WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.640 Welcome back to The Deep Dive. We are really 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:04.559 glad you're here with us today. Good to be here. 00:00:04.740 --> 00:00:09.599 So I want to start this one a little differently 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:12.160 than usual. I want to run a quick experiment. 00:00:12.339 --> 00:00:15.880 Oh? Yeah, just with you. Yes, you listening right 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:18.399 now. Just clear your mind for a second. Take 00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:20.940 a breath. This sounds ominous. No, no, nothing 00:00:20.940 --> 00:00:23.640 scary, I promise. It's just a little word association. 00:00:24.059 --> 00:00:26.600 I want you to visualize something. When I say 00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:29.679 the word coach, What's the immediate high definition 00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:32.479 image that just pops into your head? Don't overthink 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:36.450 it. Think I could guess what it is for like 90 00:00:36.450 --> 00:00:38.649 percent of people. Oh, absolutely. It's a whistle. 00:00:38.929 --> 00:00:42.030 It's a baseball cap. A guy in a windbreaker probably 00:00:42.030 --> 00:00:44.649 screaming at a referee from the sideline. Exactly. 00:00:44.750 --> 00:00:47.810 It's sports. The high school football coach or 00:00:47.810 --> 00:00:49.990 maybe, you know, Bill Belichick in a hoodie. 00:00:50.109 --> 00:00:52.630 Right. Or maybe if you run in corporate circles, 00:00:52.770 --> 00:00:54.390 the image is a little different. Maybe you're 00:00:54.390 --> 00:00:57.369 picturing a sharply dressed consultant in a glass 00:00:57.369 --> 00:01:00.070 walled meeting room drawing on a whiteboard. 00:01:00.189 --> 00:01:02.859 Corporate fixer. Yeah. Right. So we think sports 00:01:02.859 --> 00:01:05.000 or we think business. But I want to take us back 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:08.120 much, much further. I want to take us on a bit 00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:12.260 of a linguistic journey. Okay. Because we aren't 00:01:12.260 --> 00:01:14.359 starting this deep dive on a football field. 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:17.079 We aren't starting in a boardroom. We're going 00:01:17.079 --> 00:01:19.799 to start on a muddy, unpaved road in Hungary 00:01:19.799 --> 00:01:23.719 in the 16th century. I love this origin story. 00:01:23.799 --> 00:01:26.879 It's one of those etymological rabbit holes that 00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:29.920 just... completely changes how you view a whole 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:33.200 profession. It reframes the entire concept. So 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:35.879 paint the scene for us. We're in the 1500s, Central 00:01:35.879 --> 00:01:38.579 Europe. Right. So picture a small village in 00:01:38.579 --> 00:01:41.439 Hungary called Koks that's built K -O -C -S. 00:01:41.620 --> 00:01:43.859 Koks. The Koks wasn't a metropolis. It wasn't, 00:01:43.859 --> 00:01:45.180 you know, a center of government or anything. 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:47.680 But it was a crucial waypoint between Vienna 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:49.879 and Budapest. Oh, OK. And because the roads in 00:01:49.879 --> 00:01:52.939 the 16th century were, frankly, a disaster. Mud, 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:55.909 ruts, rocks. Just a travel nightmare. A total 00:01:55.909 --> 00:01:57.230 nightmare. I mean, if you were traveling long 00:01:57.230 --> 00:01:59.409 distances, it was physically punishing. Yeah. 00:01:59.730 --> 00:02:02.129 But the wheelwrights and the craftsmen in this 00:02:02.129 --> 00:02:04.670 little village of Cox, they started to innovate. 00:02:04.890 --> 00:02:07.069 What did they do? They didn't just build wagons. 00:02:07.069 --> 00:02:09.750 They built a very specific type of carriage that 00:02:09.750 --> 00:02:12.469 was lighter, faster, and crucially, more comfortable. 