Who Needs An Executive Coach?
Anyone who wants to become a good leader
Most CEOs of start-up companies did not receive MBA degrees and did not have an impressive management experience behind them. The best managers learn from their own mistakes. Mark Zuckerberg started when he was just 19 years old, and now, nine years later, he runs the largest Internet company. Don’t worry about being “underqualified.” The most important things you will learn along the way. The best CEOs surround themselves with the right mentors who tell them how to survive and succeed on their way to the top.
Executive coaching is hot. What was stigma (“You’re so broken you need a coach?”) has become status symbol (“You’re so valuable you get a coach?”). Tiger Woods and Michael Phelps have coaches. Even President Barack Obama has a coach, if you count David Axelrod. Microsoft’s young high-potential leaders get coaches. If elite athletes and organizations think they need coaches, shouldn’t you have one too? Shouldn’t we all? No. Executive coaching–personal training in leadership from someone who provides it for a living–should be used like a powerful prescription drug that works best under certain conditions. When employed as a cure-all, it is less effective, too expensive and has negative side effects. Executive coaching is not aspirin. It’s interferon. So when should it be prescribed for an executive? When should it be avoided? Based on the latest research and 25 years I’ve spent coaching senior executives and high-potential young leaders, here are five diagnostic questions you should as
