Client Testimonials

My leadership coach Robert Grossman has been saying for nearly 18 months that I need to take my team through a process he calls a “Team Charter.” I resisted it for a year. I thought it sounded hokey and that it wasn’t my kind of thing. And then, after so much time of building trust with Robert, I relented.

After sharing a vision for where the team could go in the next five years and what we needed to achieve to get there, we sat down as a team, and THEY answered the question: How do YOU want to go about getting there? What should our team values be? How do we need to grow? How do I need to grow to get there?

It was a good conversation. Energizing. Engaging. Fun. Meaningful.

But then this happened…

I was leaving a late meeting around 6 pm on a Thursday only to find my entire team still at the office. I knew that one team member was working late every night that week to get a critical project done, but the rest of the team didn’t have to be there…So I asked what was up. None of them gave me a real answer. I follow up and asked directly: “Are you all working late just so Claire doesn’t have to work late alone?”

Without a word, they each recited the key value they had agreed upon during the Charter process:

“Win as a team, lose at a team, Jack,” they said.

WOW. How inspiring! This group is on a mission. They’re on fire. And thanks to the Charter process, and Robert’s coaching, they’re all rowing in the same direction!

Pretty cool.

I’m very fortunate to have worked with Robert in the area of Emotional Intelligence training and coaching. After a senior manager at my current employer informed me that my promotability within the organization might be in jeopardy because I had a reputation of being abrasive during my communications with senior leadership, I knew I needed to make a change.

Consequently, I signed up for a webinar with Robert and then for personal EI coaching sessions.

Robert put a custom program together for me, and I immediately put the new coaching to use. Three months later, several senior leaders have mentioned a noticeable improvement in the tone of my communication and have complimented me on it.

This is timely because there are now two senior management positions opening up that I will be applying for. I’m grateful for Robert’s patience and candor – it’s opened my eyes to areas that I could improve and has provided me with the tools I need to improve my emotional intelligence in all facets of my life.

Powerful and highly effective are words that come to mind when I think about Robert and the work we have done together. I have had the pleasure of working with Robert for the past ten months, during which he was my executive and leadership coach. Above all, I am impressed with his commitment to my success, how he challenges my perspective, and the level of empathy he brings to our conversations.

There is no doubt that I am a much better leader today due to his contributions as my coach. In addition to coaching me, I hired Robert to lead a leadership development program focusing on emotional intelligence and teamwork. Robert is an excellent executive coach and facilitator, and I strongly recommend him to anyone committed to becoming a more effective leader.

We engaged Robert Grossman (no relationship) to help us address labor-management challenges within our company. By creating a safe emotional space, sharing his expertise and personal experiences, and providing our team with valuable insight and strategies, Robert set us on the right path toward achieving a culture of high performance.

Robert taught us the importance of emotional intelligence, psychological safety, open communication, active listening, empathy, and understanding. These valuable tools help us become a healthier, more cohesive team, enabling us to focus on achieving our organization’s mission. I highly recommend Robert and Black Diamond Leadership.

I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed the two sessions on emotional intelligence.  I can’t think of a single person who wouldn’t benefit from emotional intelligence awareness.  You are a wonderful presenter –  thoughtful, professional and compassionate.  Afterward, I had a conversation with one person who was sad the course was finished.  Others really seemed to enjoy it as well.

Practice makes perfect, so I will continue to work on changing my response pathways and hopefully, it will become second nature.  I am grateful Karim found you and continues to work with you.  I can see clearly now why he is so excited.

“This class was a great investment in me! It helped me analyze my thought process and improve my leadership skills.”

Robert’s expertise in developing a high-performance culture has helped our company to develop our team to be better in all of the areas that really matter. His emphasis on Emotional Intelligence has placed our focus on the relationships of our team members with the added bonus helping us to create a safe and productive environment for enhanced communications. As a result, we are working together better and more cooperatively. Additionally, he was an expert guest on our weekly podcast show. I highly recommend Robert and Black Diamond Leadership.

Thank you for your excellent presentation on Practicing Emotional Intelligence.  I found your development tips tremendously helpful.
I teach Emotional Intelligence to students, unfortunately, EQ literature is often strong on good intentions rather than solid practical advice.
I can also relate to the fact that every day we face a choice to be empathic, self-awareness and have the courage to change. I’d love to stay in touch so we can talk more about it.