00:02:12.689 --> 00:02:15.469 They figured out a suspension system. using steel 00:02:15.469 --> 00:02:19.669 springs or leather straps that made the ride 00:02:19.669 --> 00:02:21.710 way smoother than anything else on the road at 00:02:21.710 --> 00:02:24.229 the time. So they basically invented the luxury 00:02:24.229 --> 00:02:28.030 sedan of the 1500s. Essentially, yes. And these 00:02:28.030 --> 00:02:30.409 carriages became famous. They were known as a 00:02:30.409 --> 00:02:34.169 kutschi. Kutschi. Meaning of cocks or from cocks. 00:02:34.229 --> 00:02:36.650 And that word, because the technology was so 00:02:36.650 --> 00:02:39.370 superior, it just spreads across Europe. It moves 00:02:39.370 --> 00:02:41.909 into German as coochie, into French as cooch. 00:02:42.090 --> 00:02:43.969 And, you know, eventually it lands in English 00:02:43.969 --> 00:02:46.689 as coach. So fundamentally, when we use the word 00:02:46.689 --> 00:02:49.110 coach, we're using a noun. We're talking about 00:02:49.110 --> 00:02:51.430 a thing, a vehicle. We're talking about a literal 00:02:51.430 --> 00:02:53.689 vehicle. And this is the core metaphor that we 00:02:53.689 --> 00:02:55.750 really need to anchor this entire conversation 00:02:55.750 --> 00:02:59.840 on. Originally. A coach wasn't a person. It was 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:02.340 a high quality piece of technology designed to 00:03:02.340 --> 00:03:04.699 transport a person from where they were point 00:03:04.699 --> 00:03:06.680 A to where they wanted to be point B. And to 00:03:06.680 --> 00:03:08.419 do it without, you know, jarring their bones 00:03:08.419 --> 00:03:11.259 to dust along the way. Exactly. To make the journey 00:03:11.259 --> 00:03:14.219 possible. And maybe even bearable. I love that. 00:03:14.300 --> 00:03:17.039 It really redefines the whole agency of the thing, 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:18.800 doesn't it? If you think about the modern context, 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:21.699 the coach isn't the one running the race. Right. 00:03:21.780 --> 00:03:24.460 The coach isn't playing the game. The coach is 00:03:24.460 --> 00:03:26.879 the vessel. Precisely. And if you look at the 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:29.199 modern definition of coaching, I mean, whether 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:30.560 we're talking about life coaching, executive 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:33.080 coaching, or even e -sports coaching, which we'll 00:03:33.080 --> 00:03:36.099 get to, the fundamental mechanism is exactly 00:03:36.099 --> 00:03:39.050 the same. It's a vehicle. It's a vehicle. It's 00:03:39.050 --> 00:03:42.770 a process designed to transport a person from 00:03:42.770 --> 00:03:45.229 their current state to their desired state. So 00:03:45.229 --> 00:03:48.090 it's not about fixing a broken person. It's about 00:03:48.090 --> 00:03:50.650 movement. It's about transportation. That's the 00:03:50.650 --> 00:03:53.490 key distinction. It shifts the focus from what's 00:03:53.490 --> 00:03:56.180 wrong with you to where are you going. And that 00:03:56.180 --> 00:03:58.300 is what we're unpacking today. We've got a massive 00:03:58.300 --> 00:04:00.560 stack of research here. I mean, everything from 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:03.719 the academic history of the term to the specific 00:04:03.719 --> 00:04:06.639 mechanics of how it works in the brain to the 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:10.219 ethical wild west of the modern industry. Because 00:04:10.219 --> 00:04:12.199 let's be honest, it feels like everyone and their 00:04:12.199 --> 00:04:15.020 dog is a coach these days. It's definitely a 00:04:15.020 --> 00:04:17.259 boom industry. And that, of course, brings its 00:04:17.259 --> 00:04:19.220 own set of complications. It really is a meta 00:04:19.220 --> 00:04:21.300 profession, isn't it? That's a great term for 00:04:21.300 --> 00:04:23.740 it. A meta profession. Because once you start 00:04:23.740 --> 00:04:26.259 looking, you realize. Coaching is everywhere. 