Today we’d like to introduce you to Tariq Muhammad.
Hi Tariq, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I began my career journey as a retail sales representative at Verizon communications after graduating from Georgia Southern University with a degree in marketing. After a year and a half of doing sales, I discovered my passion for people leadership. To be more specific, I love helping others achieve their goals through serving, supporting, and coaching them in their career journey.
I’ve been fortunate to receive several promotions over the course of my career leading to executive leadership positions, and that success has come with the mentorship and support of many great leaders. I’ve learned a great deal about leadership and I’ve been able to share those insights with others to help them with career progression. Coaching and developing is the area of my work that gives me the most enjoyment, so I decided to pursue my certification to become a life coach specializing in Executive coaching in 2021.
After completing my certification I decided to start my own business called Konscious Coaching & Consulting LLC. My mission is to provide professional & personal development resources to address challenges minorities face in the workplace and business. My vision is to become an essential asset to minority businesses by providing resources and establishing long-term relationships that help them achieve their goals.
Today, Konscious Coaching works with businesses of all sizes to help develop leaders and transform company culture.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The journey has definitely had its challenges. I started the business with the intent of doing mostly one-on-one and small-group coaching sessions. One of the biggest challenges was attracting potential clients by getting them to see the value or ROI in professional coaching. When most people think of coaching they think of sports or therapy. Rarely does career or leadership coaching come to the top of mind. Even when potential clients were able to quantify their losses and understand the potential gains that could come from coaching, most were still very hesitant to pay for it. These challenges led me to switch from individual coaching to Executive coaching. With businesses, the decision is less emotional and provides many benefits like tax write-offs in addition to improved employee performance. I lean into philanthropy work to serve individuals or small groups instead of taking that strategy as a main focus.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I currently serve as Director of Tech Customer Service for Verizon. I lead a team of 700 employees across 48 working in a virtual environment. Our general purpose to provide device issue resolution services to consumer customers domestically. My role consists of strategic planning, business transformation, and performance management.
I specialize in turning underperforming teams into highly functional and efficient organizations that execute on priorities. What I am most known for would be employee development, disruptive leadership, and career mentorship.
I am proud of the career progress that I’ve been able to achieve by setting goals and taking action to bring them to life. I started my career as a part-time greeter and serve as a member of the executive leadership team for a Fortune 15 company today. Secondly, my roles have allowed me to serve as a mentor and source of inspiration to those that look like me in corporate America.
The two things that set me apart from most are discipline and mentality. I have the ability to stick to doing what’s in the best interest of me attaining my goals whether I feel like it or not. My ability to stick to a structure and sacrifice instant gratitude for the sake of long-term satisfaction makes me an outlier when observing others. The second attribute would be my mentality. I am a futuristic individual, which means that I have the ability to see what’s possible in the future for most circumstances and take actions today to ensure that it’s brought to life. I am positive and see the benefit in most things. the experiences I’ve had in life have also given me a high level of persistence and resilience that help me get through tough times.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Covid has taught me to be more critical in thought. It’s important that we examine the second and their order impacts of the decisions that we make for ourselves and business now more than ever.
Covid has also modified the definition of what it means to be an impactful leader. Historic leadership did not spend much time thinking about the people aspect of the business. Vulnerability and mental health in the workplace were not a thing in most companies pre-Covid. Leadership of today requires a balance. We are not only managers of the business and coaches, but also therapists in some sense. Empathy matters it we want to be effective.
I’ve also learned how much we value human interaction. Many employees used work as an escape from other realities and started to suffer mentally when they were stuck in their 4 walls daily.
Covid also taught us the importance of spending time with self. It forced us to do this and it led to many people discovering talents, pursuing opportunities, and living life in a more meaningful way.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thekonsciouscoach.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/the_konscious-coach
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/thekonsciouscoach