Robert has a wonderful style that disarms and makes one lean in to learn. The fellow participants were all high level, high performing successful professionals. The caliber of the individuals created an atmosphere of a higher level of dialogue. This is a testament to Robert’s reputation and ability to connect with you, your employees, or your boss.

I attended an executive briefing delivered by Robert Grossman, head of Black Diamond Leadership, on “Creating Culture of High-Performance. Robert brings extensive experience from the field of running and operating businesses, and certifications field of emotional intelligence, leadership, psychological safety, and human performance. He brings to life where the ‘rubber meets the road’ in teaching and coaching topics that have a real impact. Of particular interest was the way he combines the core established concepts of “Emotional Intelligence” with the newest trends on “Psychological Safety” – reinforcing the fact that as markets and technologies evolve – so must the way executives and business owners think about getting the most out of their employees. If there’s a need in your organization for more effective teaming even among your most talented performers – giving Robert a call would be well worth your time.

Recently, I attended an Executive Briefing on How to Create a Culture of High-Performance. As a professional advisor, I knew the culture was important, but I did not realize the impact on the bottom line a negative culture has on company profitability. After attending the briefing, I now understand the disciplines required of leadership to create and foster a culture of high-performance. If you are a business leader, Robert’s executive presentation should be a requirement. Robert is also a highly effective executive coach, and I know this from personal experience because I engaged him several years ago to help me with a difficult client situation, which was a tremendous success for my client and me.

I hired Robert to help clarify career options after selling my business. I was initially focused on the “what” but Robert expertly refocused the discussion on “why” and helped me evaluate my options in a more holistic way. We worked on triggers and my communication patterns for responding to those triggers. In the end, I am very happy with my work with Robert and I’m living my life in a richer way than when I started. I’d highly recommend him.

My CEO and I have been seeing Robert for almost a year. Since working with Robert, I’ve had a lot of eye-opening experiences that have made me a stronger leader. He’s helped me achieve a new level of management and leadership I had been striving toward but never able to obtain. Robert is always challenging me to step back and look at the bigger picture, which, in turn, has allowed our team to grow for the better. No matter how established your company is or how strong your leadership skills are, I highly recommend reaching out to Robert!

Robert has impacted my business and my life more than I could have ever imagined. I have had a successful company for 10 years now. It was until a few months ago that I realized, I did need help to take myself, my company and my employees to the next level. I spoke to a few career coaches in order to get a feel for who and what I needed. I picked Robert because I felt like he got me, and related to the crossroads I was at.

At first, I wanted him to just tell me what to do. I’ve had a great personal trainer before and thought this was similar. I was very wrong. Robert challenges me to find the answers myself. There’s not just one right answer. As I’m doing that; I am growing, learning and changing for the better. I didn’t realize before I was operating in the fog. I now see things very clearly.

I’m still a work in progress, but that’s because I am dedicating myself to a lifelong session of intentional self-improvement. Thank you, Robert!

Robert was truly instrumental in helping me get to the next level in my career. His coaching style is both pragmatic and proactive which worked very well for me. I have an extremely busy schedule as I’m sure many of his clients do and Robert was great about keeping me on track and working toward my goals while at the same time not making me feel like I was failing if I missed a milestone. I felt like he was truly engaged and really honed in on solution-building specific to my goals including helping me understand my goals when I had lost my vision and direction a bit. I hope to work with Robert again in the future and would certainly recommend his coaching.

I started working with Robert and his coaching and strategies have really helped me see things outside the box which has been extremely helpful in helping my business grow and hit the results I want. I strongly recommend using Robert as your business coach too.

I had the pleasure to attend a presentation by Robert on Friday, June 7, 2019. His presentation was engaging, stimulating and entertaining. He is in command of the information and produced a presentation that allowed the attendees to interact and to walk away with information that can be used in everyday applications. In this day and age where communication is so important and so easily misunderstood, it was great to take a minute to see how we can communicate, listen and understand better. I would strongly recommend using Robert and Black Diamond Leadership. Our group has already decided to have him back for a second round.

