Bea Fields
Bea Fields
is an Executive Coach and the President of
Bea Fields
Companies, Inc. and the
Founder of
Five
Star Leader Coaching and Training. She
specializes in Leadership and Team Coaching
for high growth companies, non-profit
organizations and medium-sized businesses.
Fields is the chief principal of The Gen Y
Project and is the co-author of
Edge: A
Leadership Story. She has served on the
Board of Directors for the University of
North Carolina Children`s Hospital,
Episcopal Day School in Southern Pines, NC
and the Moore County Chamber of Commerce in
North Carolina. She is the parent of 3
Generation Y young adults.
About the Book: Edge!
sharpens your management vision and cuts right to the heart of a
leader's challenges. When Global Trade Management Corporation's
shining star, CEO Mitchell James, begins to lose his luster, key
members of the executive team head for the door. With a
not-so-subtle nudge from the company's Board Chairman, Mitch
reluctantly accepts the help of executive coach Kate Nelson. The
diminutive dynamo strikes at the core of Mitch's obstacles and
navigates him through a step-by-step process to lead more
dynamically. Faced with a crisis, his leadership rebirth is put to
the test. Can he regain his "Edge" and become the leader his company
needs? Chapter by chapter, the authors guide you through Mitch's
journey. At the end of each chapter, real-life leadership coach Bea
Fields provides her insight with thought-provoking questions and a
summary to engage you in finding your own edge, as well.
Visit the author online at
http://edge-book.com
PageOneLit.com: Where did you grow up and was reading and writing a part
of your life? Who were your earliest influences and why?
Bea Fields: I was born and raised in
Gadsden, Alabama. My favorite author as a child was C.S. Lewis. When I read
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, I fell in love with reading. Lewis had
a way of getting me engaged in a creative world that I thought "might exist"
behind the wardrobe door. It was a turning point for me in both my reading
and writing. I then moved on to begin reading all of the Tolkien books and
as an adult, I adored the Harry Potter Series. Both of my parents were very
creative. My mother was a musician and my father was an architect, so my
sisters and I were exposed to a wide variety of books, but the Science
Fiction/Fantasy books were my loves. When I entered Middle School, I began
writing for my school newspaper. At the time, I thought that was a big deal,
and I suppose it was at the time. I continued on to write for the journalism
programs in high school, then articles for newspapers and journals as an
adult.
PageOneLit.com: Why do you write?
Bea Fields: I believe that we all have
a voice, ideas and creativity to share with the world. For me, if I don't
share what I know, I move into a "creativity block." So, I write to add
value to the lives of others and to keep my creativity flowing. Once I let
go of the information, ideas and thoughts out to the world, I then have a
great deal of room for the creativity to really flow.
PageOneLit.com: EDGE! A LEADERSHIP STORY is well written and has been called
by one reader, "Simply put, EDGE is the most compelling book on leadership
I've every read." What makes this book different from others in the genre?
Why did you write this book?
Bea Fields: EDGE is a narrative
non-fiction, so the books reads like a novel or story. When I realized that
I wanted to write a book, as an Executive Coach, I did not feel that the
world needed one more "how to" book on coaching or leadership. I wanted to
stand out in the marketplace, and I wanted to pull my readers in with a
provocative, emotional story about the life of a modern day leader. I wanted
the book to "stick" with people, and from what we are hearing, this is
happening. People are writing saying they can't stop thinking about the
book. I also believe that storytelling is one of the most important skills
for leaders of today to have in their toolkit, and so to model this by
writing a novel that has a teachable point of view was a very important step
for me in my own development.
PageOneLit.com: Your personal definition of LEADERSHIP?
Bea Fields:Leadership is the ability to
inspire a group of followers to move in the direction of change. Our world
is changing as we sleep, and so many people try to stop or resist change. If
someone can get a group of people to move into innovation, new territory or
into a change dynamic, and if they can do it with integrity, then to
me...this is the sign of a great leader.
PageoneLit.com: In EDGE! A LEADERSHIP STORY you have a chapter on DIGGING --
Explain. In business, when you hit the wall or feel burned out what's the
best way to get the fire going again? How do we get the passion back? How do
we get back on our game?
Bea Fields: In the chapter DIGGING, the
main secondary character (Executive Coach Kate Nelson) gives the
protagonist, Mitchell James, the assignment to write an uncensored
manifesto, and she asks him to write about anything and everything...his
thoughts, beliefs, pains and about what really ticks him off and lights his
fire. He resists this activity at first, because he has a creative fire that
died out years before. He finally takes on this activity, and it opens up
the floodgates. Everything starts pouring out of Mitch, and he begins to
experience a sense of both relief and passion. Writing in an uncensored way
is important, because true creativity is not censored. It is truly
authentic. Authenticity is a critical skill for today's leaders, so any type
of creative activity, whether it be writing, painting or writing music can
get us all back in touch with that passion and authenticity.
PageOneLit.com: EDGE! A LEADERSHIP STORY was written by you with two other
authors (COREY BLAKE & SILVA TRAVERS). How did you three manage to work
together on this book? What did each of you bring to EDGE! A LEADERSHIP
STORY that the other didn't?
Bea Fields: When I realized I wanted to
write a narrative style book, I knew that I needed to find a partner who had
that skill set. Both Corey and Eva are screenwriters, and I found them
through my network and through a few online searches. Corey actually owned a
film production company at one time and Eva won a student emmy for a great
book on student alcoholism, and they truly "got" the concept of what I
wanted to achieve. We spent one year writing the manuscript, and all was
done over the phone and by e-mail. I did not meet Corey face to face until
after we had completed the manuscript.
PageOneLit.com:What do you hope to achieve with EDGE! A LEADERSHIP STORY?
Bea Fields:I want the mainstream public
to pick up a copy of this book and see how powerful and rewarding life and
leadership can be by working with an Executive Coach. So many leaders forge
their lives without a confidant by their side, and I want the world to see
that leaders don't have to navigate the rocky terrain in the world alone.
They can succeed beyond anything imaginable with the support of a coach.
PageOneLit.com: What did you personally learn from writing EDGE! A
LEADERSHIP STORY?
Bea Fields: I learned that anyone can
write a book, but to really make a book sing, it is truly important to have
people who really know this process to guide you and to give you feedback on
what you are doing. I learned a great deal of patience and perserverence. I
also learned that you really have to get in there and fight for your book so
that the public reads the book. The marketing is the toughest part, and it
can be the most rewarding part, but you have to give it your all.
PageOneLit.com: What's next?
Bea Fields: Corey and I actually have a
series of books in mind like EDGE...where Kate Nelson continues on her
journey in a support role in the lives of a few other protagonists. I am not
sure when these books will be written, but I am sure it will be in the next
year.
PageOneLit.com: What was the last book you read?
Bea Fields: Marley and Me: Life and
Love With the World's Worst Dog. I had read this a year ago and just re-read
it. I am a dog fanatic, and this book just has me smile all over. I read a
lot of business books constantly, so I also just finished Made to Stick by
the Heath brothers.
PageOneLit.com: Do you have any hobbies? What are they? How do they enhance
your writing?
Bea Fields: Cooking, news, travel,
running, biking, swimming, my family and my dogs. I have two very active
blogs, and I Twitter, and I love to share these hobbies through my blog. I
always find something that inspries me to write. Lately, it has been the
election, so I watch and read a great deal of news (am a news junkie), and I
always find something interesting to write about through both news, travel
and living life with my husband, Mike and 3 college age kids. I am also a
Generation Y author, and I have a LOT of great material that inspires me by
watching my 3 kids, who are very entertaining and quite interesting
characters.