00:04:26.459 --> 00:04:28.980 It's in our schools, our hospitals, our offices, 00:04:29.100 --> 00:04:32.480 even our video games. So before we get lost in 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:36.019 the weeds of all the specific applications, we 00:04:36.019 --> 00:04:39.040 need to establish a baseline. Agree. What exactly 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:41.860 is coaching? Because I feel like... People use 00:04:41.860 --> 00:04:45.000 the word interchangeably with mentor or consultant 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:48.439 or even therapist. That is the single most common 00:04:48.439 --> 00:04:50.959 point of confusion. And it's not just semantics. 00:04:50.980 --> 00:04:53.060 It's about what you're actually paying for. Right. 00:04:53.399 --> 00:04:56.240 So the source material defines coaching specifically 00:04:56.240 --> 00:04:59.319 as a form of development where an experienced 00:04:59.319 --> 00:05:02.339 person, the coach, supports a learner or a client 00:05:02.339 --> 00:05:04.600 in achieving a specific personal or professional 00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:07.750 goal. Okay, but. Isn't that what a mentor does? 00:05:07.970 --> 00:05:09.930 If I have a mentor at work, aren't they helping 00:05:09.930 --> 00:05:12.670 me achieve a goal? Not exactly. And the distinction 00:05:12.670 --> 00:05:14.790 is crucial if you want to understand the value 00:05:14.790 --> 00:05:17.470 proposition here. Mentoring tends to be more 00:05:17.470 --> 00:05:20.269 informal and it's almost always hierarchical. 00:05:20.329 --> 00:05:23.449 It involves someone who is further along on the 00:05:23.449 --> 00:05:26.089 same path. The sage on the stage model. Exactly. 00:05:26.269 --> 00:05:29.970 Yeah. A mentor says, I've walked this path. I've 00:05:29.970 --> 00:05:33.009 encountered these dragons. Here is how I slew 00:05:33.009 --> 00:05:35.699 them. You should try holding the sword the way 00:05:35.699 --> 00:05:38.720 I held it. I see. It's wisdom transfer. It's 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:40.839 advice giving based on personal experience. Do 00:05:40.839 --> 00:05:43.279 what I did and you'll get what I got. Ideally, 00:05:43.420 --> 00:05:46.019 yes. Coaching, on the other hand, is completely 00:05:46.019 --> 00:05:48.939 different. A coach does not need to be an expert 00:05:48.939 --> 00:05:52.040 in your specific job. A coach doesn't need to 00:05:52.040 --> 00:05:54.339 have walked your path. Wait, really? If I'm a 00:05:54.339 --> 00:05:56.579 CEO, don't I want a coach who has been a CEO? 00:05:57.100 --> 00:06:00.839 Not necessarily. In fact, sometimes that actually 00:06:00.839 --> 00:06:03.279 gets in the way because the coach isn't there 00:06:03.279 --> 00:06:05.819 to give you the answers. The coach is there to 00:06:05.819 --> 00:06:08.540 use a specific set of tools to help you unlock 00:06:08.540 --> 00:06:11.360 the capacity to find your own answers. It's less 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:14.060 about be like me and more about how do we get 00:06:14.060 --> 00:06:15.459 you where you want to go using your strengths. 00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:17.740 So if we go back to our transportation metaphor. 00:06:18.019 --> 00:06:20.660 The mentor gives you the map they used 20 years 00:06:20.660 --> 00:06:23.759 ago. The coach sits in the passenger seat and 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:26.360 teaches you how to drive the car yourself. Regardless 00:06:26.360 --> 00:06:28.740 of the terrain. That is a very apt way to put 00:06:28.740 --> 00:06:31.420 it. The mentor provides the content. The coach 00:06:31.420 --> 00:06:34.180 provides the process. Exactly. And this matters 00:06:34.180 --> 00:06:36.819 to us, to you, the learner listening right now, 00:06:36.920 --> 00:06:39.500 because we live in an era of self -optimization. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:41.920 Everyone wants to be better, faster, smarter. 