I engaged Robert Grossman, owner of Black Diamond Leadership to help me with a speech I gave at a charity gala. I never enjoyed speaking publicly and I was really nervous about this speech. Robert worked with me to understand my fears, where they were coming from and gave me some tools to relax and deliver one of the best presentations in my life. Robert is understanding and kind, but very rigorous. He would not let me off the hook and he made me feel comfortable and I completely trusted Robert throughout the entire process. I highly recommend Robert as a business coach if you want to improve your business, learn to be a better leader and of course, own the stage during a presentation.

I engaged Robert to guide me as I took my business in a different direction. Robert provided a blend of coaching and leadership development which played an important role in my professional growth. Robert provided an empathetic ear and challenged me in ways that will have a lasting impact. I highly recommend Robert and Black Diamond Leadership!

Robert is a powerful and highly effective business coach. I worked with Robert to clarify my goals, next steps, and to break through the barriers preventing me from taking decisive action. With Robert’s help, I was able to identify a career path that would truly satisfy me and quickly secured my dream job with my dream company. Robert is both a rigorous and compassionate coach who only has the best interests of his clients. I’ve also participated in his webinars and programs which are designed to develop participants to become better leaders who build High-Performing Teams. I recommend Robert without hesitation.

Robert provided an engaging seminar on Developing a Culture of High Performance for our senior management team. The team learned quite a bit in just a few days and we are now “speaking the same language” when it comes to accountability for our individual and team efforts. I am certain that any team will improve using Robert’s methods. We have definitely increased our efficiency post-Roberts seminar and we are eager to learn more. When you invest in your team, they are vested in you

Initially, I imagined that the role you would play for Deloitte would be to allow us to produce the best annual partner retreats we could.  What I didn’t imagine were all of the other contributions that you personally made. You became an integral part of our team and always helped us focus on the outcomes we hoped to achieve with each partner retreat.

Robert is a thoughtful person with insights and support that come from the heart. At the same time he is not hesitant to tell you what you may not want to hear but NEED to know. He has demonstrated to me his high degree of ethics and integrity.

I met Robert about ten years ago. Robert was instrumental in me “thinking out of the box” and beginning my recruiting and sales training firm. He is incredibly creative and provided many insightful ideas. I have been thoroughly impressed with the drive he has gone after building his own consulting business and how well he has done. His customers seem to be very satisfied with his ideas, guidance, and resourcefulness. I would highly recommend Robert.

Robert and his team are true collaborators, who worked with me to find out what my organization really needed to get done — what our objectives were — and helped us focus on how we could get the best results, and how his team could help us to get there

Robert’s enthusiasm for his work and for his clients’ satisfaction is outstanding. He is strategic, always thinking, and focused on delivering best-of-class service.

Robert works to assist high-performing leaders in reaching their full potential by enabling them to see the possibilities that they had overlooked and most importantly holding them accountable. He works individually and with leader groups through CEO peer groups to accomplish breakthrough results with his clients.

Robert led a workshop this morning on high-level executive leadership for one of our Business Round tables. The program was engaging and highly interactive. Everyone participated. An attendee said it was one of our best programs ever and how soon could Robert come back? Great job! Thank you!

I highly recommend Robert if you’re putting together a program to engage senior level executives and help your team achieve the next level of success

I hired Robert to help me figure out the best possible outcome for a difficult situation with a client. I thought for sure the client relationship was going downhill and I was going to lose the account. He helped me get a clearer perspective and consequently see options I could not see on my own.

Robert helped me devise a plan that allowed me to communicate my terms and conditions without being adversarial. I saved the client relationship and it is actually stronger now that we worked through a difficult patch together.

I’m sure I would not have been able to achieve the same results if I had not solicited Robert’s coaching.

Robert is a very strong business coach who I am happy to say has helped me in many ways over the years. Since 2007 when Robert first acted as Vistage Chair and my business coach, my decisions and results have improved dramatically. Robert is as insightful as he is caring, and as smart and capable as he is resourceful.

Whatever the problem is, Robert can help solve it. Whatever direction is needed, Robert can lead you to it. Robert is a great communicator and facilitator. It is rare to find someone like Robert, and I am very grateful for all he has done for me.