Have you ever learnt a language, a musical instrument or begun a diet or a fitness program by yourself? How did it go? – Keith Millar
Information is free. Essentially. Today, it takes seconds to have an exercise program designed for you, and any business advice book is only a few clicks away on Amazon. So why do so many businesses fail? Why aren’t we all ripped AND drowning in cash?
As a CEO I struggled, despite reading everything I could get my hands on.
As a middle-aged man I struggled with (lack of) fitness, despite paying for a gym membership. The former changed with finding a Metronomics coach (can’t ever thank you enough, Damian Byrne), which ultimately led to my own coaching practice. The latter came about by finally biting the bullet at the age of (then almost) 50, to hire a personal trainer.
What I realized was this – from what I’m paying them, maybe 20% is to tell me what to do. The rest is for me to show up (Damian said when I mentioned this to him, that 10-90% sounds like a more accurate estimate to him). Accountability is the hard part, and it really helps to have someone to be accountable to whether it’s in business, fitness or life.
Otherwise, the main job of a coach is to be a blindspot remover. To see what we don’t. To push us forward. To always find the edge of our capabilities and nudge us a little further. To keep us in the adaptability mode, always challenged a little bit beyond our current comfort zone. To help us be what we can be, rather than what we think we are. I know many CEOs and other leaders who would swear that their life changed by having a coach.
Being a CEO is in many ways a lonely place to be. A coach is, by definition, someone always in your corner.
Even coaches need coaches. Which area of your business or life could benefit from finding the right coach? Are you thinking you could be the right coach for someone else?