00:06:42.439 --> 00:06:44.639 Coaching has become a primary tool for that. 00:06:44.860 --> 00:06:47.459 But as we're going to see later. It's also a 00:06:47.459 --> 00:06:49.759 completely unregulated industry. It's a bit of 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:51.959 a Wild West. Which is why we need to understand 00:06:51.959 --> 00:06:54.660 the mechanics. If you're going to hire a driver 00:06:54.660 --> 00:06:56.180 for this carriage, or if you're going to learn 00:06:56.180 --> 00:06:58.259 to drive it yourself, you better make sure you 00:06:58.259 --> 00:07:00.879 understand how the engine works. Correct. Okay, 00:07:00.939 --> 00:07:02.759 let's rewind the clock again. We talked about 00:07:02.759 --> 00:07:05.079 the Hungarian carriage, but here's the nugget 00:07:05.079 --> 00:07:07.139 that really surprised me in the research. Yeah. 00:07:07.180 --> 00:07:09.980 When the word coach first started being applied 00:07:09.980 --> 00:07:12.480 to a human being, an instructor, not a wagon, 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:15.779 It wasn't in sports? No, it wasn't. It was in 00:07:15.779 --> 00:07:18.100 academics. That's right. We're looking in Oxford 00:07:18.100 --> 00:07:22.360 University slang around 1830. 1830. So, I mean, 00:07:22.360 --> 00:07:25.519 decades before organized sports leagues are really 00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:28.240 a thing. The term was used to describe a tutor 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:33.259 who carried a student through an exam. Again, 00:07:33.420 --> 00:07:35.019 you see, it goes right back to that transport 00:07:35.019 --> 00:07:37.199 metaphor. A student is the passenger. The exam 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:40.160 is the muddy, treacherous road. And the tutor 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:42.620 is the coach. dragging them through the muck 00:07:42.620 --> 00:07:45.000 to the destination that paints a vivid picture 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:47.240 it almost feels a little derogatory doesn't it 00:07:47.240 --> 00:07:49.480 like the student couldn't walk on their own It 00:07:49.480 --> 00:07:51.959 was a bit tongue in cheek. Yeah. It kind of implied 00:07:51.959 --> 00:07:53.980 that the student was wealthy enough to pay to 00:07:53.980 --> 00:07:56.339 be carried rather than doing the hard walking 00:07:56.339 --> 00:07:58.779 themselves. But then it evolves. It gets more 00:07:58.779 --> 00:08:01.360 intense. The sources mentioned Cambridge University 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:04.759 and these mathematical wranglers between 1780 00:08:04.759 --> 00:08:07.920 and 1909. Yes. Now, mathematical wrangler sounds 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:10.740 like a character from a fantasy novel. What on 00:08:10.740 --> 00:08:13.379 earth is a mathematical wrangler? This is a fascinating 00:08:13.379 --> 00:08:15.839 slice of educational history that's largely forgotten. 00:08:16.360 --> 00:08:19.300 The mathematical tripos at Cambridge was this 00:08:19.300 --> 00:08:23.620 incredibly grueling multi -day contest. Multi 00:08:23.620 --> 00:08:25.579 -day? Oh, yeah. It wasn't just a math test. It 00:08:25.579 --> 00:08:28.259 was a marathon of well -scripted problem solving. 00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:31.959 A marathon? Literally. It went on for days. And 00:08:31.959 --> 00:08:34.399 it was super competitive. The students were ranked 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:37.019 publicly. The top student was the senior wrangler. 00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:39.080 It was a spectator sport. There was betting. 00:08:39.259 --> 00:08:40.940 There was betting involved. Betting on calculus. 00:08:41.299 --> 00:08:43.399 Betting on who would crack under the pressure. 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:46.379 Because the stakes were incredibly high for their 00:08:46.379 --> 00:08:49.480 careers. Wow. And because the pressure was so 00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:52.440 intense, students started hiring these specialized 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:56.059 tutors, these coaches, to prepare them. And what's 00:08:56.059 --> 00:08:58.379 interesting is that even back then in the 19th 00:08:58.379 --> 00:09:01.240 century, the core concept wasn't just teaching 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:03.950 math. It was performance under pressure. So they 00:09:03.950 --> 00:09:06.409 weren't just teaching formulas. They were teaching 00:09:06.409 --> 00:09:09.169 mental endurance. Exactly. How to manage time. 00:09:09.370 --> 00:09:11.750 How to not panic when you see a problem you don't 00:09:11.750 --> 00:09:14.529 recognize. How to optimize your output when you're 00:09:14.529 --> 00:09:16.850 exhausted. That's the thread, isn't it? Whether 00:09:16.850 --> 00:09:19.830 it's a math test in 1850 or the Super Bowl in 00:09:19.830 --> 00:09:22.570 2026, the coach is there to optimize performance 00:09:22.570 --> 00:09:25.690 when the heat is on. Precisely. It wasn't until 00:09:25.690 --> 00:09:28.789 1861 that the term was first recorded in relation 00:09:28.789 --> 00:09:31.309 to sports. So the academic performance coach. 