Instant happiness with a smile? Or real executive coaching?
The French statesman Richelieu had a first. He was the world's first prime minister.
Pioneers have it extremely difficult, but Richelieu was a hyper-intelligent person. Richelieu – who is never mentioned by his first name in history, and that says something – relied heavily on his executive coach. A completely normal phenomenon in leading positions, by the way, égrey minera they were called. We are writing, dear reader, about the virgin beginning of 1700. France changed under Richelieu. Disruptive is timeless.
Richelieu's executive coach was a propertyless monk who nevertheless had everything.
We live in the not so virgin 21and century. We still need pioneers. And they need a éminence grise. Today they are simply called coaches. Life Coaches or Health Coaches or even Healing Coaches. To each his own expertise.
The coaches have both blonde pigtails and casual gray curls, but they are rarely eminent. The blonde pigtails and casual gray curls bring instant happiness with a smile. You have to go back to yourself. To your primal feeling, to your soul level or your core or your belly or whatever, but preferably a bit fast.
The Life Coach or Health Coach and Healing Coach after all, you have to pick up the children from school on time, pet the cat or pick the herbs.
The instant method happiness with a smile they learned by heart on seven Saturdays with a train-the-trainer-trainer concept.
The so called coaches with blond pigtails or casual grey curls fish their prospects from the modern-day Yellow Pages called Facebook, or else at the Open Coffee's and the Bitterballenborrels. They drive around in fancy convertibles and yet own nothing.
Nothing? Well, not quite that either. After delivering their product to the customer – after diluting it with water, mind you – these modern coaches shamelessly and radiantly submit hefty invoices. The fancy convertible doesn’t run on water and the meditation trip to Tibet also needs to be financed, right?
We live in a time of loss of value. Instant jumps into that.
I tell you, dear reader of this blog, instant is not quality.
A club in the premier league deserves a top coach. Not a passionate enthusiast who 'does his thing' at an amateur club. No matter how nice or how esoteric or empathetic that may be.
CEO, DGA, successful manager or president of America; they all deserve an executive coach. You too.
Bottom line: coaching is part of the development process of leaders and high potentials.
See coaching as a business tool. Pay close attention to your purchasing policy.