"A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set-out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent" ­This quote by Douglas MacArthur perfectly summarizes the various traits a leader must possess. The entire paradigm of leadership has evolved in recent times. Leadership is no more just about having profound knowledge, it is now the soft skills and managerial skills that one possesses that makes him/her a good leader. Moulding professionals into highly skilled leaders since 2013 is Gurgaon-based Stone Leadership Consulting, a leadership coaching company that enables business professionals to recognize & realize their true potential.

Stone Leadership was founded by Andrea Stone(Founder & Leadership Coach) who has three decades of experience of working as a leader and a Leadership Coach across startups as well as multination corporate. Andrea is also a long standing collaborator and a Course Leader with Emeritus, the Indian Executive Education Unicorn, which supports leaders build skillsets for the future in conjunction with institutes such as Columbia, Tuck and MIT. She has also led teams across Europe & Asia regions, and collaborated with teams across all continents to bring products into market in the areas of cloud and mobile applications.

"Stone Leadership's business model is a partner model, where as the founder, I partner with other organizations, partnerships and individuals to create engagements for clients. I'm also focused on supporting women entrepreneurs and women in STEM, devoting time to not for profits such as WICCI in India, the Cherie Blair Foundation across emerging markets, and Takween's young entrepreneur program in Iraq, as well as in the area of emotional intelligence, with Six Seconds, a not-for profit leader in EQ research and enhancing EQ skills globally", explains Andrea.

As an end-to-end executive leadership coaching firm, Stone Leadership specializes mainly in the areas of Leadership Growth, Executive Coaching and Change Facilitation. The company's prime focus is on developing leadership competencies and enabling the leaders to successfully navigate through today's VUCA world. "A critical component here is identifying change imperatives based on individual, team & organizational needs in collaboration with key organizational stakeholders and designing engagements that meet those needs. The underlying approach is the facilitation of change through coaching, mentoring and facilitation based learning," adds Andrea.

Stone Leadership's prime focus is on developing leadership competencies and enabling the leaders to successfully navigate through today's VUCA world

Stone Leadership employs a holistic approach, wherein while working with individual leaders, it first gathers information pertaining to various stakeholders of the leader and his/her colleagues, and gives them an overview as to how others see them. Post that, the company frames a detailed roadmap of the leadership coaching methodologies to be implemented for that particular leader, while also keeping in mind their organization's functional aspects. As a result, leaders become aware of how to use their talents & values to be a more effective leader. This also enables them to have a better understanding of their stakeholders and organization as a whole, and even recognize & appreciate the strengths of their teams and other colleagues.

Explaining further, Andrea says, "The process is one of compassionate and creative challenge. This means challenging perceptions with consideration and care ­ all with the aim of supporting leaders gain awareness & insight, and enabling them to create options for themselves in how they manage & lead themselves and others more effectively".

While leadership coaching is gathering a lot of importance among businesses today, team coaching is yet another area which is fast gaining prominence in the corporate realm. Explaining more about the current industry changes and future plans, Andrea says, "The more I work with a client, the more I am able to understand their needs. I often work with partners with specific areas of expertise to create engagements that will support their further growth and evolution. In the past year, I've invested in gaining certification in a new team diagnostic tool from Six Seconds, a systems thinking course with Fritjof Capra, a longterm mindfulness course with Nithya Shanti and a team coaching program with Peter Hawkins and David Clutterbuck. Naturally, these learnings translate into new learning for my clients. To summarize, 'Learn, apply, reflect, grow ­ hopefully, with the emphasis on grow!".