I’m putting away my golf clubs for the season. As I do that, I can’t help but reflect on what a great metaphor golf is for leaders and leadership. In my role as Executive Coach I have engaged this metaphor with clients who are also golfers with some surprising results.Like the complex and changing corporate environment, there are constant unknowns in the game.

How often have you said or heard one of your managers say, “I would love to be able to increase my teams’ performance?” If increasing your team’s performance is your goal, you may be chasing the wrong target. Performance is a by-product rather than a goal in itself,  as with happiness in a relationship.

It is Coaching Week  2017 and  it seems fitting that  we pay tribute to a few of the founders of this amazing profession; Sir John Whitmore, Timothy Gallwey and Laura Whitworth.  Each has had also, unknowingly, shaped the foundation of my coaching. Thank-you to all of you for your integrity and passion that began and continues to impact the now established profession of Leadership and Executive coaching.

Self-deception actually determines one’s experience in every aspect of life…it is the central issue in leadership…To give you an idea of what’s at stake, consider the following analogy.  An infant is learning to crawl.  She begins by pushing herself backward around the house.  Backing herself around, she gets lodged beneath the furniture.

Negative information is often difficult to give.  So much so that we often avoid it. How many times have you bitten your tongue even on something critical because to deal with it would have meant letting the other person know that they hadn’t met expectations or hadn’t got it right?

In his early years Nelson Rolihlahla (meaning troublemaker) was often true to his name.  His childhood had difficulty – losing his father at age 9 and privilege – ‘adoption’ by the chief.  He had access to good education and grew up exposed to high level leadership.  Understanding the broader societal impact of decisions were modelled.

As a brilliant young lawyer from a good family Mahatma Gandhi’s future was bright.  He was on track to be a good lawyer and make lots of money until, while riding in first class on a South African train, he bumped into the realities of colonialism in the form of Apartheid.  He was forcibly told to go into the crowed 3rd class cars.

I got to thinking about leaders I admire.  Obviously I do not know these leaders personally, however, they are all leaders I’ve taken a keen interest in and followed their lives to varying degrees over the years.  In this short, mini-series, I reflect on what appear to be factors that molded them as good, even great leaders.  Leaders who the world is better for them having led.

I got to thinking about leaders I admire.  Obviously I do not know these leaders personally, however, they are all leaders I’ve taken a keen interest in and followed their lives to varying degrees over the years.  In this short, mini-series, I reflect on what appear to be factors that molded them as good, even great leaders.  Leaders who the world is better for them having led.

The last 15 years has seen a steady increase in companies embracing executive coaching as a core piece in their leadership development suite of tools. Those who’ve been coached swear by it. Others are still skeptical. A large component of the distrust stems from the lack of compulsory regulation in the industry, leaving consumers vulnerable as they try to discern the value they can expect from their coach.

Services are always hard to determine the value of, how do you know if you’re getting good value from your accountant, architect or lawyer?  Executive coaching is no different.  You can’t ‘kick the tires’ of a service before you buy it, but you probably do have a few indicators that help you determine the value you want from a service.