Will Keiper and I are in the final stages of completing a brand new book on leadership coaching. The title of our new book is The Leader & The Coach – The Art of Humanity in Leadership.
It was a challenge and a thrill working with Will on this project because he took the voice of the leader, and in the no-nonsense style that is his, expressed the depth and urgency of the complicated challenges facing leaders today. It was a challenge for me because he has such knowledge and wisdom learned in the trenches from his years as a CEO of booming companies, and an executive leadership consultant specializing in rescuing and rejuvenating companies who have lost their way. It can be a little intimidating, even to me as a professional leadership coach (and coach of leadership coaches!).
For each chapter Will wrote from the leader’s perspective, in the following chapter, I offered my thoughts from the coach’s perspective, describing the approaches I would take with a leader up against what Will had just laid out from his own fascinating experiences. His stories reminded me of anecdotes that I thought would help both coaches and leaders see how coaching approaches lend themselves to improved team and individual leadership by leaders of all types (from entrepreneurs and non-profit leaders to mid-sized and large company executives, team leaders, and training and HR pros).
You’ll be impressed and enlightened as I was by Will’s ruthless eye for detail, and clear-cut presentation of today’s imposing realities facing leaders of all shapes and sizes of organizations. Each time he sent me one of his chapters I could hear the voice of Jack Nicholson yelling in the back of my mind, “You can’t handle the truth!”
“Yeah, right, Will, I’m just a humble coach. But I’m going to answer your chapter with mine and show you why you needed a coach all along the way!” (Actually, I’m over-dramatizing a bit here, because although Will’s always been a fearless truth-teller, he’s also a nice guy with a big heart and an admirable learning mindset.)
And I had to remind myself and him, “I’ve coached a lot of business leaders and leadership coaches in my day, and you probably can’t throw me a pitch I can’t hit.”
So that’s how the book was created. With a deep intention to have every chapter be useful for leaders and coaches alike. So far, early feedback and response have been quite good, so our fingers are crossed that you’ll have a response similar to that of the noted international business consultant and author Mark Samuel, who wrote, “I really love your new book and plan to purchase it for several of my clients. There are a couple of chapters in particular that are simply OUTSTANDING!!! I gained so much from the book’s wisdom, experience and stories. Super insightful and helpful for me.”
Will and I are blog posting regular excerpts, plus a lot of material not included in the book, relevant to the need for greater coaching skills among leaders, at www.theleaderandthecoach.com You can simply enter your email address there to be notified of new postings. More soon about the book’s release. ~Steve Chandler
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Please credit: This is a blog post from Steve Chandler at www.theleaderandthecoach.com
