The Mindful Coach: Seven Roles for Facilitating Leader Development: New and Revised Edition

CHAPTER 9

The Guide

Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t.

Erica Jong

 

I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.

Harry S. Truman

 

LEADERS, BY DEFINITION, ARE HEADED IN A DIRECTION determined by the particular commitments they have entered into with themselves and with others. Leadership implies change, action, movement. Yet, as any of us moves toward a commitment, unanticipated challenges inevitably arise, either from the environment or from within ourselves. The Guide can be of tremendous support in navigating the terrain and encouraging the client along the way.

As the Guide, the coach provides impetus toward action, ...