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Reader Commentary for Professional Coaches Worldwide

The Coaching Commons is a project of The Harnisch FoundationToday is Thursday, September 2, 2010

Written by Vikki Brock

Coaching History: Thomas Leonard – A Masterful Synthesizer Who Popularized Coaching

This post is updated from February 11, 2008. When you think of the International Coach Federation, Coach U, the International Association of Coaches, and CoachVille who’s name comes to mind? The visionary behind all of these was Thomas Leonard. Generous and competitive, Thomas was a synthesizer of ideas. I remember hearing about his ... Read More

Coaching History: 1998 Book – Effective Coaching

Published by Marshall Cook in 1998, this book focuses on working within the workplace to encourage top performance by working with your employees. It looks at the characteristics of an effective coach, how to achieve cooperation in a disciplined and non-threatening atmosphere, and how to instinctively use effective problem solving ... Read More

Coaching History: Carl Rogers – A Key Influence on the Coaching Field?

This post is reprinted from the February 8, 2008 post. Coaching is all of what Carl Rogers thought therapy should be. Carl Rogers was an Esalen psychotherapist who was a leader in humanistic psychology and the Human Potential Movement. His greatest influence on the coaching field was his client-centered approach, though ... Read More

Coaching History: 1998 Book – Life Coaching, A New Career for Helping Professionals

Published by Dave Ellis, founder of the Falling Awake coach training program, this comprehensive manual is for assisting someone who is already trained as a helping professional (such as a counselor, social worker, minister) to begin a career as a life coach. When he wrote this book, Ellis had been teaching ... Read More

Coaching History – Sir John Whitmore – Race Car Driver, Business Owner, and Coach

This post was originally published February 8, 2008. Sir John Whitmore, of the United Kingdom, is a former champion professional race-car driver, a businessman, a sports psychologist and a pioneer in the coaching field. John got started in coaching in the early 1980’s when he introduced Tim Gallwey’s “Inner Game” techniques used in ... Read More

Coaching History: 1998 Book – The Dos and Don’ts of Work Team Coaching

This edited book is a comprehensive study of the worker/coach interpersonal relationship from the perspective of the workers themselves.  The role of a work team coach is described as “to serve as a liaison between the institutional element of management and the human element of production in a business entity.”  Coaching ... Read More

Coaching History – Laura Whitworth – from Accountant to Coach Pioneer

Laura Whitworth helped shape the coaching industry with her boldness, creativity, humanness, and asking only that each person find meaning in life by playing their "Bigger Game". Her accomplishments are many: co-founder of the Coaches Training Institute (CTI), founding member of the Personal Professional Coaches Association (PPCA), co-founder of the Alliance ... Read More

Coaching History: 1997 Book – The Sales Coach

The Sales Coach - Selling Tips From the Pros is a compilation of tips from seasoned sales professionals who are also speakers and trainers. This handbook contains practical ideas and techniques that salespeople can use to be more effective in any situation. The title here is misleading, in that this ... Read More

Werner Erhard – Popularized Transformation and Personal Growth

Werner Erhard (1935-   ) introduced the idea of transformation in the early 1970s through his est courses which also opened people’s minds to the possibility of their growth and potential. According to a coaching colleague, Erhard’s work, along with other thinkers of the time, was “an interesting blend of philosophy, ... Read More

Coaching History: 1997 Book – Life Coach – A Guide for Winning Basketball and Successful Living

Co-authored by basketball coach Kenneth Griffin and William Burgin, Life Coach - A Guide for Winning Basketball and Successful Living is one of the earliest Christian coaching books published. The coaching style presented here was honed over 38 years into a philosophy of how to win at the game of life. Beginning with a review ... Read More