Keeper of the Vision - Culture in Las Vegas

Dr. Katrina Burrus, MCC interviews Myron G. Martin, President and CEO of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas, NV. These are the questions Katrina asks Myron:

1.  What do you attribute your success in making the Smith Center what it is today?
2. What would you say is your biggest professional challenge today?
3. What is your biggest personal challenge as a leader today?
4. How do you see the Smith Center evolving in the next 5 to 10 years?
5. If Europeans come to Las Vegas, they often think of Las Vegas as the gambling center, what would you say to them about performing arts in Las Vegas?

Myron G. Martin, President and CEO, The Smith Center for the Performing Arts Las Vegas, NV brings the world’s most revered and celebrated entertainers to Las Vegas. Martin has a rich history in the performing arts business. He has produced and presented a variety of well-regarded shows including first-run touring attractions and internationally acclaimed performers in music, theater and dance.

Part of the team that first imagined how a world-class performing arts center could change the community, Martin was chosen to oversee design, construction, fundraising and operations of The Smith Center. As president and CEO, he has been called the “keeper of the vision” for The Smith Center, which has been heralded as the Heart of the Arts® in Southern Nevada.

In addition to his responsibilities at The Smith Center, Martin pursues other creative endeavors. Currently, Martin serves as the chairman of The National High School Musical Theater Awards in New York as well as a Governor-appointed commissioner for Nevada’s Sesquicentennial Commission. He is an Emmy Award-nominee for producing the Vegas PBS special “Frank Wildhorn & Friends.”  Martin holds a bachelor of music degree from the University of North Texas, and an MBA from Golden Gate University.

Dr. Katrina Burrus, MCC interviews Dorothy E. Siminovitch, PhD, MCC about her new book, A Gestalt Coaching Primer: The Path Toward Awareness IQ and asked the following questions:

1. You have coined the term “awareness intelligence,” or Awareness IQ. What does that mean in terms of coaching effectiveness and coaching success?

2. “Mindfulness” is so touted in today’s world. How is mindfulness connected with the Gestalt approach to coaching?

3. In your book, A Gestalt Coaching Primer, you draw a distinction between coaching presence and use of self skills. Can you make that distinction clear for us?

4. How is Gestalt coaching a systems approach? Why does that matter?

Dorothy E. Siminovitch, PhD, MCC is an international coach, consultant, group facilitator, presenter, and author. She is the founder and principal of Gestalt Coaching Works, and co-founder of the Gestalt Center for Coaching, where she serves as senior faculty and Director of Training for the Center’s coach-training programs. Dorothy is an originator and evolver of Gestalt coaching. She presents awareness-based coaching principles, models, and practices at prominent conferences and by invitation worldwide. She is currently working on an integrative, evidence-based application of awareness-based coaching practice called the Leadership Awareness Index, which will be inaugurated during her break-out session with Barbara Singer, CEO of Executive Core, at the Association for Coach Training Organizations (ACTO) conference next month in Toronto. Dorothy’s recently published book, A Gestalt Coaching Primer: The Path Toward Awareness IQ, is already considered a must-have reference about the power of Gestalt theory and practice in service of coaching excellence.