“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Continue reading →

We are delighted this week to feature another guest blogger, Fi Macmillan. If you would like to blog on a theme related to Challenging Coaching then please get in touch. Here is Fi’s brilliant analysis of Lionel Logue’s challenging coaching role in the film ‘The King’s Speech:-

Observing Lionel Logue’s virtuoso performance in creating a high support, high challenge coaching relationship in the film, ‘The King’s Speech’ I started to wonder  how the strength of such a relationship is built?  How can a relationship endure such high levels of rupture and repair?  Research shows that better outcomes result when the cycle of rupture and repair occur[1] than if it is absent. Continue reading →

Last week I presented at the Association for Coaching Ireland conference in Belfast. Belfast is a beautiful city with the conference located in the Titanic quarter where the historic ship was built 100 years ago. The conference started with Julie Starr delivering the opening keynote. This was a simple and powerful session with a number of interactive sessions. Julie’s theme was ego, and who we are and what things would be like if we did not need to seek approval from others or need to control things.  Continue reading →

‘I am likely to resign in the next few days’. These were the words that greeted me at a recent coaching session with a board level leader. Whilst I knew that times had been tough it was still a surprise to hear this dramatic conclusion. As the coachee recounted their version of events they repeatedly asked me the same question – ‘Do you think I am being too cynical?’. I was being asked for feedback. Some years ago I would have replied ‘Well, do YOU think you are being too cynical?’ – answering a question with a question in order to avoid breaking the coaching rules.  Continue reading →

I’ve practiced kendo for a number of years and the club regularly takes in beginners. They are very keen and eager but have not developed their skills sufficiently to control attacks. I can see a connection between the development of their kendo skills and the development of executive coaching skills.  Continue reading →

We are delighted this week to feature another guest blogger, Tony Reiss. If you would like to blog on a theme related to Challenging Coaching then please get in touch. Here is Tony’s thought-provoking summary of Daniel Coyle’s book ‘The Talent Code’:-

If you’re interested in coaching people to develop better skills, you’ll be interested in a book called ‘The Talent Code’ by Daniel Coyle. The book starts by asking the following intriguing questions:

• How did one run down Russian tennis club with only one indoor court produce more top 20 tennis players than the whole of the USA?
• How did the tiny island of Dominican Republic produce one in every nine top class baseball players?
• How did South Korea develop its Ladies golf talent, from one winner in 1998 to currently having eight from the top 20 money winners? Continue reading →