Ken Jacobs, PCC, CPC, ELI-MP, is an experienced consultant and certified coach, and the principal of Jacobs Consulting & Executive Coaching, which serves agencies, companies, senior leaders, executives and managers in the corporate communications, PR, advertising and marketing spaces. Ken has helped agencies grow and manage business, improve client service and relationships, and enhance staff performance, communications, and leadership skills. He’s empowered CEOs, presidents, executive vice presidents, and senior vice presidents to achieve and surpass their goals since 2007.

We spoke with Ken about the outstanding consulting and training services he’s provided Jmac, the many rewards of professional coaching, and the insights he’s gained from helping executives become the best leaders they can be.

Talk a bit about yourself and your background

I’ve been doing executive coaching as well as consulting and training since around 2006. On the consulting and training side, I work primarily with agencies, mainly those in the PR, comms, marketing and related spaces. Consulting and training is about growing the business, managing the business for profit, improving client service and relationships and improving team performance communications.

As for coaching, I also work with the owners or senior leaders of these agencies to become more inspiring and effective leaders. You could be the owner of a firm, you could be a top executive at a firm, and maybe not be an effective leader—or not as effective as you could be. That’s where coaching comes in. So coaching is really quite different from consulting and training, but both relate to the agency world in which I came up. I was in the agency life for 25 plus years, and I got into management and leadership rather early in my career. So of those 25-plus years, a solid 20 were in management and leadership.

How have you worked with John and Jmac?

What we’ve done for Jmac is business development, training and consulting: identifying the clients they want to have as an agency to help achieve their vision, top line and bottom line goals. We also look at how to maximize profit. You can be an agency that serves the nonprofit world, but nonprofit agencies don’t last very long. You need to be making a profit. 

I’m a student of John’s, too. I’m a pseudo-foodie, but John is such a foodie. Any time I’ve had the joy of going out to meals with him, I always say to the table, ‘Let Johnny Mac pick the apps. You will be in heaven—trust me on this.’ So we’ve done that a few times now.

What’s a success story and/or career accomplishment you’re particularly proud of in either coaching or consulting and training?

With that question, I’m always going to talk about coaching. I love consulting and training, and knowing that I’m helping agencies realize their dreams and keep more profit. But the level of fulfillment and satisfaction I get is the greatest from coaching.

I had one situation where a very senior-level executive had a “my way or the highway” style. Clients loved her, prospects loved her, and she grew the business like crazy, but people were just walking out the door. And the CEO knew that wasn’t sustainable. So we did a six-month coaching engagement. She was open, she was ready for change, and she transformed her leadership style. Soon the agency had one year where attrition was down to zero: no one left for another agency. That never happens. And she was ultimately promoted to EVP and President. I take a lot of pride in that. 

Another client was an agency owner who felt his leadership team wasn’t embracing responsibility. And through coaching, he realized that his fear was driving that and preventing them from going forward. So I helped him understand that he needed to empower his team and let them know he had faith in their ability. When he did, they stepped up.

What’s one valuable insight you’ve gained as an executive coach?

People’s capacity to change—if they’re open, willing to do the work of coaching and to make it sustainable—is mind-boggling. And coaching involves heavy lifting. I tell my prospective clients (when they’re still prospects) that when I was in the agency business, we changed tactics based on what the client wanted. As the agency rep, I had to do the heavy lifting. But in coaching, I don’t do the heavy lifting—the client does. It’s their journey, not mine. We take that very seriously. 

Another thing is the notion of neuroscience, particularly neuroplasticity: the ability of our brains to create new neural pathways, new habits, and change. The brain is such a powerful thing. It’s funny, a lot of us live in thoughts or emotions or take actions that don’t get us what we want, that are even a little dysfunctional, but there’s a comfort because of the habit. And so we try to help clients find their mental zone of comfort, calm, and stability—so that when stuff happens, they can respond with more thought, clarity, and choice. It comes down to: ‘Does the world happen to me and my mood, or does my mood affect my world and my ability to deal with all this?’ It’s very powerful.

What advice do you have for PR professionals looking to enhance their leadership skills?

It depends on what level they are. I mean, there’s a certain set of things you do if you want to make the leap from manager to leader. But for those still in the stage of learning and doing, and not really leading people yet, one thing they can do is observe, observe, observe. You can go through life observing and examining or not, but it takes no additional time to live the examined life and to observe. So why not observe?

Second: read everything you can about leadership, before you’re even a manager or a leader. Whether in PR or not, leadership is leadership is leadership. The concepts I talk about—emotional intelligence, empathy, mindset and energy, consistent trust, consistently communicating respect—all have nothing to do with PR.

Ready to transform your leadership and drive your business forward? Reach out to Ken at ken@jacobscomm.com to set up a complimentary 45-minute exploratory meeting.

For more details on Ken’s services, check out his website. For exclusive conversations on leadership between Ken and a variety of influential leaders, check out his podcast, Taking the Lead, and his YouTube channel.