High-Performance Executive Coaching: A Conversation with Harley Finkelstein, President of Shopify and Stephen Miles, CEO of The Miles Group

Season 3 Finale of C-Suite Intelligence podcast explores the anatomy of a winning coaching relationship

NEW YORK, Dec. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- "Leaders of important companies – whether they're small companies, larger companies, impactful companies – constantly need to be creating a larger toolbox. The best coaches fill up your toolbox. They explain to you how all the tools work, but they leave you with the toolbox," says Harley Finkelstein, President of Shopify, a leading global provider of essential internet infrastructure for commerce.

On the new C-Suite Intelligence podcast episode, Finkelstein shares his experience with his coach, Stephen Miles, CEO of The Miles Group, which develops talent strategies for individuals, teams, and organizations. Together they discuss the critical components of their coaching relationship and what an ideal high-performance coaching experience can achieve.

"One of the reasons our coaching relationship has been so disproportionately valuable is that as a coach, you also meet with other members of the executive team," says Finkelstein to Miles. "As a result, you have a far more holistic view of the entire company, the way our leadership team thinks, and how we make decisions. That enables you as a coach to move faster using your insights and allows us to supercharge everything."

"Tech is littered with a lot of people who feel like 'Coaching's not for me, I don't need it. I've gotten this far without it, why would I need it now?' And I think they are creating a glass ceiling for themselves that doesn't need to exist.

"If you're going to lead a company, especially a company like Shopify that's super high-growth and has super big ambitions, you as a leader must grow faster than Shopify does. And that is very difficult" on your own. "There's no way for you to requalify for your job unless you have someone in your corner who deeply wants you to get better over time. But that means you have to acknowledge that you are not the best version yourself right now," says Finkelstein.

"As an executive, you need to outgrow your position, outgrow your company, and outgrow the company's ambition in the world," says Miles.

And you have to go deep, say Miles and Finkelstein. "On the surface you can get some good stuff, but you get to the bottom and that's where all the pearls are. Forty feet down, that's where the magic happens."

"High-Performance Coaching – A Conversation with Harley Finkelstein of Shopify" is out now on Apple, Google, Spotify, TMG's website, or wherever you get your podcasts.

For more information, please contact executive producers Davia Temin or Trang Mar of Temin and Company at 212.588.8788 or [email protected]. 

About the C-Suite Intelligence podcast
CEOs running the world's top companies don't start out that way – they pull ahead of their peers with behaviors and practices that make them the "best of the best." Stephen Miles and the team at TMG coach some of the world's most successful executives, helping them continuously up their game even as business conditions grow more complex every day. Learn the secrets of the highest performers and use this intelligence to power your career. New episodes are released bi-weekly on Apple, Google, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

About The Miles Group/TMG
TMG develops talent strategies for organizations, teams, and individuals – focusing on high-performance, world-class leadership. Through assessments and development, coaching, leadership transition planning, and organizational design, TMG helps clients cultivate exceptional talent from the C-suite to the next generation of leaders throughout the organization. Clients include many of the Fortune 100 as well as VC portfolio companies, firms in transition, and organizations around the globe and across industries. TMG has been featured in Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes, Fortune, C-Suite, Entrepreneur, and Chief Executive. The firm is headquartered in New York City and operates globally. For more information, visit https://miles-group.com. Follow TMG on LinkedIn and X, and Stephen Miles on Forbes.

About Harley Finkelstein
Harley Finkelstein is President at Shopify and has been with the company since 2010. He oversees Shopify's commercial teams, growth & external affairs. He holds a Bachelor degree in Economics from Concordia University and a J.D./M.B.A. joint degree in Law and Business from the University of Ottawa. Prior to his current role, Harley was Shopify's COO and has founded numerous startups and ecommerce companies.

SOURCE The Miles Group/TMG