Dawn Klatzko: Brand-building coaching to realise your authentic potential
Topping a multi-faceted career in advertising, Dawn Klatzko now works as a Business & Executive coach and professional speaker. She is also the author of The Art of the Suit and Master Trainer for Mind Dynamix, a neuroscience-based mind profiling instrument. Where, then, do a rather expensive pursuit, glaciers, and an unusual kind of gig fit in?
1.The bulk of your career was in advertising. Was this your dream job when you were a teenager?
I think by far the majority of us “happen into” careers. Advertising certainly wasn’t on my radar when I was a teenager. My burning ambition was to travel and the quickest route to earning a salary to do so, after I completed high school, was through the secretarial gateway. My second job ever was with an ad agency in Joubert Park, Johannesburg. That was where my brilliant career in advertising began. I was very fortunate that the ad industry was ahead of the curve and women had much greater opportunity than other areas of business. I very quickly realized that I needed to expand my formal knowledge base and enrolled at night school to secure formal marketing qualifications. This was the start of a habit of learning that has formed an essential and rewarding part of life. To be honest I think learning has become a bit of an addiction.
2. What were your biggest challenges when starting your own ad agency?
I had been privileged to work for several, global, ad agency networks, working my way from secretary to Deputy Managing Director at which point I took the leap to start my own agency. The biggest reality check, and challenge, was to suddenly find myself without the safety net of financial support that the corporate agency world had afforded me. I had to rewind at a giddy speed and get back to basics. Much more than the brand image and our promotional positioning was the reality of the importance of the “numbers”. This has become a cornerstone of my coaching when working with entrepreneurs. Your readiness to put ego aside, to roll up your sleeves and do whatever it takes to get traction, all measured by what the numbers show, is a good indicator of whether or not you will succeed. Fortunately for me this resulted in the successful sale of my agency twenty years after start up!
Listen to Dawn’s expert advice on how to build your personal brand to enhance your success, whether in your personal life or in business.
3. And then … you went flying!
Yes, I can lay claim to having a pilot’s license although this is certainly not current. I advocate that you need to be cautious about where your passion might take you. This is one of my experiential stories. As I shared, I love travel. Every aspect of it. And this led me to a very expensive pursuit. I surprised even myself at how resourceful I became with the aim of building up hours and conversions to bigger planes. However the reality of what it would actually take to become a commercial pilot, in terms of finance, time and career prospects, resulted in me running out of steam and the end to a dream. Fortunately not while I was mid-air. I still dream about flying but for now I will happily sit back on a commercial flight. However, space travel really interests me.
4. You admit to travel still being an addiction rather than an annual holiday experience?
Yes, there is a lot to be said for putting yourself in an environment that is completely different to what you are familiar with. I feel that it awakens all your senses. Aside from the different visual setting, the sensation of a different language, the flavour of foods and the challenge of orienting yourself physically benefits your brain enormously.
Sometimes there is nothing better than chilling out on a pristine beach, umbrella cocktail in hand with the beat of a local band somewhere in the distance, but I also love the stimulation of new cultures and terrains that I have never experienced before.
I recently ticked off a bucket list destination where I visited small towns dotted along the Alaskan coastline, saw numerous glaciers, went on rain forest hikes and saw whales from really close up. Sadly I never got to see a big brown bear in the fur, but maybe that was a blessing in disguise.
I returned with a mind full of beautiful visuals, revitalised and wondering about where I should venture to next. But I must say that I am equally always happy to come home. We are blessed with a richness of culture, beauty and diversity in South Africa that is unmatched.
5. You have a ‘hobby job’ …
My favourite sport has always been cycling and the reality is that, to keep your cycling fitness up, you need to work out at the gym during the week. It’s too dangerous to cycle on the roads in peak hour, morning traffic.
I don’t do anything in half measures and rather than complaining about aspects I’m not happy about I set out to find the solution. Well, I really struggled to find spin instructors whose style and music I enjoyed – so off I went and did a spin instructors course. It was quite nerve-wracking to shift from being one of the class to being on the podium but, as an instructor, I have the double motivation to, firstly, get up so early in the morning and, secondly, to switch on the high energy for every single session. The truth is I think I’m a frustrated DJ and the only gig I can get is a 45 minute spin class!
Dawn and her muse, Woody, who is a central feature of her “Anatomy of a Personal Brand” talks and training
6. You practice the discipline of taking on a new challenge each year. Which challenges are calling you at the moment?
Partnering with the brilliant Dr Melodie de Jager and Mind Dynamix in 2020 was one of my most extreme stretches. To earn the role of Master Trainer and Global Programme Director required that, in effect, I had to write a thesis demonstrating my understanding of the underlying neuroscience. This has enhanced my knowledge as a coach and afforded me the opportunity to share this instrument with coaches around the globe. My challenge is to grow this network and at the same time to continue gathering skills and insights to ensure that I grow as a coach. I am energized by the opportunity and so grateful that I have the skills to help the increasing number of people that are facing the need to reinvent themselves, accelerated by the impact of the pandemic.
Dawn explains how the profiling instruments in a coach’s toolbox can serve you.
7. Could you tell us what being a professional speaker feels like?
To be honest, I think most people misunderstand what being a professional speaker entails. The “professional” component means that you are prepared to invest an enormous amount of time refining your speaking skills, crafting your talks and encouraging feedback – even if it is not that positive. I don’t regard myself as being in the same league of the speakers that do this as a profession. I regard my voice as an instrument I use to share the knowledge I have gathered and to motivate as many people as I can, at a time, to realise that they have far greater potential than they imagined. I have learnt an enormous amount from professional speakers and continue to do so. TED Talks remain one of my primary motivators and is a superb source of speakers at the top of their game, while satisfying my thirst for knowledge. But you have to be really careful that TED doesn’t take you down a rabbit hole – so I limit my indulgence to, at most, one talk a day.
Contact details
Dawn Klatzko is a Business & Executive coach, professional speaker, author of The Art of the Suit and Master Trainer for Mind Dynamix, a neuroscience-based mind profiling instrument. She is based in Johannesburg.
Websites: www.theartofthesuit.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnklatzko/
Thumbnail image: Unsplash
Other images: provided by Dawn Klatzko