“Wisdom is collected as we actively care about something over time.”
Craig Lomax
Introduction to Leadership
In high school, Craig found his way into the outfitter industry as a whitewater river guide. This demanding role pushed him into advanced leadership skills at a young age and gave him an appetite for serving people.
Entrepreneur
As a freshman in college Craig started an event photography business. Within a year he had trained and employed several of his fellow students and was servicing multiple events simultaneously. The venture ended up paying for college and partly funding the long-term business he started his senior year.
30 Years of Business Development
Before graduating from college Craig co-founded an adventure camp called Rock-N-Water. He developed and directed this for-profit corporation that served over 100,000 guests with the help of more than 300 employees between 1989 and its sale in 2018. There were no known models similar to this camp at start-up and there are very few in the country today. Rock-N-Water led the camping industry for customer reviews averaging 4.9 of 5 stars, had no fatalities, liability claims or debt. Integral to these accomplishments was the consistency of the camp's highly reputed staff.
As this organization grew from a small business into a significant organization, Craig also grew, developing skills in program development, business administration, leadership, management, training, communications, human resources, marketing, and long-term vision.
The combination of these corporate challenges and the ones he found in his many years of leading whitewater rafting, rock climbing, canyoneering, team building, and backpacking trips advanced his aptitude for solving problems and his passion for understanding the principles that govern them.
Due to its reputation and high percentage of the adventure camp market share in California, the sale of Rock-N-Water was successful and the large non-profit that purchased it intends to continue its impactful work with students for many years, perhaps even generations.
Coaching
For over 30 years Craig has been investing in the development of individuals. Much of Rock-N-Water’s success was dependent on Craig’s one-on-one work with guides and their managers. After leaving the camp, it has been a natural fit for him to focus on a coaching practice.
The high performance pattern of Craig’s achievements over the decades includes a unique balance for both creative and analytical thinking. This gives him a rare capacity for working with a variety of client personalities and roles, and for excelling at a wide range of coaching skills. He successfully coaches both the extremely methodical and the very creative client. He sees, and can implement, structures and patterns easily but can also leverage a client's imagination or help them comprehend the abstract. This combination of talents enables him to provide a powerful level of coaching to nearly any motivated client.
International Experience
Over the years Craig has had opportunities to provide consulting, coaching and training for organizations in Sweden, China and Uganda.
Family
Craig and Marianne Lomax have been married for 29 years and have raised three amazing children. The family has endured significant challenges: mental illness, long term physical illness and, in 2012, the loss of their oldest child, Linnea. The personal growth and lessons learned from walking with his family through these difficulties is part of what he brings to his coaching relationships.
A Few Words From Craig
“If what I had for you as a coach were the answers to the problems and opportunities I have encountered in my business endeavors and personal life, I would not be of much help to you. The answers “copied and pasted” from another life rarely fit our own. It’s not my used solutions you need, it is your own custom-crafted ones that will serve your future best. Via coaching, that is what I can help you produce.
With that said, my life and work experiences do enhance my coaching. Since I have always sought to understand the principles that govern our lives, the coaching questions, encouragement, and challenges I offer stem from my mindfulness of these principles. If you are motivated to progress, I can help you do so.”