00:09:31.850 --> 00:09:34.210 actually predates the athletic coach by quite 00:09:34.210 --> 00:09:37.250 a margin. That is a brilliant trivia fact. We 00:09:37.250 --> 00:09:39.710 usually assume business and academics stole the 00:09:39.710 --> 00:09:42.370 term from sports, but sports actually stole it 00:09:42.370 --> 00:09:44.629 from the nerds at Cambridge. In a manner of speaking, 00:09:44.690 --> 00:09:48.350 yes. So, OK, we have this evolution, carriages 00:09:48.350 --> 00:09:51.889 to math tutors to sports. But when we look at 00:09:51.889 --> 00:09:54.289 the modern coaching industry, the stuff we see 00:09:54.289 --> 00:09:57.190 on LinkedIn, the life coaches, that seems to 00:09:57.190 --> 00:09:59.190 have a different flavor. It's less about passing 00:09:59.190 --> 00:10:02.509 a test and more about self -actualization. That 00:10:02.509 --> 00:10:05.090 brings us to the 20th century. Modern coaching 00:10:05.090 --> 00:10:07.049 is really a convergence of several different 00:10:07.049 --> 00:10:09.570 rivers. You have adult education theories. You 00:10:09.570 --> 00:10:12.279 have leadership studies. But the big one. The 00:10:12.279 --> 00:10:14.259 one that really gave coaching its current flavor 00:10:14.259 --> 00:10:17.639 is the human potential movement of the 1960s. 00:10:17.639 --> 00:10:19.440 The 60s. This is where things get a little more 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:21.879 introspective. Right. You have things like large 00:10:21.879 --> 00:10:25.559 group awareness training or LGA. The most famous 00:10:25.559 --> 00:10:28.320 example mentioned in the source is Erhard Seminars 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:31.899 Training, or EST, founded in 1971. EST, that's 00:10:31.899 --> 00:10:34.440 the stuff that was often parodied as people sitting 00:10:34.440 --> 00:10:36.820 in hotel ballrooms for hours, not allowed to 00:10:36.820 --> 00:10:38.480 go to the bathroom, being told they're responsible 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:40.740 for their own reality, right? It was certainly 00:10:40.740 --> 00:10:42.799 controversial, and we can debate the ethics of 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:45.460 those specific seminars, but it shifted the cultural 00:10:45.460 --> 00:10:48.179 conversation. It moved the focus from teaching 00:10:48.179 --> 00:10:51.399 skills, like the math coach, to... transforming 00:10:51.399 --> 00:10:54.399 the self. Transforming the self. Yes. It introduced 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:57.399 this radical idea that you are not just a victim 00:10:57.399 --> 00:10:59.899 of your circumstances. You could actively design 00:10:59.899 --> 00:11:03.320 your life and your mindset. That is the DNA of 00:11:03.320 --> 00:11:05.500 modern life coaching. The idea that you have 00:11:05.500 --> 00:11:08.019 agency and you can change your way of being. 00:11:08.360 --> 00:11:11.059 But then just to complicate things, the academics 00:11:11.059 --> 00:11:13.659 come back in because transforming your being 00:11:13.659 --> 00:11:16.840 sounds a little woo -woo to a Fortune 500 company. 00:11:17.159 --> 00:11:20.039 Exactly. And that's why the year 2000 is a major 00:11:20.039 --> 00:11:23.480 milestone in our timeline. In January 2000, the 00:11:23.480 --> 00:11:25.440 University of Sydney offered the world's first 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:28.159 unit of study in coaching psychology. That feels 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:30.080 like the moment the field put on a suit and tie. 00:11:30.340 --> 00:11:32.710 It was a bid for legitimacy. It was an attempt 00:11:32.710 --> 00:11:35.009 to ground these practices in psychological theory 00:11:35.009 --> 00:11:37.730 and evidence -based approaches. It signaled that 00:11:37.730 --> 00:11:40.009 coaching was becoming a serious discipline, distinct 00:11:40.009 --> 00:11:42.830 from therapy and distinct from consulting. It 00:11:42.830 --> 00:11:44.629 said, this isn't just motivational speaking. 