Last Word - John Mattone

JOHN MATTONE, used to be the executive coach of Apple Inc.’s late and iconic Co-founder Steve Jobs and is today rated among the top rung leadership coaches, second only to Marshall Goldsmith. Yet, it was a profession he adopted at the age of 55. In a tête-à-tête with Nina Kler, Mattone shares his perspective on leadership and his amazing life’s journey . Excerpts:

- Nina Kler

Mattone’s life journey 

I have a background in industrial psychology and began life as a human resources consultant. In 1996, I wrote a book. The book failed miserably. I said to myself that I am going to come back to this at some point. And I did. The whole notion that I use – it’s what I call the Intelligent Leadership Process – based upon my book of 2013, which ironically came out of my first book, Success Yourself, that didn’t do anything. My motto is: You just don’t ever give up.

I started coaching in 2008 and started to apply the concepts from the book, including the assessment that I created which was eventually taken by Steve Jobs as well (who was my first really big coaching assignment in 2010). And I realised that I was getting feedback from these people saying, ‘this is remarkable’. And I knew that I had something and that is when my coaching career got started ...

On Apple Inc.’s Co-founder, Steve Jobs