It was the last nine holes on the final day of a three-day golf tournament among a competitive group of college friends. The course was soggy from the rain, and the players were tired. Charlie Alvarez had not won this event in five years and was down by two shots. From the outside, he was not sitting pretty. Inside, Charlie was in the zone. 

“I was able to not only stay stable in the moment but exceed. I turned it on! Birdie, birdie, par. I won it. I took it from them,” he said. 

Charlie, the CEO of Stratus, the largest provider of in-home video EEGs testing in the country, began his coaching journey with a clear goal: winning this tournament.

Recently, when asked what he thought it would do, he half-jokingly said, “I thought you’d brainwash me to win.” The journey turned out to be far from brainwashing. Charlie learned the tools to unlock his superpower; along the way, it changed more than his golf game. 

It began when I asked Charlie for feedback on “Imagery for Life,” a book I am co-authoring with Jonathan Rhodes, a psychologist and researcher from the UK. The book will teach readers to focus on motivation and imagery to impact performance positively. 

Charlie was a member of our target audience, an athlete, and a corporate leader with an open mindset and grit. Charlie gave us feedback and added, “I’d like to be your guinea pig.”

I linked him with Jonathan Rhodes, and the rest is history. After ten sessions, Charlie feels more confident, calmer, and less stressed. Here are a few highlights from his coaching experience:

• Stratus’s chairman said Charlie’s most recent presentation was the best he has delivered.

• Charlie’s accountability has shifted, and he is preparing more, anticipating things going sideways, and planning for how he’ll handle it.

• He manages his team differently, and in turn they are leading themselves. “I feel like I could go away for two weeks, and they would not skip a beat,” he said.