passed, and I moved to a major market, working as a reporter and news anchor.  Again, I loved every minute.  

Then the inevitable happened, while I swam in a career that I loved, pouring my heart and soul into to, learning and ultimately advancing in my trade – I was headhunted for a corporate job.  

Dangled in front of me, it felt at the time like a natural progression of a self-schooled radio reporter to a well-paid corporate job.  I moved somewhat easily into the world of public relations, media training and corporate storytelling.  Telling other people’s stories. 

I was paid well, but never really felt at home in the communications/marketing executive role. Over time, I rose up through the ranks and found myself as a senior PR executive working on the business and serving as a rainmaker – responsible for managing a team of people and landing clients to keep the business fed and alive.  

Then I started working with entrepreneurs and tech start-ups – helping them launch new business concepts and raise capital.  When the 2008-2009 recession hit, both my clients and I were hit hard, and it was clear that I had to reinvent myself.  

I loved radio – but that business had changed dramatically – I was again searching for my next great career move. 

This time I was determined to get it right – or at least discover something that brought me as much focus and energy as my work in the radio business had.  One of my friends suggested I  complete a comprehensive psychometric work assessment – to see if these assessments might provide me with some insight.  

I took one assessment, and then another, and become consumed with growing my self-awareness. Determined to be deliberate – I tested several options – and ended up going back to university and received my training as an executive coach.  Unclear on the business model – I soaked up everything I could about this new craft,  and I pressed through significant reflection, self-discovery, and personal growth.  Work started to come my way, and grew my business as an executive coach. 

Now over a decade in as an executive coach/leadership trainer, I am working with people and leaders with big visions, big ambition, and a genuine desire to make the world a better place.  My days are spent working 1-1 coaching clients across the globe and locally, leading training sessions and workshops, speaking to groups of all sizes and shapes, and interviewing incredibly interesting people for my podcast.  Full circle now, helping people grow and move forward with their lives and careers, and helping them tell their career stories.