Coaching for Leadership: The Practice of Leadership Coaching from the World's Greatest Coaches
List Price:
Our Price: $39.99
You Save: $16.01 (29%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Editor: Marshall GoldsmithEditor: Laurence S. Lyons
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2005-10-19
ISBN: 0787977632
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Pfeiffer
Book Reviews of Coaching for Leadership: The Practice of Leadership Coaching from the World's Greatest Coaches
Book Review: A first primer for executive coaching
Summary: 4 Stars
Perhaps these are the world's greatest executive coaches, but I struggle with the suspicion that they are, more precisely, friends and associates of the editors. All but one or two of the contributors are Americans, so that I'm reminded of John Cleese's comment, when asked to compare Britons and Americans, that "when we Brits have a World Championship, we invite teams from other countries." Perhaps there are no excellent executive coaches from outside the United States. More likely, "world's greatest" was the publisher's idea.
But marketing hyperbole aside, this is a nice volume on an important and potentially lucrative topic. Executive coaching is definitely hot in the corporate world; a recent Harvard Business Review article (Sherman & Freas, 2004) puts estimated annual spending on executive coaching in the U.S. alone at $1 billion. Those who perform executive coaching include consultants and practitioners of various educational backgrounds, retired executives looking to share their career experience, a bevy of corporate training professionals looking to expand their talents past the classroom, and an assortment of others. It is my "unbiased" opinion that psychologists make the most effective executive coaches. Few non-psychologists have training in human dynamics, personality, learning, motivation, group cohesion, assessment, counseling skills, and other proficiencies necessary to fully effect insight and behavior change in organizational leaders. In another excellent HBR article, Berglas (2002), a psychotherapist, warned that untrained executive coaches have the potential for causing a great deal of damage to individuals and their companies by failing to recognize, or blatantly ignoring, personality disorders or even severe psychopathology that may exist in some they coach. Berglas recommended that, at the very least, executives designated for coaching receive a thorough psychological evaluation before coaching begins. While some business experience in a coach is also nice, I, as one who has both formal graduate training in business and experience working as an employee of two Fortune 100 companies, don't find it the sine qua non that non-psychologist coaches would have us and their potential clients believe.
In my view, one of the major shortcomings of this book is that only 1 of the 30 contributors has (or admits to having!) graduate training in psychology. Had the editors included excellent and well-known executive coaches who are also psychologists, rather than professionals described at the end of each chapter as "a world authority," "a frequent speaker," or (my favorite) "co-author of the most successful organizational behavior textbook of all time," their topic would have been better served.
As it is, the book is worth getting if you are thinking of going into executive coaching. The brief chapter by Edgar Schein (Chapter 2) is in my opinion worth the cost of the book. Schein argues that a distinction must be made between when a client defines the (coaching) situation as "one in which he or she wants individual help to work on a personal issue" and when "a manager asks someone to take on a coaching role to work with an individual to improve job performance or to overcome some developmental deficiencies" (p. 17). In the former instance, "the resulting process can be likened to counseling or therapy," whereas the latter is more analogous to "indoctrination or coercive persuasion" (p. 17). "If an organization `imposes' a coach and a predetermined direction of learning," Schein reminds us, "then by definition we are dealing with indoctrination, not coaching" (p. 18). Schein, a psychologist, states unequivocally the importance of this demarcation. I fear that many non-psychologist coaches would not understand the difference or would not be bothered by it.
Several chapters stand out as highlights. I have mentioned Schein's and would add the chapter by R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr. (Chapter 25). Thomas provides a well laid out discussion of the dynamics of effective coaching relationships in general and also offers insights on "coaching in the context of teams as opposed to individual efforts" (p. 229). Brian Tracy (Chapter 12) constructs a how-to for retired executives considering coaching as a second career. Finally, the case studies in Part Four (Applications) are clarifying and enlightening and add a great deal to the book.
Besides original work, several of the chapters are a repackaging of previously published material, such as Paul Hersey and Roger Chevalier's chapter on "Situational Leadership and Executive Coaching" (Chapter 3) and James Kouzes and Barry Posner's chapter "When Leaders Are Coaches" (Chapter 16), which is an excerpt from their 2003 book. Marshall Goldsmith (one of the editors) contributes five chapters. Personally, I view these as resume-building for the publish-or-perish crowd, but if a reader buys the book, these can be considered a bonus.
Overall, the book serves as a fine primer for those thinking of going into executive coaching, and for those of us already there, it never hurts to benchmark against the "world's greatest."
