Individuals serving in executive positions must be polymaths. They don multiple hats to get the ball rolling. Executives must acquire a tapestry of knowledge and skills that would help them execute complex tasks with ease. This is where the need for executive coaching surfaces. Over time, this flourished into an industry, making way for Executive Coaching Group, Inc. to become an industry leader with their thoughtful endeavor. Herma M. Schmitz, as the Principal, Consultant, and Master Coach of Executive Coaching Group, has emerged as one of the most inspiring thought leaders to deserve admiration.
While The CEO Views awarded Herma the “Thought Leadership Award 2025,” she shared with us her journey to leadership and what this title means to her as an industry torchbearer.
From Shipping to Executive Coaching
After pursuing an MBA in international trade and shipping and moving to New York very early in her career, Herma received an unannounced call from the Global CEO that their largest import client had complained about her being arrogant and insensitive. As the CEO demanded immediate attention from her side to improve her performance if she wanted to hold onto her job, Herma registered for a 5-day coaching program.
This program allowed her to come face-to-face with arrogance and nastiness, improving her perspective on how things actually work in the industry. Herma continued the coaching intensive for a year, and after six months, she left the shipping industry and became a commercial real estate broker specializing in Fortune 500 Western European Companies.
A Solidified Belief
As we asked her to share a defining moment early in her coaching career that solidified her belief in transformational leadership, Herma said, “During the initial coaching intensive, I discovered that I have a choice about my life and future.” She soon realized that she already had qualities like being risk-averse, socially intelligent, and knowing how to make money. This was the moment when she decided to change the careers of executives with mentoring and coaching.
A Background that Contributes
Herma was the first woman to be in the international trade and shipping industry when she received her degree in the same domain. Early on, she traveled the world and met clients in diverse industries. She was at home with diverse people, cultures, and regions. This background contributed to her diversified coaching style and leadership insight.
Decoding Thought Leadership
In Herma’s opinion, thought leadership lives in language and, by virtue of language, provokes people’s thoughts and their ability to invent and create a future that would not happen otherwise. The coaching service in Executive Coaching Group is linguistic. It introduces executives to their ability to create the future of their business and then empowers the people to make it happen.
Creating Breakthroughs
Herma is bestowed with the ability to get to the heart of issues, and her active listening beyond the obvious has helped her create breakthroughs for her clients, sometimes at their very first coaching session. “When you introduce an entirely new way of using language and discover that all people make decisions early in life that are not useful, they begin to see that they don’t have to be that way,” shares Herma.
This approach works in alignment with corporate boards, family-owned enterprises, and executive teams going through tough times. Herma’s compassion and commitment to her clients lead to organizations producing unparalleled business outcomes and successful implementation of breakthrough projects, leadership development, and more. With more than 20 years of executive coaching experience, she has been making a difference with high-level individuals across diverse management teams, communities, backgrounds, and governments.
Passing on a Legacy
Having had the privilege of speaking at universities like Harvard, Yale, Columbia, LaGuardia College, and various corporate conferences across the globe, Herma shared her plethora of knowledge with many. Passing on a legacy of knowledge-sharing, she has talked about the impact of coaching and the approach Executive Coaching Group has adopted in delivering world-class coaching services for executive professionals.
As an entertaining and passionate speaker, Herma has contributed to many events. She believes ‘language’ is the most powerful tool that we have. While speaking about languages, she did not mean English, French, German, etc. It implies humans’ ability to use language in their mouths, distinct from the conversations in our heads.
Tailoring Diversified Leadership Programs
Becoming an influential leader in today’s fast-paced corporate world is challenging. Organizational culture and goals have evolved to be more diverse, each demanding different leadership skills to achieve the pre-determined objectives. Executive Coaching Group understands this ever-evolving nature of the corporate world and the salience of nurturing leadership talents that align with organizational culture and goals.
The coaching offered by the company transcends age, gender, religion, and culture, dealing with a fundamental ability that all people have. The diversified leadership programs encompass a comprehensive curriculum, an interactive learning experience, and personalized feedback and support facilities.
Foreseeing the Future
In the last year, the executive coaching industry has evolved to be a key developmental approach for major corporations. These corporations find similarities between a professional athletic coach and an executive coach, prioritizing coaching for organizational leaders to ace their game. Nobody wins the US Open, the Masters, or the Super Bowl without a coach. Similarly, corporate executives cannot become influential leaders and execute complex tasks without proper coaching. In Herma’s view, this industry will continue to make a difference in the corporate world by crafting exemplary leaders in the future.
Practice what you preach. I spend my life making a difference with people and positively impacting their life and their performance.