summary:

If you have basic introspection skills, the offering from Glen Stewart (of Marquis Leadership and Possible with Glen) is overinflated for the value it brings at $750/hr, as I personally haven’t heard him give any advice or platitude that can’t be found in any entry-level self-help book, “inspirational” Instagram page, or ah any guidance counselor’s mass-produced motivational office poster. He showed up unprepared for our sessions, an [in]action he recently asserted wasn’t a mistake or an oversight—that’s his practice.

Would I recommend the Glen Stewart / Marquis Leadership brand of executive coaching?

That depends entirely on how cavalier you are about burning money. The money spent on my time with Glen wasn’t even my own, and I still feel it was wasted.

Beyond my singular experience with this one man though, the more important point of this is how dangerous imposter syndrome is: Glen Stewart was only able to access me because a friend incorrectly assumed she was less capable than he would be. Which means: my own immunity to imposter syndrome is not enough to keep me safe, if the women around me are still vulnerable to it. This is why I don’t practice humility. This is why I implore and encourage women to move through the world with some fucking audacity.

Let’s unpack this:

“All of my work happens in sessions. I don’t do any prep or homework before.”

That direct quote was Glen Stewart’s response to my letting him know I’d found it unacceptable of him to show up to a session not having read the thing *he* wanted to review (which I repeatedly told him I’d already read.)

That sentence actually explains everything about my professional experience of him. I just wish he’d led with that, so I could have cancelled my sessions with him before they’d ever begun.

Glen Stewart is an executive coach who says the $750/hr he was paid to talk to me for 5hrs is an 80% discount from his usually rate: a $10,000 monthly retainer that includes 2 one-hour sessions (and ad-hoc client availability.)

His website boasts glowing reviews from a whole lotta people with a whole lotta money and power, which means one of two things:

1. Either you can take my experience as a reminder that money + power do not automatically equal quality, intelligence, or integrity, or
2. He shows up brilliantly for other people, but simply thought I wasn’t worth his best effort.

Neither of those things paint him in a positive light, and I don’t care what anyone says: “I don’t prepare” is an objectively stunning thing to say to a client you were paid $750/hr to chat with (it wouldn’t be right to call it “work.”)

Point of amusement: the word “Marquis” is nothing more than a noble title. It’s apropos, because nobility tells you nothing about a person’s intelligence, leadership, integrity, personality, etc. It speaks to the luck of their birth. If I were to have scripted this, it would have been too on-the-nose. Glen Stewart hasn’t billed “tens of thousand of hours” because he is an amazing or transformative executive coach. He is successful because he is in community with wealthier people than the average person will ever have access to. (File this under: more reasons I’m always telling you not to compare yourself to people like him, or even the current version of me. We’re all playing in different sandboxes.)

I also found it interesting that, when confronted, Glen likened sessions with him as “similar to therapy.” Wild, since I’d explicitly told him—in no uncertain terms—that I wasn’t looking for a therapist (I already have one, and she preps for me😉)

Glen wasn’t able to articulate exactly why he “misunderstood” what I wanted despite how clear I was in our initial 2hr discovery call, which isn’t uncommon: I say what I mean. People hear what they want, and I’m expected to be gracious when all they can present to me is their bumbling apologies without resolution. <-- that's a video link

Glen’s “process,” which apparently requires no prior preparation or planning on his part, is fundamentally incompatible with how I work, live, or function. Most people glean that within minutes of either speaking to me directly, or watching/reading my content. Glen had two hours of an introductory discovery call during which I not only outlined my goals, but clearly stated that I wasn’t looking for therapy, because I already know and like who I am. This next phase of my life is about aligning external elements to further my professional development, and I told him that in no uncertain terms.

Note: while his memory of what I said I wanted and how he presented himself to me is hazy, my Google Docs revision history is verifiable and evergreen. (But, why would he know that? He didn’t read it. He doesn’t listen well, read even his own recommendations, or prep for sessions. The man apparently runs his *executive coaching* business on vibes. Amazing)

What kind of leader thinks they’re qualified to lead anyone—let alone a woman like me—without preparation or intention? What kind of leader would present their lack of effort as a privilege you should be grateful to pay for? (Reader, please feel free to insert your own funniest joke about the current state of American politics here. I’m trying to stay focused😂)

My problem with Glen Stewart, as an executive coach, isn’t that he didn’t have the tools or capacity to work with me. My problem is that he lacked the self-awareness and humility required to acknowledge that. And, when faced with my feedback in person, responded in a way I found remarkably unprofessional: red-faced, shaking, and putting his feelings before the professional problem.

I believe him when he says no one has ever given him the feedback I have. Not only are most people afraid to be seen as “mean” to a person who performs niceness as well he does—but who, ever, wants to face the consequences of bruising a man’s ego?

For someone who charges more per hour than any therapist I’ve ever met or paid, his emotional regulation skills left a lot to be desired.

