Leading by Coaching

Book excerpt: Leadership used to be about telling people to go where you sent them– now it’s about persuading them to come with you. Old leaders needed to create an artificial persona of infallible authority to issue orders that were obeyed – today’s leaders need to uncover their own authentic leadership personality and bring that open and honest self to conversations that bring others to willing and lasting change. To do so effectively they need to unlearn old leadership behaviours and develop totally different ones. In Leading by Coaching Nick Marson shows how. Leaders are shown how to “Look In” to develop greater self-awareness, “Look Out” to others by utilising a coaching approach, and “Look Beyond” to face uncertainty, manage adaptability and acquire resilience. Marson’s approach is based on deeply researched principals, multiple social science disciplines, the latest cognitive, neurological and psychological research, and in-depth research interviews with over 20 CEOs and senior executives. It has been developed and refined over many years of practice. If leaders want to drive impactful change, they need to understand how to hold the coaching conversations that power it. They need to lead by coaching.