Blake Baumann Founder of ASPIE-R Blake Baumann is a leading professional neurodiversity coach that specializes in working with individuals with autism spectrum disorder. He has coached individuals from across the world ranging from 15 to 50 years of age. As someone with autism himself, he understands the challenges of being autistic and excelling in the workplace. In working with professionals with autism, he has been able to help them learn how to work with their strengths and weaknesses to boost productivity, meet deadlines, increase confidence, manage sensory overload, communicate more efficiently, and improve their relationships amongst their colleagues. Blake has an incredible gift that allows him to get inside his client’s mind to understand how they operate so that he can help customize the right strategy and guide them to achieve their goals. Because of this he has been able to help people to change their career and life trajectory leaving a lasting impact. Blake unofficially began his coaching career in 2014 when his eldest son was diagnosed with Asperger’s, a form of high functioning autism. He knew that he needed to have a strategy to help his son navigate the same challenges he faced as he launched into life. He developed a 5-year plan for his son which resulted in his son learning to drive, graduate high school, gain a part-time job, attend college, elevate his career into full-time employment, and live independently. He had never thought of it as anything special until many parents whose young adults faced similar challenges reached out to him for help. With such impactful results, in 2019 he decided to go all in with coaching. He started his business ASPIE-R which is pronounced like the word aspire and is a play on the words of Aspie, a term used for individuals with Asperger’s, and aspire which means to rise higher. Blake also pursued becoming a certified coach and attended the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching where he gained his Certified Professional Coach certification in September of 2019. He later pursued his ICF credentials and obtained the certification of Professional Certified Coach credential in September of 2021. Prior to coaching, Blake held several executive leadership roles, and he attributes his professional success to 3 key things that he works to incorporate in his coaching: (1) He uses his autistic gift of pattern recognition. In his career he was able to replicate successful business models that increased sales, client retention, and operational efficiency. In coaching he can see similar patterns in clients that impact them and so he works to optimize them resulting in achieving their desired outcomes. (2) Improving his autistic deficit around social communication. Blake realized that that people he interacted with wouldn’t change how to communicate with him. He decided to invest countless hours in reading, researching, and attending seminars so that he could learn how to communicate with individuals in their style. In coaching this has allowed him to connect deeply with his clients to build the trust needed for an incredible working relationship. (3) Realizing how crucial it was to have someone to mentor him, he sought out individuals who already achieved what he wanted and asked them if they would coach and mentor him. This helped him to learn to set the right goals and continue stepping outside of his comfort zone which led to him to short cutting his path to success. This was a big driver in him becoming a coach. Now as a professional coach, Blake feels his goal is to use his experience to help neurodiverse individuals to unleash their genius so they can live an extraordinary life. CEO Today Executive Coaching Awards 2022 - USA - - 73 - MOST INSPIRING NEURODIVERSITY COACH OF THE YEAR
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