Coaching

Right after I finished my Ph.D. in psychology, the rest of my graduate school cohort went on their various paths to become therapists. I went in a different direction. I sheepishly did the year-long postdoctoral work to become certified as a coach. Sheepishly, I say, because I fended off lots of questions about this path: Why did you spend all this time and money and energy getting clinically trained as a psychotherapist, only to then work with business leaders on management issues?

The label “coach” always made me a little restless. It was a role for someone on the sidelines, after all, and I like being in the middle of the action. (If you have a better tag for what I do, let me know!)

This seems to be a season for coaches. I celebrated (in our living room) the many Olympic athletes who dazzled us in Paris. The coaches, so critical to the athletes’ success, really moved me. One moment—among many—was during 16-year-old gymnast Zhang Yihan of Team China’s preliminaries, when she headed for a face-down splat. Her coach, keenly spotting her for such a moment, helped slow her fall, allowed her to recover, and she went on to finish her routine.

Although I’m not an athletic coach, I felt such a connection to the commitment, support, and, yes, love shown by coaches during those games in Paris. On a grand scale, they helped athletes realize their potential on a world stage. I am warmed by the coach’s heart we hear about in VP candidate Tim Walz, especially on learning how it plays out in daily human interactions: pushing someone out of the snow when they’re stuck, quietly supporting a needy student, or taking his high school football team to a championship.

I love my work with leaders in the daily life of the business world. I also catch, push, pull, tweak, and celebrate. I help them

-      build and stabilize teams that suit their energy, approach, and style toward a common goal;

-       be a better boss, communicating so that there is a seamless execution of ideas and mission;

-       push their teams to amplify their leadership vision and operate cohesively;

-       know when and how to shape the behavior of folks who don’t further their vision;

-       free up energy and creativity so they can make the big calls (and stay out of the minutiae); and

-       show up in their world full of power and peace of mind.

It's taken me a while to comfortably embody the role, but never have I been so pleased to claim the moniker of “coach.”