In his fit of pique, Glen told me he’d worked with people who “make [me] look slow,” which was funny because if he’d listened to me in our discovery call (or read the follow up Google doc!), he would have remembered that working with people who outpace me was the whole point of me seeking out an executive coach. I literally told him, “I’m looking for someone who is so far ahead of me that they can point out my blind spots *and* introduce me to opportunities I can’t access for myself. I’m looking for a me for me.”

Instead, I got…Glen Stewart.

For context, *I* was so prepared for our work together that I drafted a multi-page dossier containing info about me that would have been relevant to my work with an actually qualified strategist and coach; it outlined my goals, previous projects, obstacles, and successes.

Glen saw my efforts and genuinely felt confident that his usual lackadaisical, no-prep approach would be good enough to meet me where I am.

Again, if I wrote that into a script about white male audacity, writing teachers would dismiss it as hamfisted, heavy-handed, and entirely too on-the-nose.

Experiences like this are why I don’t perform humility. Once, at a conference in Switzerland, I stunned a woman into silence when my response to her asking me how I deal with imposter syndrome was, “I don’t have imposter syndrome. This world doesn’t allow me to be mediocre so, if I’m in a room, you can be sure I’ve earned my way there.”

Pithy quotes aside, it is actively dangerous for competent women to keep entertaining unresolved imposter syndrome, in a world where a man like Glen Stewart can confidently assert that he earned $3700 “coaching” me despite doing nothing productive, adding nothing transformative, and adding zero professional value to me. There are too many women who will pass up opportunities and actively defer to less-qualified men like him because they think they’re not good enough. Glen was introduced to me by a friend who felt he might be more qualified to be a sounding board for me than she would—and, after my experience with him, I pointed out to her that the irony of her own imposter syndrome is that her awareness of her limitations made her more qualified to coach someone than Glen Stewart.

Imposter syndrome is dangerous because, despite my own confidence, an unqualified man was able to waste my time and my friend’s money because a woman thought less of herself. That means that my own immunity to imposter syndrome is not enough to keep me safe, if the women around me are still vulnerable to it. Imagine the societal implications of that, when applied to higher-stakes contexts. I cannot overstate how dangerous that is, and how big a problem that is.

To his credit, Glen apologized to me. However, as I told a Frenchman who messed up something for me a couple of weeks ago: when it comes to business, guilt and apologies don’t solve problems. A refund is the only acceptable resolution for the waste of my time but, since it wasn’t my money to push for, I’m putting this review out there so that someone else knows they’re not crazy if they end up booking him based on our organization’s recommendation + platforming of him, and their experience leaves them thousands of dollars angrier.

Glen feels we had great conversations, but dear reader, you watch my videos (and some of you have met me.) I’m a great conversationalist. But Glen wasn’t being paid to socialize. I told him I wanted a strategist. I explicitly told him I wanted a “me for me” and gave him concrete examples for reference. Nothing more than his unsubstantiated arrogance told him he was it.

✨

In the group workshop I observed while waiting to bring up my concerns to Glen in person, he asked the collective questions like “what would you do if you weren’t afraid,” followed by “what action items can you take to live more fearlessly.”

These are questions that the bright-eyed fifteen year old attendee sitting next to me found compelling, with her braces and adolescent fears.

The adult woman in our group said she could relate when I said, “this doesn’t apply to me. Fear doesn’t stop me from doing anything.”

Reader, while waiting for the A train, I saw an MTA advert with wellness influencer Doctor Mike saying the exact same thing. Glen’s insights are so very basic and elementary that they can be condensed into a feel good subway advertisement:

Dr. Mike, doing his best Glen Stewart impression, apparently. photo source: me.

I am a limitless woman whose life is as simple as: if I want it and I can afford the time + money + energy, I do it. My life’s obstacles are external, not internal; and, Glen Stewart doesn’t know how to deal with that.

Before he realized what I was there to tell him, Glen told me he’d hoped I found his workshop helpful. I told him the truth: it wasn’t (I’d found it sophomoric), and I was only there to catch him before I left. I wasn’t being that blunt to hurt his feelings—I was direct because trying to shield him from my initial frustrations is what had led him to believe everything was fine and that he had been helpful to me. It wasn’t, and he hadn’t.

During our in-person conversation, Glen repeatedly said, “I respect you and I hear you” in between the other quotes I’ve shared here.

But, to me, respect would have looked like him hearing me the first time I spoke.

Respecting my time would have looked like him saying, “hey, I’m not going to read anything you send me beforehand. I’m not even going to read what I send YOU.”

Respect would have looked like him saying, “Hey Maacah, I don’t think I’m the right person for you” before we ever had sessions together—and yes, I do think it’s reasonable for me to expect to be able to hold the 10k-a-month “coach” to a higher standard than the average person.

Everyone wants money and authority without any of the responsibilities, but good leadership is nothing more than a bushel of responsibilities woven into a crown—self-awareness and self-regulation being two of the stems.

Glen Stewart is really nice man but, as a speaker we both had front row seats to said the night before our chat, “Nice isn’t enough.”

Respect is in action.