Dr. Jeffrey Watts is a Business Growth Advisor, Certified High-Performance Coach™ and International Best-Selling Author who has led companies and leaders from North America, Asia, and Europe to tap into their “super-powers” and achieve exponential results.
Dr. Watts has 30 years of leadership experience, including CEO, COO & CGO positions in Fortune 500 companies and navigating three of his businesses to successful exits. He is now the CEO of BEYOND Performance©, a business growth advisory firm, focused on growing leadership to grow revenue.
Jeffrey is recognized as one of America’s Premier Experts® for his contributions to the field of High Performance. His first two books, Beat the Curve with Brian Tracy, and Leadership from West Point, focus on how to beat the status quo with outstanding leadership.
Jeffrey Watts, Business Growth Advisor, Executive Coach
Introduce yourself! Tell us about your life so we can get insight into who you are.
I am a guy that loves life, loves adventure (especially hiking and camping), loves seeing people live into their greatness and I love being a husband, father, and friend. My family has been in the New World since 1625 and have been protecting faith, family, and freedom in every major battle since. Freedom is part of my DNA and drives much of what I do. I live in South Florida with my best friend and wife, Nelly. I have 4 amazing children and travel as often as I can. I also became a grandfather this year, so that is exciting!
So, let’s dive in the deep end. Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today.
Transformation is born from challenges in the “valleys” of life, so I appreciate this question. Several years ago, I was COO of a major financial firm and was in line to be the CEO. One day I was surprised to learn that I had been passed over by someone I had coached and mentored. It was devastating to my ego, and I simply didn’t handle the rejection well. I didn’t have a sage or advisor to consult with and made some poor decisions with major consequences that took me several years to recover from. This major event created a burning desire in me to not see other leaders go through this intense pain. I began to coach and mentor other leaders and later got my certifications to really help successful executives navigate the shark-infested and often political, corporate waters.
Now we know your “Why” in starting BEYOND Performance©. What is the focus of your business today?
BEYOND Performance© is committed to guiding executives and business owners to maximize their financial results while also experiencing greater freedom and fulfillment – two things that often elude leaders today. Business owners and CEO’s commonly lack two things: 1. Perspective and 2. Accountability. We are all myopic and emotional, so we don’t have the full picture of what is going on in our companies. Leaders are seldom questioned or challenged by their team. Having an advisor that sees your greatness and holds you accountable to actualize your Divine Natural Abilities is one secret of BEYOND Performance©.
How does BEYOND Performance differentiate itself from similar businesses in your industry?
In my opinion, the age of consultants is over. Most business owners know what they need to do but lack the bandwidth, personnel, or resources to make it happen. The CEO’s we work with often find an extra 10 hours per week to work on their businesses by implementing high-performance habits. This is a reallocation of their time…not working more hours than they currently are. They also learn the key concept of “Who not How” and activate the skills that are dormant in their associates to achieve critical goals. At BEYOND Performance©, we advise, we train, we coach – we don’t just come in and tell you what to do. This is a key distinction of working with a business growth advisory. Lastly, we have decades of real-world business experience – the things you don’t learn in business school but in the School of Hard Knocks!
Can you tell us about a particularly challenging project or client you’ve worked with and how you overcame any obstacles?
I was tasked with building a financial services company in Asia from the ground up. This meant developing sales and marketing strategy, hiring and training staff and salespeople, setting up all systems and processes, opening offices in multiple countries – all without speaking Mandarin or Japanese! The list of obstacles was immense, but almost all were overcome with lots of listening and setting aside assumptions and predispositions. In 3 short years, we were operating in 5 countries and had 80 million in sales. This was no small feat but realize we did this with a team of about 15 people! They all became high performers by implementing the principles of BEYOND Performance© to operate with excellence. The greatest complement I received in this process was from the CEO of a major Chinese conglomerate who called me an “egg”. He said “you may be white on the outside but you are yellow on the inside” – a testament to listening, learning, considering, being consistent and with good character.
How do you ensure your clients get the best possible results from your advice/coaching?
First, the connection of the client and advisor is key. Not all personality types work well together. Secondly, the client must commit to full engagement – both in sessions and every day in between. We don’t work with anyone who has never paid for a coach before. We operate at the highest levels and our clients must commit to this level of rigor. We are brutally honest – offensive at times to make sure clients see reality. We celebrate, encourage, and always challenge them to conquer the next mountain in their business and life. We focus on all 8 pillars of life and not just business growth. We use assessments, assignments, challenges. We record all sessions for clients to review and track their progress using Scorecards. Lastly, we are here for them, whenever they need us. Phone, text, email, in-person – they have access to keep their momentum going.
What are the most important qualities to look for when choosing an Executive Coach and Advisor?
Real-world business experience, courage to speak the truth, loves people and is committed to seeing their best emerge, highly intuitive, has a systematic approach but meets clients where they are instead of demanding they do “a program.” Education and certifications are nice but RESULTS for other clients is what matters. I would also encourage you to hire the very best advisor that you can afford. Getting started is key, but your growth trajectory will be dictated by the quality of the coaching you receive.
Finally, what drives you to be the very best you can be?
I am blessed to be a blessing to others. I am committed to using my God-given strengths to guide and direct those around me to live into their greatness. I am a Maximizer, Arranger, and Relator, adept in Individualization and Strategy. This means using my Divine Natural Abilities to enhance every relationship in my life – personally and professionally. We were never meant to “do life” alone. As each of us contributes our best, we all win together. I also never forget the pain of trying to figure it all out on my own instead of having close friends and an advisor to lean on, get perspective, be raw with. Faith, family and freedom matter and I wake up every day with a plan to not only protect but enhance these values.
