Ahmad Humeid, Founder and General Manager at Syntax, Jordan

Working with Mohammad Raei as a coach is my first experience of this sort. I decided to work with him at a pivotal time in my career. I have been running my own successful design business for over 30 years, during which I was always wary of business consultants or advisors. In the past few years, I realized that my business is suffering from various symptoms of stagnation. And while I had already largely self-diagnosed my business situation and even came up with various strategic solutions for the future of my business and career, I decided that a journey of transition in this later phase of my career needs a partner.

My coaching conversations with Mohammad started with questions about larger life and work goals. The weekly rhythm of the meetings, even at times of great difficulty in my business, and Mohammad’s calm and focused ability to keep our conversations consistent from week to week, helped achieve an important breakthrough: a plan towards a sabbatical that has been long-delayed, including how to transition towards the sabbatical and what to use it for to re-imagine the future of my company and create a healthier work ecosystem for my team and myself.

Throughout the coaching process, Mohammad has been able, through gentle probing and questioning, to guide me to arrive at solutions towards the end of most sessions, so that I came out of our weekly meeting with a tangible step forward. In many instances, he provided me with summaries of our discussions that will help me implement the decisions that came out of our coaching session.

Having grown up in an entrepreneurial family, Mohammad’s insight and understanding is real and not just theoretical. His grasp of change management and the importance of taking a company’s team along on the journey through participation and repeated communication is yet another aspect of coaching that Mohammad brought to the table.

Haitham Ibrahim PhD; Associate Instructional Professor in the Humanities, Humanities Collegiate Division (HCD), University of Chicago

In a recent coaching session, I worked with Dr Raei on a burgeoning idea for a book project. He worked with me to clearly and at a high level identify exactly what I wanted to produce. Then subsequently, using coaching questions, we reduced the scope and goals of the project without sacrificing the original plan. This made the workflow and task management more streamlined and easier to execute.

Dr. Raei effectively used a visualization approach to accomplish our goals in the coaching meetings. Together, we employed mind-mapping tools and network representation to break down the project into its component parts. This gave us the chance to visualize alternative possibilities for the execution of the project and a modularity that evolved as we discussed it further.

Using skillful questioning, Dr. Raei also provided a client-based approach that was attentive to the needs of the original idea behind the book project while helping to guide it in ways that opened up new horizons. He drew on his experience as a published author, which was helpful in providing feedback about the writing and publishing process. And while his experience was relevant to the situation at hand, he did not make any assumptions that his own experience will necessarily translate to mine and kept me and my agenda in the driver’s seat.

Dr. Raei helped to create a comfortable atmosphere during our sessions. He listened attentively and responsively and followed up with me throughout the process of working with him. All of this made the process of working with him quite enjoyable and rewarding.

Samer Kurdi, MA, Director of Emergency Assistance at Collateral Repair Project, Amman – Jordan

We worked with Dr. Raei on a couple of projects where he facilitated working groups with our leadership team. He provided enough structure to be productive alongside a measure of spontaneity that helped generate creative ideas. The sessions were useful and insightful and we appreciate his knowledge and his expertise.

Marcia Teixeira, MA, MBA, ICF Certified Coach/Executive Coach-Miami Beach, Florida, USA

Mohammed guided the participants of the PNODN monthly meeting through a journey of discovery of our hidden dynamic when facing change. The interactive seminar – Immunity to Change – helped me to learn more about assumptions and competing commitments that prevent us from changing and developing the necessary behaviors to do it. In the session, I learned (and I am sure all participants) to apply a new perspective and process when dealing with change. Thank you, Mohammed!

Jon Ramer, Co-Founder at SINE Network (Seattle, WA)

I have worked with Mohammed and he did an excellent job at helping to design and shape our program as well as facilitate the event. I recommend him without reservation!

Wendy Maguire, Organizer, We the People Festival (Seattle, USA)

Mohammed was asked to come in at the last minute to help with group facilitation. He was great! He was able to step in and take stock, roll up his sleeves and begin the process with only a little bit of prep time and direction. His contributions and insights were valuable in the further development of the group’s work and the larger focus of the organizers.