Jo Miller

Jo Miller

CEO

Women's Leadership Coaching Inc.

Cedar Rapids

What was the last movie you saw?

The last two were “True Grit” and “Rango.” I liked the coincidence that they were both westerns with a young female character full of moxie.

Where is your favorite place to get away?

I grew up in Australia and don't get back there as often as I would like to. When I do go, I like to catch up with family and friends and enjoy the food, art and culture in Sydney and Melbourne.

What's the best day of the week to be in a meeting?

My No. 1 workplace dislike aside from paper cuts is “death by meeting.” So meetings are extremely rare in our office.

We get brainstorming and planning done in impromptu huddles, often around a flip chart.

What do you always have close at hand at your desk?

Emergency chocolate and a stack of pages with articles and ideas from magazines, blogs and conference agendas that I flip through when I want a shot of inspiration.

Did you start out in this line of work? What did you think you'd be doing when you “grew up”?

I had always imagined one day owning my own business. I started out in HR and recruiting for the telecommunications and technology industries and escaped 12 years ago to become an executive coach. I'm definitely in my dream career.

Early in my career, if anyone had told me that I would enjoy public speaking to audiences of hundreds, I think I would have quite literally died of fright.

How did you happen to come to live and work in Eastern Iowa?

My husband has worked for Rockwell since 2000, so it was somewhat inevitable. Like the typical California residents, we resisted opportunities to move to Cedar Rapids until the day I visited to take a look around ... and loved it.

It has been a great move personally and also for the business as I am now expanding our customer base in the Midwest.