About Kay Grossman
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Thoughts are the ancestors to actions.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
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I thoroughly enjoy my work as a personal coach. I am fascinated by people’s individual stories – how they got to where they are today, how they think, and what they think about. My approach to coaching is practical and supportive, and I enjoy finding possibility and humor in perplexing situations. I especially delight in partnering with people to foster awareness of their own thought processes in order to achieve their personal and professional goals.
— Kay Grossman
If our thoughts determine our actions, then the focus of our thoughts is critical to the quality of our lives. The concept of thinking about our thoughts, essentially the brain contemplating itself, is so strong an interest of mine, it has influenced the direction of my studies and my career.
Intricacies of the brain
I pursued undergraduate and graduate programs that examined the intricacies of the brain’s memory and learning processes. For years I worked as a learning specialist, helping students train their brains to master new skills for success in school and more fulfilling career pursuits.
I concentrated on working with individuals with attention challenges to help them overcome those challenges, to capitalize on their strengths, and to go on to achieve their goals. Specialized coach training provided me with additional tools to train clients to focus their thought processes and take actions to improve their lives.
What we pay attention to drives our success
From these experiences I developed a major premise that I believe holds true for us all and that forms the core of my coaching philosophy: What we pay attention to drives our effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity, and ultimately determines our well-being and success. I have found that the coaching techniques I developed to work with the extreme attention challenges of ADHD also work successfully for attention challenges due to information overload, personality traits, and the magnified pressures of our times.
Go on to…
Attention, itself, is “at risk” in today’s distraction-filled world. Frankly, I enjoy researching the attention component of brain function. Even more, I enjoy applying knowledge gained from that research to help clients not only fend off the onslaught of attention-robbing distractions, but to go on to FOCUSdammit!
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A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.
— Mahatma Gandhi
The Details
Education and Certifications
- Bachelor’s Degree in Speech, Language, and Learning from Northwestern University, School of Communication
- Master’s Degree in Speech, Language, and Learning from Northwestern University, School of Communication
- Post-graduate study in ADHD at the University of Kansas Medical Center
- Graduate of the ADD Coach Academy (ADDCA)
- Coaching the Entrepreneur (Advanced ADDCA Course)
- ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC)
Affiliations
- International Coach Federation (ICF)
- ICF Heartland Coaches Association
- ADHD Coaches Organization (ACO)
- Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA)
- Children and Adults with ADHD (CHADD)
Community
- Jack Isgur Foundation for the Humanities in Education
— Board of Directors for fifteen years (current)
- ICF Heartland Coaches Association
— Treasurer (former)
- Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City
— Vice President for Education in Women’s Division (former)
- Experiment in Congregational Education
— Co-chair of national initiative at Congregation Beth Torah (former)
- Congregation Beth Torah
— Board of Directors (former)
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Harold Grossman
I wish to honor the memory of my father, Harold Grossman, who died from lung cancer on October 28, 2008. He was a gentle, loving, enormously lovable man who modeled a life of kindness, personal integrity, and optimism.
He was proud of my siblings’ and my every accomplishment, and I know he would have looked at my Web site with that special twinkle in his eyes and have shared words of appreciation.
I thank my mother, Candace Grossman, for loving us all so deeply. This photograph of my father is her handiwork.
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