00:11:44.889 --> 00:11:47.850 There's science here. So let's look at that science. 00:11:48.129 --> 00:11:50.590 We've established the history. We've gone from 00:11:50.590 --> 00:11:53.250 carriages to Cambridge to the University of Sydney. 00:11:53.429 --> 00:11:56.549 Now, I want to open up the hood. What is the 00:11:56.549 --> 00:12:00.700 engine here? Let's do it. If a coach isn't just 00:12:00.700 --> 00:12:03.279 giving advice, if they aren't just saying, hey, 00:12:03.379 --> 00:12:06.139 buy this stock or dump that boyfriend, what are 00:12:06.139 --> 00:12:08.580 they actually doing? What's the technique? It 00:12:08.580 --> 00:12:10.240 really comes down to a specific communication 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:13.899 toolkit. If you listen to a skilled coach, you'll 00:12:13.899 --> 00:12:16.779 notice they're doing very specific things. They 00:12:16.779 --> 00:12:19.580 use targeted restatements. They practice active 00:12:19.580 --> 00:12:22.200 listening. They use questioning and clarifying 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:24.879 techniques. Targeted restatements. Can we unpack 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:26.500 that? That sounds like they're just repeating 00:12:26.500 --> 00:12:29.659 what I say. If I say I'm sad and they say I hear 00:12:29.659 --> 00:12:31.759 you're sad, I'm going to feel like I'm talking 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:34.200 to a parrot. It's more subtle than that. It's 00:12:34.200 --> 00:12:36.159 about reflecting your own thoughts back to you, 00:12:36.179 --> 00:12:38.700 but stripped of all the noise. It's holding up 00:12:38.700 --> 00:12:40.620 a mirror so you can hear what you actually believe 00:12:40.620 --> 00:12:43.120 versus what you think you should say. Okay, give 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:44.879 me an example. Let's role play this for a second. 00:12:44.919 --> 00:12:46.639 Let's say I'm a client. Okay, what's your problem? 00:12:46.909 --> 00:12:51.389 OK. I'm just so overwhelmed at work. My boss 00:12:51.389 --> 00:12:53.870 is micromanaging everything. The deadlines are 00:12:53.870 --> 00:12:56.509 impossible. And I just feel like I'm drowning 00:12:56.509 --> 00:12:59.870 and I want to quit. OK. Now, a friend might say, 00:12:59.990 --> 00:13:02.549 oh, man, your boss is a jerk. Let's go get a 00:13:02.549 --> 00:13:05.370 beer. That's sympathy. Right. A mentor might 00:13:05.370 --> 00:13:08.250 say, here's how I handle a micromanager in my 00:13:08.250 --> 00:13:10.940 last job. That's advice. Yeah, and the coach. 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:13.720 A coach might say something like, it sounds like 00:13:13.720 --> 00:13:16.220 you feel a complete lack of agency in your current 00:13:16.220 --> 00:13:20.120 environment. Oh. See? I didn't agree that your 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:22.679 boss is a jerk. I didn't tell you to quit. I 00:13:22.679 --> 00:13:25.600 isolated the core feeling. Oh. Lack of agency. 00:13:25.740 --> 00:13:27.879 Yeah, that lands differently. It makes me stop 00:13:27.879 --> 00:13:30.120 and think, is it the work or is it the lack of 00:13:30.120 --> 00:13:32.500 control? Exactly. Now you're analyzing the problem 00:13:32.500 --> 00:13:35.120 rather than just venting. The goal isn't to give 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:36.840 you the answer. The goal is to help you shift 00:13:36.840 --> 00:13:38.799 your perspective so you can discover a different 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:41.320 approach. That's the key, right? The agency stays 00:13:41.320 --> 00:13:44.100 with the learner. Exactly. And because the core 00:13:44.100 --> 00:13:47.159 mechanism is perspective shifting and goal attainment, 00:13:47.240 --> 00:13:49.600 it applies to almost anything. That's why we 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:51.519 call it a meta -profession. You can apply this 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:55.000 framework to health, to politics, to spirituality, 00:13:55.340 --> 00:13:57.840 to social skills. Well, let's look at some of 00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:00.259 those applications because the list in our sources 00:14:00.259 --> 00:14:03.370 is... Honestly, staggering. The biggest one, 00:14:03.429 --> 00:14:05.350 obviously, is business. Business and executive 00:14:05.350 --> 00:14:08.169 coaching is a massive industry. It's a staple 00:14:08.169 --> 00:14:10.370 of human resource development now. And what are 00:14:10.370 --> 00:14:12.009 they actually focusing on in the boardroom? Is 00:14:12.009 --> 00:14:14.409 it just make more money? It's usually more nuanced. 