Harold Hillman (executive coach)

Early life

Hillman was born on 29 July 1955 in Washington, D.C. His parents were Milton, Sr. and Mary Elizabeth [nee Doswell], from Georgia and Virginia respectively. Hillman's parents met in Washington, D.C., where they married and had four children. Hillman has two older brothers, Milton, Jr. and Alvin, and a younger sister, Elsie, all who reside in the Washington metropolitan area.

Education

Hillman earned a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1977 from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He earned a master's degree in education from Harvard University in 1978. Hillman’s master's thesis validated a strong correlation between moral and cognitive development in adolescents. Hillman earned his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1983, with a speciality in child and adolescent therapies. His doctorate thesis compared memory retention strategies in children under stress.

Career in the U.S.

Immediately after graduate school in 1983, Hillman accepted his first professional role as a staff psychologist at a community mental health system, located in Muncie, Indiana. Hillman left that role to join the U.S. Air Force in 1986, where he served as a captain and chief psychologist at Myrtle Beach [South Carolina] Air Force Base until 1989. Hillman was then invited to teach at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs [Colorado], where he was promoted to the rank of major and served as assistant professor and chief of leadership programs until he resigned his commission in December 1993. After leaving active duty service, Hillman served in the Illinois Air National Guard [Peoria] between 1996 -1999.

Hillman left clinical work behind to follow a path from the Air Force Academy into corporate America, where he would define himself as a leadership expert. In December 1993, Hillman joined Amoco Corporation in Chicago, where he directed the company's executive leadership programme, followed by a brief stint as general manager of Amoco’s marketing university – both roles covering a span of six years. In December 1999, following Amoco's merger with British Petroleum, Hillman left BP Amoco to join Prudential Financial [headquartered Newark, NJ], where he served as the company’s chief learning officer during his four year tenure. While with Prudential, Hillman directed the company’s 66 acre executive learning center based in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Career in New Zealand

Hillman migrated to New Zealand in 2003 to take a role with Fonterra Co-operative Group, the nation's largest business and one of the world's largest dairy exporters. Hillman served in two roles with Fonterra between 2003–2006, first as interim global head of human resources, and then as global talent director for the dairy co-op. Hillman’s original plan was to work with Fonterra for three years, then return to Manhattan where he would start his own consultancy. Those plans changed in early 2005 when Hillman was granted permanent residency, a conscious decision on his part to remain in New Zealand to launch and grow a business. Hillman became a New Zealand citizen on 27 May 2008.

Consulting practice

Hillman launched the Sigmoid Curve Consulting Group in December 2006. The firm is based in Auckland. Sigmoid Curve Consulting Group specialises in leadership development with a particular emphasis on leading change – with tools that enable companies to build stronger change agility and resilience. In his role as the firm's principal, Hillman works primarily as a coach and key advisor to chief executives and senior leadership teams. Hillman co-owns the firm with Alexander Waddell, originally from Auckland.

Publicity

Hillman wrote his first book, The Impostor Syndrome, which profiled his story about serving as a closeted gay officer in the U.S. military at a time when it was illegal to do so. Hillman was a decorated officer who received many awards for exemplary service, including the Air Force Academy's prestigious "outstanding military educator" award in 1992. In January 1993, Hillman was selected to serve on a military commission that was convened shortly after President Clinton was inaugurated. The commission's role was to recommend to Secretary of Defense, Colin Powell, viable paths to lift the ban on openly gay citizens being able to serve in the U.S. military. Hillman was sequestered in Washington, D.C. with 40 other U.S. military personnel who had been assembled from around the world. The work of that commission resulted in the controversial policy, "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue", which was announced in July 1993. The ban on gay citizens being able to serve openly was eventually lifted by President Obama in September 2011.

Hillman told his personal story about serving as an impostor on the commission in a TEDx presentation, Inside the Tent, delivered in Tauranga, New Zealand on 25 July 2015. Hillman's story was also profiled in The New Zealand Herald on 29 August 2015. The story's notoriety was heightened by Hillman's premise that companies and organisations often reinforce inauthentic behaviour, which causes impostor syndrome to thrive. Hillman's reluctance to be true to himself, even as a highly-decorated military officer, was the catalyst for his decision to leave the military and chart a path that would eventually lead to New Zealand.

Personal life

Hillman was married and has two daughters.