About Coaching: Quotes from Publications MONEY Magazine "A coach may be the guardian angel you need to rev up your career" The Vancouver Province "A personal coach can help you by getting you to spell out what it is that you really want and then working with you to make the changes that actually enable you to get there." Minneapolis Star-Tribune "A major benefit of coaching is having someone who helps you see your strengths and weaknesses and use them to accomplish your goals." Bob Nardelli, CEO, Home Depot "I absolutely believe that people, unless coached, never reach their maximum capabilities. The Business Journal, April 10, 2000 "...[A coach is] part advisor, part sounding board, part cheerleader, part manager and part strategist." John Russell, Managing Director, Harley-Davidson Europe Ltd. "I never cease to be amazed at the power of the coaching process to draw out the skills or talent that was previously hidden within an individual, and which invariably finds a way to solve a problem previously thought unsolvable," Boston Globe "Coaching started in the business world to help stressed out executives cope with their professional and personal lives, and it still thrives in the corporate environment. But, increasingly, individuals are turning to coaches for help with every sort of problem." Australian Financial Review "Inside every successful business person is an even more ambitious one trying to get out. He or she just needs a little help." Survey by The Hay Group, an International Human Resources consultancy "Between 25 percent and 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies use executive coaches" Time Magazine Coaching -- which can help managers talk with subordinates about their developmental needs -- absolutely affects the relationship positively." Fortune, May 21, 2000 "Coaches are everywhere these days. Companies hire them to shore up executives or, in some cases, to ship them out. Division heads hire them as change agents. Workers at all levels of the corporate ladder, fed up with a lack of advice from inside the company, are taking matters into their own hands and enlisting coaches for guidance on how to improve their performance, boost their profits, and make better decisions about everything from personnel to strategy." FAST COMPANY Magazine "Executive coaches are not for the meek. They're for people who value unambiguous feedback. All coaches have one thing in common, it's that they are ruthlessly results-oriented." Karen Cates, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior, Northwestern's Kellogg Graduate School of Management. "If ever stressed-out corporate America could use a little couch-time, it's now. Trust in big companies is at an all-time low. Baby-boomers have been burned; Gen Xers aren't expecting the Corporation to take care of them. Under the circumstances, employees are much likelier to go outside and get independent advice to help them be better managers" USA Today by Craig Wilson, ARLINGTON, VA - Is your boss driving you crazy and you can't seem to do anything about it? Have you been in the same job so long you're bored out of your gourd? Do you have a list of must-do things with your life but you keep doing the same old thing and don't know why? Do you hate how you look? If you answered yes to any of the above, you are perfectly normal, which isn't good enough anymore. You need a coach. For between $250 and $500 a month, you can talk on the phone once a week, or through e-mail or even in person (!), with a trained Coach who will basically cheer you on. He will guide you to a fuller life or slimmer figure. Whatever you want. Our weakness is his challenge. If it was financial planners in the '70s and fitness trainers in the '80s, the man to have in the '90s is a personal coach. San Diego Union - Tribune by Jenifer Hanrahan With St. Claire, Nelson encouraged her to save money so she could stop working for a year. She coached St. Claire to write a description of her ideal man. St. Claire carried it in her wallet as a reminder. She hired Kathy Nelson, a "life coach" who makes a living talking on the phone and emailing clients about their personal problems and professional goals -- whether it's reminding them to take a walk on the beach or strategizing about growing their business. Virtually unheard of five years ago, life coaching -- also called success coaching or personal coaching -- is a fast-growing consultancy field. The International Coach Federation, a professional association founded in 1992, has 3,000 members. The San Diego chapter, formed in January, has 14. The New Mexican by Hollis Walker, Larry DeLeon was planning a big sales trip to California a few years ago in an effort to expand the Santa Fe door manufacturing business he owns with his brother. Almost all the details were in place, but DeLeon kept putting off one item: buying the plane ticket. That's when his business coach, Jerry Nabb, stepped in. "He kept asking, 'Larry, did you get your plane tickets bought?' " DeLeon recalled. "Finally, he said, 'Larry, what are you doing?"' DeLeon had to admit the truth. "I'm scared," he told Nabb. Though confident in his product, the idea of making sales presentations on foreign turf petrified him. DeLeon and Nabb talked about it, identifying the worst-case scenario-zero sales-which, of course, matched what would happen if DeLeon didn't make the trip. DeLeon bought his ticket, went to California and sold his products to eight of the 10 dealers he visited. And that's not all. In the 10 years since DeLeon first hired Nabb, his Santa Fe Heritage company has grown from a four-employee company with $200,000 in annual sales to a 50-worker operation with yearly sales of nearly $2 million. Those are the kind of results business people who use coaches hope to achieve: the ability to get beyond the obstacles-real and imagined-that prevent them from reaching their goals. The Miami Herald by Lydia Martin THE GAME OF LIFE NOW COMES WITH COACHES Personal Motivator Takes Traditional Roles, Rolls Them Into One. So there you are, the successful mid level executive. Basking in hiring your own team, your comfortable paycheck, your step-up from the cubicle to the real office with a door you can shut. Only, you want to get even further ahead -maybe lock in that corner office with the bay view and the private toilet. Getting there isn't for the frail of spirit. Or the cluttered of closet. Getting there requires you build yourself into an Olympic-class competitor in the game of life. What you need is a coach, your own personal motivator. They're not just for top ranked tennis players any more. Dentists have coaches. Lawyers have coaches. Even coaches have coaches. "Life coaches" are the latest thing in personal improvement. A life coach is a New Age hybrid of familiar "help" professionals -a therapist, financial planner, relationship adviser, business consultant, physical trainer and spiritual guide...all rolled into one. return to Coaching FAQs