Testimonials

“When we were planning our annual Governance Team retreat, we wanted someone to help with blue sky thinking, consider key trends and top priorities in the democracy and governance space, and to help us with our strategic planning for Counterpart’s work over the next few years. Neil Levine was first on our list of experts that we wanted to sit down with us. His expertise on democracy, governance and human rights, coupled with his years of experience working at USAID, helped our team tremendously. If you are looking for top notch coaching and mentoring expertise to think through organizational success and how to proceed, I highly recommend Neil to help chart your course.”

“Neil co-designed and facilitated an annual retreat for our team of 25 young professionals who support the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Neil brought his extensive experience within and deep understanding of the Agency to deliver two nuanced, relevant, and exciting sessions. Throughout the partnership he was collaborative and brought an excitement for the subject matter that engaged the audience.”

“Neil is a talented facilitator and a pleasure to work with. He’s able to take disparate ideas and perspectives and bring them together in a thoughtful, cohesive way to design meaningful exchanges amongst teams and participants. Neil brings a great balance of humor, flexibility, empathy, experimentation, and focus that helps teams reach their specific goals—whether they are holding a 5-person strategy session or a multi-day conference.”

“I’m not sure words can fully express the deep gratitude I have for your sagely advice, commitment, and support during this process… you’ve been a consistently reliable and trusted source of calm, focus and determination. I truly couldn’t have achieved what I did without your assistance. Thank you so much.”

“Thanks so much for your adept facilitation of our retreat, for balancing challenge with encouragement, and for sharing your deep-seated professional insight.”

“Neil is an outstanding coach. He helped me through a complex career transition that involved leaving a job that wasn’t rewarding, launching a consulting practice, expanding my network, and ultimately getting an exciting offer for a new permanent position. Through each step, his coaching helped me gain clarity on what I really wanted and make the decisions that would get me there. Neil is an excellent listener, and he shaped each session according to what I needed most at that time. He has an impressive ability to coach on both big picture issues and small details, so our sessions ranged from clarifying values and prioritizing goals – setting the overall direction – to concrete actions such as practicing interviewing techniques (very helpful for someone who had been out of practice for a few years). He’s got a great sense of humor, so the sessions were fun and enjoyable while also keeping me accountable. Most of all, I felt 150% supported through a tumultuous time. I’m extremely grateful for the perspective I gained in working with Neil, and I couldn’t recommend him more highly.”

“Neil coached me through a critical work transition, partnering with me as I moved into a leadership role for my organization. With his support, I was able to build my leadership practice, capitalizing on my unique strengths in addition to gaining insights into potential stumbling blocks. Unlike other coaches that I worked with in the past, Neil had a deep understanding of my work sector – international development – which allowed us to start from a place of common understanding. However, I have no doubt that he could work well with a professional working in other sectors. His structured approach made things easy and I greatly benefited from his insights as a sounding board and thought partner. I also learned a lot through practical ‘homework’, feedback and access to leadership and skills-building resources. He is, by far, the most effective coach I’ve worked with and I would not hesitate to engage with him again in the future.”

“The training hadn’t even finished when the accolades began: nearly everyone who attended the sessions as well as those who ‘called-in’ remarked on how well focused, paced, and informative were the sessions. All commented that, as a direct result of your training sessions, they feel prepared to serve as mentors — specifically noting that the hands-on practice sessions proved especially useful.”

“Neil successfully guided our team through multiple discussions about our strategic plan. He quickly gained a strong command of our organizational dynamics, which enabled him to facilitate a stronger collaborative process with our team. Throughout our planning retreat, he drew from his deep experience to caution us when our ambitions were unrealistic and to empower us when our ideas were sound.”

“Neil’s facilitation skills, thoughtful insights, and helpful resources were essential to promoting a positive team process and outcome at my organization’s strategic planning meeting. He worked effectively with a diverse group of individuals before, during, and after the meeting, incorporating and synthesizing multiple perspectives into a practical plan. Thank you, Neil!”

“Thank you again for a great session and being an excellent coach in helping me to gain clarity on my career path.”

“Neil provides just the kind of validating support that I need as I make my way towards an important career change. I always come away from our sessions energized, reaffirmed and ready to take on whatever is the next step in my professional development.”

“Neil is a great coach and mentor.  He helped me define my values and goals, provided helpful advice and a sounding board for ideas, and most importantly, he kept me accountable to the plan we developed.  And he’s a lot of fun to work with! I always look forward to our talks.”

“I appreciate your skill in getting to know me quickly in the ways that are relevant to the coaching context and my potential for success; and also your skill at discerning where the action is and fleshing out the clear steps forward. I am finding that coaching is an excellent supplement to therapy - it picks up where the therapy leaves off and I believe it provides a needed link between the growth you make in therapy and the actual steps you take in your life that reflect that growth and put it into action.”

“Facilitator gets 6 stars out of 5.”

“Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”