Chapter 2The Attributes of a Good Coach

Clarke Stallworth glowered at the room full of skeptical editors.

“I used to be really tough.” Then the former managing editor of the Birmingham (Alabama) News grinned.

“When a reporter handed me a story,” he said, beginning to pace, “I knew what was wrong with it and I fixed it! I tore it to shreds!” Stallworth picked up a copy of the local newspaper and ripped it into long, ragged strips.

“And they hated me for it!” he thundered, wadding the torn shreds of paper into a ball.

He kept grinning as he described his conversion from hard-bitten editor who “fixed” copy to hard-driving coach who helped reporters improve their own copy and, in the process, become better writers. He continued working the wad of ...

Get Manager's Guide to Effective Coaching, Second Edition, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.