*This is a condensed version of my review of the book in PsycCRITIQUES--Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 52 (17), 2007.
Summary of Coaching for Leadership: The Practice of Leadership Coaching from the World's Greatest Coaches
When it was published in 2000, Coaching for Leadership became an instant classic in the field of executive coaching. This second edition updates and expands on the original book and brings together the best executive coaches who offer a basic understanding of how coaching works, why it works, and how leaders can make the best use of the coaching process. This thoroughly revised edition reflects recent changes in coaching practices, includes well-researched best practices, and provides additional guidance and tools from the greatest leadership coaches from around the world. Each chapter in this important volume addresses a proven application, offers key principles of practice, and highlights critical learning points.General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in My favorite leadership coaching books
Emotional Intelligence In Action: Training and Coaching Activities for Leaders and Managersby Marcia Hughes, L. Bonita Patterson, James Bradford Terrell
Pfeiffer; Published: 2005-08-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $33.87
Price in other shops:
The Art and Practice of Leadership Coaching: 50 Top Executive Coaches Reveal Their Secretsby Howard Morgan, Phil Harkins, Marshall Goldsmith
Wiley; Published: 2004-12-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.38
Price in other shops:
Topgrading: How Leading Companies Win by Hiring, Coaching, and Keeping the Best People, Revised and Updated Editionby Ph.D., Bradford D. Smart
Portfolio Hardcover; Published: 2005-04-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.70
Price in other shops:
The CCL Handbook of Coaching: A Guide for the Leader Coach (J-B CCL (Center for Creative Leadership))by Sharon Ting, Peter Scisco
Jossey-Bass; Published: 2006-04-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $68.17
Price in other shops:
Executive Coaching with Backbone and Heart : A Systems Approach to Engaging Leaders with Their Challengesby Mary Beth O'Neill
Jossey-Bass; Published: 2000-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $24.93
Price in other shops:
The Coaching Revolution: How Visionary Managers Are Using Coaching to Empower People and Unlock Their Full Porentialby David Logan, John King
Adams Media; Published: 2004-04-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
Coaching Life-Changing Small Group Leaders: A Practical Guide for Those Who Lead and Shepherd Small Group Leadersby Bill Donahue, Greg Bowman
Zondervan; Published: 2006-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.33
Price in other shops:
Leadership Coaching: The Disciplines, Skills, and Heart of a Christian Coachby Tony Stoltzfus
BookSurge Publishing; Published: 2005-08-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.99
Price in other shops:
Coach U's Essential Coaching Tools: Your Complete Practice Resourceby Inc. Coach U
Wiley; Published: 2005-02-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $44.82
Price in other shops:
Masterful Coachingby Robert Hargrove
Pfeiffer; Published: 2002-10-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $29.89
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Psychology of Executive Coaching: Theory and Applicationby Bruce Peltier
Routledge; Published: 2001-12-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $23.66
Price in other shops:
Executive Coaching: Practices and PerspectivesDavies-Black Publishing; Published: 2002-04-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $39.96
Price in other shops:
Know-How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don'tby Ram Charan
Crown Business; Published: 2007-01-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.95
Price in other shops:
Masterful Coachingby Robert Hargrove
Pfeiffer; Published: 2002-10-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $29.89
Price in other shops:
Coaching : Evoking Excellence in Othersby James Flaherty
Butterworth-Heinemann; Published: 2005-08-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.32
Price in other shops:
Co-Active Coaching, 2nd Edition: New Skills for Coaching People Toward Success in Work and, Lifeby Laura Whitworth, Karen Kimsey-House, Henry Kimsey-House, Phillip Sandahl
Davies-Black Publishing; Published: 2007-02-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.38
Price in other shops:
The CCL Handbook of Coaching: A Guide for the Leader Coach (J-B CCL (Center for Creative Leadership))by Sharon Ting, Peter Scisco
Jossey-Bass; Published: 2006-04-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $68.15
Price in other shops:
Executive Coaching with Backbone and Heart: A Systems Approach to Engaging Leaders with Their Challengesby Mary Beth A. O'Neill
Jossey-Bass; Published: 2007-07-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $34.20
Price in other shops:
The Art and Practice of Leadership Coaching: 50 Top Executive Coaches Reveal Their Secretsby Howard Morgan, Phil Harkins, Marshall Goldsmith
Wiley; Published: 2004-12-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.32
Price in other shops:
What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successfulby Marshall Goldsmith, Mark Reiter
Hyperion; Published: 2007-01-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.00
Price in other shops: