Make Change Coaching

According to my Hogan Assessment results, I’m as hedonistic as you can get.

What does that mean? It means I work hard…but I also play hard. There’s no better example of this than the 12-day Chicago International Film Festival week.

As an Associate Board member, I help fundraise for Cinema/Chicago’s year-round programming, including its CineYouth Film Festival for filmmakers age 22 and under, film education programs for high schoolers, free screenings during the summer and more. I’ve done everything — from setting up A/V equipment in the middle of a brewery for a trivia night to planning and emceeing virtual screening events — and every dollar has gone toward opening people’s minds and hearts to other cultures through the power of cinema.

But for the back half of October, it’s party time as the festival takes over several movie theaters across Chicago. This year I’m seeing 18 films from Ireland, Zambia, Italy, China, Denmark, Japan, Spain and the U.S., and after each one I find myself taking inventory of how my world view has expanded. It’s only Day Four, and here are just a few things I’ve contemplated, particularly as it pertains to coaching:

– Virgil Williams, co-adaptor of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson for dir. Malcolm Washington’s 2024 film, said “If you want to be a better writer, learn to listen.” I’ve noted a change in my fiction writing ever since becoming a coach and learning how to be present and listen to my clients’ words, demeanor and body language — my characters speak to me, rather than me speaking for them.

– In Mistress Dispeller (dir. Elizabeth Lo), an observational documentary filmed in China, Teacher Wang is hired by married couples to break up affairs. She dissects the mental models of each person in the love triangle to make the process as painless as possible. As a coach, I was fascinated (and a little perturbed) by her tactics of using questions and presence to break up a relationship.

– The Return (dir. Umberto Pasolini) tells the last part of Homer’s Odyssey — Odysseus’ final trials once he finally makes it back to Ithaca — and subtly interprets how Vietnam veterans were treated when they returned from a war many of them never wanted to fight. It shows how some aspects of war and its aftermath never change, even though they should. It also demonstrates how to see people as not only a product of their past experiences and decisions, but also their potential for future change.

– The Last Republican (dir. Steven Pink) forces viewers — and its progressive filmmaker — to grapple with the gray area of appreciating someone (former Rep. Adam Kinzinger) who sacrificed career, friends and family to do the right thing, even when everything else they stand for is in direct conflict with your own beliefs.

We’re only four days into the festival, and there will be plenty more lessons and observations to share. Stay tuned for more dispatches along the way!