00:14:14.549 --> 00:14:16.169 It's about personal effectiveness, behavioral 00:14:16.169 --> 00:14:19.169 changes, strategic thinking. They use tools like 00:14:19.169 --> 00:14:22.419 360 degree feedback. where everyone around you 00:14:22.419 --> 00:14:24.500 reviews your performance and psychometrics? I 00:14:24.500 --> 00:14:26.159 found it interesting that the sources mentioned 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:28.740 this isn't just about hiring an expensive guru 00:14:28.740 --> 00:14:31.179 from the outside. No, and that's a big trend. 00:14:31.659 --> 00:14:34.059 Managers are now expected to act as coaches for 00:14:34.059 --> 00:14:37.000 their own teams. The idea is that a leader shouldn't 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:39.480 just be a boss giving orders. They should be 00:14:39.480 --> 00:14:42.159 a coach developing their people. That seems really 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:45.059 hard to pull off. I'm your boss, I decide your 00:14:45.059 --> 00:14:47.490 bonus, but also tell me your... deepest fears. 00:14:47.750 --> 00:14:50.389 It is a difficult balance, but the systematic 00:14:50.389 --> 00:14:52.590 reviews cited in the research are actually quite 00:14:52.590 --> 00:14:54.809 positive. They show that coaching can reduce 00:14:54.809 --> 00:14:58.929 workplace stress and, importantly, increase employee 00:14:58.929 --> 00:15:02.509 voice. Employee voice? What's that? That's the 00:15:02.509 --> 00:15:05.350 confidence employees feel to express their ideas. 00:15:05.730 --> 00:15:08.309 If you have a boss who listens and asks questions 00:15:08.309 --> 00:15:10.750 rather than just barking orders, you're going 00:15:10.750 --> 00:15:14.309 to feel safer speaking up. And in a knowledge 00:15:14.309 --> 00:15:16.919 economy, You need people to speak up. You need 00:15:16.919 --> 00:15:18.700 that innovation. That makes sense. If you're 00:15:18.700 --> 00:15:20.940 just a pair of hands executing orders, you aren't 00:15:20.940 --> 00:15:23.220 adding value. If you're a thinking partner, you 00:15:23.220 --> 00:15:25.879 are. Precisely. Now let's pivot to an application 00:15:25.879 --> 00:15:28.860 that I found incredibly compelling. ADHD coaching. 00:15:29.039 --> 00:15:31.690 This is a vital area. This concept was introduced 00:15:31.690 --> 00:15:34.629 in 1994 by psychiatrists Hallowell and Rady in 00:15:34.629 --> 00:15:37.269 their book Driven to Distraction. Now, we know 00:15:37.269 --> 00:15:39.690 ADHD involves deficits in executive function. 00:15:40.129 --> 00:15:42.049 But before we get to the coaching, can we just 00:15:42.049 --> 00:15:44.690 clarify executive function? We hear that term 00:15:44.690 --> 00:15:47.090 a lot. Okay, so think of the brain as an orchestra. 00:15:47.710 --> 00:15:49.769 You've got the violin section. That's your creativity. 00:15:50.129 --> 00:15:52.649 You've got the drums. That's your energy. The 00:15:52.649 --> 00:15:55.049 horns, that's your memory. Executive function 00:15:55.049 --> 00:15:57.470 is the conductor. The guy with the baton. Right. 00:15:57.850 --> 00:15:59.509 It's the part of the brain, mostly the frontal 00:15:59.509 --> 00:16:03.970 lobe, that says, okay, drums, quiet down, violins 00:16:03.970 --> 00:16:07.169 start now, horns, wait your turn. It handles 00:16:07.169 --> 00:16:09.769 prioritizing, time management, and emotional 00:16:09.769 --> 00:16:14.149 regulation. And in ADHD, the conductor is, what, 00:16:14.210 --> 00:16:16.009 on a coffee break? The conductor is inconsistent. 00:16:16.490 --> 00:16:18.169 Sometimes they're brilliant, sometimes they're 00:16:18.169 --> 00:16:22.029 asleep. So an ADHD coach acts as an external 00:16:22.029 --> 00:16:25.190 conductor. Okay. Or, as the source material beautifully 00:16:25.190 --> 00:16:28.169 puts it, an external mirror. An external mirror. 