The River Nourishes
and Guides Us
to Help Us
Find the Way
NICE TO MEET YOU!
Tony is Founder and Principal Executive Coach at The River Coaching and Consulting, LLC. The goal of The River is to help executives become successful and work and at home by removing as much pain, anxiety, and stress as possible in their lives. Success is when they get A's at home and A's at work.
Tony has a degree in Chemical Engineering from Iowa State University, an MBA from the University of Northern Iowa, and a post-graduate diploma from Oxford University in the UK with an emphasis in Strategy and Innovation. He is a certified Neuroleadership Coach, certified in Hogan Assessments, and accredited by the Co-Active Institiute of Coaching. He is a member of the International Federation of Coaches and the Institute of Coaching.
His career with John Deere started as a chemical engineer, then went into factory supervision roles, moved on to sales, customer support, and marketing roles, followed by 4 years in leadership roles of Deere's precision ag organization. The last 10 years of his career Tony had various leadership roles in John Deere Financial focused on sales, strategy, and digital transformation, ultimately leading to his appointment as Chief Product Officer and Strategic Advisor. In May 2023 Tony retired after 35 years with John Deere to focus full time on executive coaching.
Tony authors a blog on "The River" on LinkedIn as well as a Professional Development weekly column called "Dear Tony" that answers questions from people who are in critical parts of their career. Tony is also the lead author of the best-selling book of 2023 called "Am I Doing This Right? Foundations for a Successful Career and a Fulfilling Life". His latest book, "The River", is a collection of essays during the final year of his 35 year professional career with John Deere.
When he's not involved in the above, he can be found doing his best to raise 3 daughters, writing, fly fishing the rivers of Colorado and Montana, or relaxing on West Okoboji Lake in NW Iowa.
Certifications / Affiliations
* International Coaching Federation
* NeuroLeadership Institute
* Hogan Leadership Assessments
Authentic & Genuine
Learn from leaders around the world and how they lived their lives.
Empathetic
Everyone is unique and deserves to be listened to and respected.
Positive & Constructive
We have a choice in life and often it's between adding to the the chaos or the confidence of any situation. We choose the latter.
My Story
I have always been interested in learning new things. As a ten-year-old kid I used to listen to stories about college from my older brother and read all his textbooks. I used to capture and tag birds in my neighborhood and track their behavior in a notebook just like Marlon Perkins did on Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom television show. While studying chemical engineering, I took a child psychology class to learn how the human mind evolved. When I was 42 years old, I took a night class on Anthropology while leading a software organization just to learn more about how humans evolved.
For as long as I can remember, I have always been fascinated by learning about our world and personal growth.
I carried this love of learning into adulthood and every decade I try to take on a major learning activity. First was chemical engineering in college, then ten years after that it was an MBA, and 13 years after that it was a Post-Graduate Diploma in Strategy and Innovation from Oxford University.
My goal is to pour into your career and life as so many have for me over my 35 year career.
"Your guidance helped me to build long term perspectives for my job, career, and life. You helped me see things differently. The frameworks you shared with me really helped. "
- Nilkanth Devshetwar
Director, Engineering
"Tony helped me with clarity on how I want to shape my career. Tony's mentoring style included a whole life approach that blended work and life, which was helpful especially as my career has grown and become more demanding."
- Crystal Wells,
Manager, Architecture
"Tony's coaching helped me understand how to drive changes in a large, complex organization..and voiced confidence in me at a point when I was particularly down, and helped me see my career in the bigger picture."
- Senior Product Manager, Silicon Valley
Why I Do It
Early in my career I had many people give me great advice that helped me learn, grow, and avoid having to go through the pain of learning things on my own, or worse, never learning. As I took on more responsibility I found that mentors, advisors, and coaches made the difference in moments that matters in my career.
These people in my life helped me achieve more and lead a more fulfilled life.
I want to be that kind of person to as many people as possible for the rest of my life. Everything I do is aimed at giving you tools, information, and advice that helps you lead a great life.
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