Finding My Strengths
Chaim Schwartz’s Breakthrough from Manager to Executive
Finding my strengths became the key that unlocked Chaim Schwartz’s career at KickStarter. As Senior IT Advisor in Brooklyn, Chaim had reached a critical juncture: he was a good manager with solid technical skills, but he felt like he’d hit a ceiling. He wasn’t progressing beyond a certain level despite clear ambition and competence. That’s when he decided to work with Dr. Sydney Ceruto. She helped him identify his true strengths and weaknesses as a leader and taught him how to communicate his vision to senior management. She also helped him delegate more effectively and manage his time with precision. Thanks to Dr. Ceruto’s amazing ability to facilitate positive change and growth, Chaim was able to take on significantly more responsibility and eventually secured a promotion to a higher executive position. He couldn’t have done it without her.
The Challenge: Good Manager, But Career Ceiling Looming
Chaim Schwartz had built a solid career at KickStarter. His technical expertise was beyond question. His management skills were competent. His colleagues respected him, and his work was recognized as solid and reliable. By most measures, he was succeeding.
Yet Chaim knew something was missing. He’d plateau at a certain level, and despite his efforts, the path to senior leadership remained blocked. When opportunities for advancement came up, he wasn’t the choice. Other managers with similar backgrounds were promoted ahead of him. Chaim couldn’t understand why finding my strengths wasn’t translating into upward mobility.
The honest assessment was troubling: he was a good manager, but finding my strengths as a leader—the qualities that distinguish good managers from exceptional executives—remained unclear. He knew his technical skills but couldn’t articulate his leadership vision in ways that inspired senior management. His delegation style was hit-or-miss. His time management, while adequate, kept him reactive rather than strategic. Chaim needed to breakthrough, but he didn’t know how.
The Solution: Strategic Coaching in Leadership Strengths
Dr. Sydney Ceruto’s coaching addressed exactly what Chaim needed but didn’t yet understand. She guided him through comprehensive self-assessment, helping Chaim identify his true strengths as a leader—not just the obvious technical capabilities, but deeper strengths: his ability to build trust, his strategic thinking potential, his capacity to inspire when properly developed.
Equally important, Dr. Ceruto helped Chaim identify leadership weaknesses he’d been avoiding—gaps in his executive presence, areas where his communication fell short of senior leadership standards, delegation patterns that held him back. Finding my strengths meant also understanding where growth was essential.
Dr. Ceruto taught Chaim how to communicate his vision to senior management—how to translate technical expertise into strategic narrative that resonated at the C-suite level. She equipped him with delegation frameworks that freed his time for strategic work rather than tactical firefighting. She helped him manage his time with the precision required of executives.
Most importantly, she created accountability and structure for translating these insights into behavioral change. Finding my strengths and applying them became a daily practice, not just an intellectual exercise.
The Results: Promotion to Executive Leadership
The transformation has been tangible and career-changing. Chaim’s ability to communicate vision to senior management completely shifted how leadership perceived his potential. His improved delegation created space for both his team to grow and for him to focus on strategic initiatives. His refined time management made him visibly more effective and available for leadership conversations.
Within a reasonable timeframe, Chaim took on significantly more responsibility. He led larger projects. He mentored other managers. He participated in strategic planning at higher organizational levels. The executives who once overlooked him now viewed him as executive material.
The promotion came through—a higher executive position that reflected Chaim’s true potential. Finding my strengths had transformed from a vague aspiration into concrete career advancement. The ceiling that once seemed permanent had been broken through.
Chaim’s journey demonstrates a critical principle: finding my strengths isn’t passive self-discovery. It requires expert guidance to identify capabilities you didn’t know you possessed, develop competencies you couldn’t develop alone, and apply them in ways that create breakthrough results.
Chaim’s Direct Testimony
“I was at a point in my career where I felt like I had hit a ceiling. I was a good manager, but I didn’t know how to take my career to the next level. That’s when I decided to work with Sydney. She helped me to identify my strengths and weaknesses as a leader and taught me how to communicate my vision to senior management. She also helped me to delegate tasks more effectively and manage my time better. Thanks to Sydney’s amazing ability to help create positive change and growth, I was able to take on more responsibility at work and I eventually got promoted to a higher executive position. I couldn’t have done it without her!”
Ready to Begin Finding Your Own Strengths?
Like Chaim Schwartz, you may have solid competence without breakthrough impact. Finding my strengths requires more than self-reflection—it requires expert guidance to identify hidden potential, develop critical leadership gaps, and create systems for applying those strengths in career-advancing ways.
Dr. Ceruto’s coaching delivers the strategic guidance ambitious professionals need to identify true strengths, develop executive capabilities, and accelerate their path to leadership advancement.
Your breakthrough begins with a personalized Elite Insight Strategy Call with Dr. Ceruto to assess your leadership strengths and create your executive advancement roadmap.
