Certified Personal and Executive Coach, Former Chemist & Youth Pastor
How did a former chemist who completed seminary use coaching in his role in organizational development and leadership?
Eujin Ahn is currently in his second year in his position as the Senior Learning and Development Manager at One Medical where he assists with professional development for the company of over 3,000 employees. His primary function is meeting with leaders and frontline team members to coach them in leadership coaching and career development.
He has been asked many times how he went from being a chemist to the role he is in now. Eujin says his career has been crazy, and for years, he was living parallel lives. One that made money and the other that allowed him to pursue another passion.
After graduating college with a biology degree, Eujin needed a job and began working as a chemist at a quality control lab, while also serving as an urban youth pastor in the Chicagoland area.
“I felt like in order to finance my passion, I needed a job to do what I really wanted to do on the weekends,” he said. “I did that for a while (10 years) and realized chemistry wasn’t my cup of tea.
In 2014, Eujin pivoted into training and development at the same pharmaceutical company where he worked as a chemist. He began facilitating orientations and speaking in front of groups.
His next move was to pursue a master’s in organizational development and leadership. He was now married with four kids, but did what was necessary to make this dream come true.
“In the master’s program there was a coaching course. Something opened my eyes and I thought this was a powerful tool… and I knew I needed to get certified in this when I got the chance,” he said.
Eujin found the CaPP Institute during his research. After he completed the CPEC program in Feb. 2022, he immediately began incorporating coaching in his one-on-one conversations with leaders. He is actively pursuing his ACC certification with the International Coaching Federation.
“I use coaching in almost every interaction I have,” he said. “It’s just such a powerful tool and experience. Going through CTI/CPEC has been so instrumental for me doing that as a facilitator and coach. It’s such an underutilized skill and capability that everyone has. I feel like coaching has taken mine to the next level where people are surprised, I’m actually listening to what they have to say.”
Before he began coaching, Eujin said he believed people wanted to talk to him as a subject matter expert. But after, he believes they are the subject matter expert, and he asks questions to draw out what it is they already know. He empowers them to take action with what they already have within them.
As for the future, Eujin plans to continue learning and growing.
“There’s definitely a lot more I feel like can be used and leveraged for I will definitely use the coaching. There are so many other things I have and want to do.”
