My favorite guide to coaching from my coaching
hero is finally in print! Thomas Leonard (1955-2003), an American inspirational
leader in coaching, wrote this book as a series of emails that answered our questions, as
eager new coaches, about how to handle all kinds of coaching problems. The
answers are very practical and at the same time give personal insight into the
kind of man Thomas was. If you're drawn to coaching, or if you coach, you'll
want to have this one on your shelf.
Archive for the ‘Book Reviews’ category
How to Coach Anyone –New book by Thomas Leonard
July 5th, 2009The most elegant path to effective leadership
May 29th, 2008I've been on a learning spurt in the past few months around the most effective ways to influence people, to lead, and to have my life proceed according to my highest desires. And what I'm learning is a way of operating that is much more effective than the conventional wisdom.
Fitting perfectly into that learning, I happened upon a very inspiring book called Synchronicity, the Inner Path of Leadership, by Joseph Jaworski.
The book affirms that leadership is about collectively creating the future and that the most effective way to lead is to use synchronicity, meaning to create the conditions for “predictable miracles”.
I'm sure you can think of a time when a happy accident led you to progress in an unexpected way. A common example is a coincidental meeting with someone who can forward your goals. Another example is when your eyes catch sight of a book that perfectly meets your needs (just as happened for me with this book!) For me, some of the most influential connections I've made in the past few years have happened purely by accident.
The book is both a personal story and an attempt to describe how to lead using synchronicity. Here are my notes.
- The most important choice a leader makes is to serve. Without choosing to serve your followers and/or society, your capacity to lead is profoundly limited.
- Want the result for its own sake. That means you must avoid egoic attachments to the results such as wanting to prove yourself as a leader, wanting to beat the competition etc. For the example above, you would want the profit simply for the benefits that will accrue to the company and your team.
- Be committed; believe it is possible; use willingness not will. You must simultaneously be committed to success while being open to allowing the process to unfold in the easiest possible way. This reminds me of Deepak Chopra's 4th Law of Success: The Law of Least Effort. Lao Tzu has said that “An integral being…accomplishes without doing.”
- Attract what and who you want through authentic presence and love. When you generate an internal feeling of unconditional love, others are influenced by it, whether they know it or not.
- The ability to create the conditions for synchronicity is not special. It's available to everyone.
If I've really learned these lessons this time, my life should begin flowing with great ease. And yours too. So, let's see!
Leading Through Conflict
October 19th, 2007Leading Through Conflict – How Successful Leaders Transform Differences into Opportunities
By Mark Gerzon
Mark Gerzon's book serves as a very useful description of the core skills of coaching when applied by leaders. While Gerzon’s theme is global leadership, his model of leadership relates
closely to the model of coaching for leaders. And it extends the coaching model
even further using beautiful language that gets to the core of the practice.



