At age 23, Scott Brown became the youngest person to serve as Director of Camp Wise, a Cleveland, OH summer camp. While he muddled through the technicalities of budgeting and business management, and wrestled with what we now call imposter syndrome, he thrived on the opportunity to help campers grow, learn, evolve, and become awed by what they could do.

Throughout his multi-decade career at several faith-based organizations including Hillel International, the world’s largest Jewish campus organization, Scott continued investing in people – ultimately serving as the VP of Talent at Hillel. In that role, he created cohort-based leadership development programs, engaging coaches from Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership to support Hillel’s rising leaders. In observing the results of this coaching – increased productivity, boosted confidence, and higher retention rates, among others – Scott became wowed by the practice.

He also realized by interacting with the Georgetown professionals that he, himself, had been intuitively providing coaching to campers, counselors, and colleagues from the beginning of his career through the present. He identified a desire to learn the art and science of coaching that would complement his intuition and allow him to add an exclamation point to an already exceptional body of work.

Scott enrolled in the very program whose graduates’ work he’d admired, at Georgetown. He set off on his own transition, to become better equipped to help other professionals manage theirs.

Since earning his ACC and PCC certifications and starting his own business, much of Scott’s coaching has focused on supporting clients through transitions. When clients face insecurity or fear around change, he helps them stay grounded by noticing the differences between facts and feelings. Asking questions which allow people to uncover their strengths, values, and competencies is a favorite part of this work, which Scott considers sacred. “Being allowed into clients’ vulnerabilities, their livelihoods, and their possibilities is a wonderful gift,” Scott shares, “It’s almost holy work, in a spiritual sense, and I always treat it that way.”

Scott uses the singular challenges or situations clients bring to him to help them gain universal lessons and tools which they can leverage again and again. Scott hopes that the work he does with clients, enabling them to build inner resources, will equip them for life far beyond their coaching engagement.

Awareness of external resources matters too, and Scott proactively and enthusiastically seeks opportunities to connect his clients – and really anyone he interacts with – with other people, organizations, and information that could further their goals and development. He’s done this quietly yet effectively behind the scenes within the ICF Metro DC community, making connections that provide access to coaching to individuals who might not otherwise be able to attain it.

Having lived in Fairfax, VA, for more than 30 years, Scott and his wife, Jane, are committed to serving their local community. Jane serves on the board of Food for Others, a nonprofit that addresses food insecurity in Fairfax County, and the two collaborated to establish pro bono coaching for the organization’s dedicated team members who had become fatigued by the volume of work necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The success of the Food for Others partnership model got Scott’s gears turning about other ways to use coaching to address societal needs. As the Black Lives Matter movement took hold in Washington, Scott struggled to know how he as a white, Jewish man could help. He reached out to a long-time leader he has known for many years who heads up Bread for the City, a DC-based nonprofit that works to reduce the burden of poverty, seek justice, and uproot racism in the city. Knowing the increased demand the organization was facing resulting from COVID, anti-racism advocacy, and political upheaval, Scott offered pro bono coaching to give the CEO a sounding board. Scott admits that he gained as much, if not more, than he gave. The two men couldn’t keep this type of interaction to themselves, so they worked together to bring ICF Metro DC-sponsored pro bono coaching to the senior leaders of Bread for the City.

Ever-devoted to his Jewish community, Scott has also engineered a partnership between the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and ICF Metro DC. Members of our chapter have provided coaching to senior-level leaders of several of the Jewish Federation’s many member organizations, with outcomes warranting recognition from JPro, a respected resource for professionals in the Jewish nonprofit sector.

While coaching has allowed Scott’s influence to encourage and elevate many, he has never strayed too far from his roots. One of his clients at the moment? The current Director of Camp Wise, 40-plus years since Scott’s beginning there!

Scott’s advice for new coaches: Enter the coaching space with the sacredness in mind. Build a network of fellow coaches and use it. You don’t have to have all the answers! Be a learner - go to conferences, stretch yourself to learn new things.Think about the next adventure, and the next competency you can add to your practice. Stay current on management, leadership, and societal trends. Don’t get stuck!

What will you find Scott doing on the weekend? Playing and competing in pickleball (by way of this article, he’s openly challenging Brene Brown to a match!), spending time with his grandchildren, biking, and watching Cleveland’s sports teams play.

Recommended resources: A few books that directly and indirectly relate to coaching and offer valuable life lessons:

In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best Run Companies by Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman

The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership by Yehuda Avner

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson

A song that represents Scott well: YiHye Tov by David Broza. ‘YiHye Tov’ means ‘Things will get better; there will be peace.’ The song’s message of love and peace reflects Scott’s positivity, optimism, and connectivity.

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