00:16:28.309 --> 00:16:31.389 I like that. Yes. People with ADHD often struggle 00:16:31.389 --> 00:16:33.750 to self -monitor. They might not realize how 00:16:33.750 --> 00:16:35.649 much time has passed. They might be working on 00:16:35.649 --> 00:16:37.330 a project for three hours and think it's been 00:16:37.330 --> 00:16:39.850 20 minutes. The coach provides that external 00:16:39.850 --> 00:16:42.850 reflection. They help the client develop workarounds. 00:16:42.950 --> 00:16:45.250 I love that term, workarounds. It admits that 00:16:45.250 --> 00:16:47.009 the brain works differently, and we aren't trying 00:16:47.009 --> 00:16:49.289 to fix it. We're trying to work with it. Exactly. 00:16:49.309 --> 00:16:53.059 It's not about curing the ADHD. It's about acknowledging 00:16:53.059 --> 00:16:56.820 the specific brain wiring and asking, OK, knowing 00:16:56.820 --> 00:16:59.840 this is how your brain works, knowing the conductor 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:02.679 is inconsistent, what strategy can we build to 00:17:02.679 --> 00:17:05.599 get this project done? It's very pragmatic. It's 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:07.839 engineering for the mind. It seems like in the 00:17:07.839 --> 00:17:10.720 health and wellness space generally, definitions 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:12.700 really matter. I was reading through the notes 00:17:12.700 --> 00:17:15.000 on the National Society of Health Coaches, and 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:17.019 they draw a pretty hard line between a health 00:17:17.019 --> 00:17:19.640 coach and a wellness coach. They do, and it's 00:17:19.640 --> 00:17:21.579 a distinction that really protects the consumer. 00:17:21.940 --> 00:17:24.619 According to their definitions, a health coach 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:27.819 guides those with acute or chronic conditions, 00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:30.660 people who have high health risks. So if you 00:17:30.660 --> 00:17:33.599 have diabetes, heart disease, obesity, real clinical 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:36.240 issues. Right. You need a health coach who understands 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:40.000 the pathology, whereas a wellness coach is for 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:42.430 the otherwise healthy individual who... just 00:17:42.430 --> 00:17:44.250 wants to maintain their status or get a little 00:17:44.250 --> 00:17:46.049 fitter. That's a really important distinction. 00:17:46.230 --> 00:17:49.309 You don't want a general wellness coach who maybe 00:17:49.309 --> 00:17:51.609 took a weekend seminar trying to manage a complex 00:17:51.609 --> 00:17:54.069 diabetic nutrition plan. Absolutely not. That's 00:17:54.069 --> 00:17:56.069 dangerous. And then we have financial coaching. 00:17:56.289 --> 00:17:59.109 And again, we have to separate the coach from 00:17:59.109 --> 00:18:01.569 the advisor. This is similar to the mentoring 00:18:01.569 --> 00:18:04.210 distinction. A financial advisor usually sells 00:18:04.210 --> 00:18:08.309 products, stocks, insurance, portfolios. They 00:18:08.309 --> 00:18:11.569 manage the assets. Buy low, sell high. Right. 00:18:11.869 --> 00:18:14.950 A financial coach focuses on behavior. They focus 00:18:14.950 --> 00:18:16.930 on the person holding the wallet. So the coach 00:18:16.930 --> 00:18:18.930 is the one asking, why do you stress buy shoes 00:18:18.930 --> 00:18:21.710 every Friday? Exactly. They focus on spending 00:18:21.710 --> 00:18:24.470 habits, debt reduction, and fiscal discipline. 00:18:24.690 --> 00:18:27.170 It's about your relationship with money, not 00:18:27.170 --> 00:18:29.480 just where you park it. I want to jump to the 00:18:29.480 --> 00:18:31.799 modern niche stuff because this is where you 00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:35.460 see just how adaptable this meta profession is. 00:18:35.880 --> 00:18:38.400 Esports coaching. This is a rapidly growing field. 00:18:38.579 --> 00:18:40.539 I mean, 20 years ago, if you told someone you 00:18:40.539 --> 00:18:42.200 were a video game coach, they would have laughed 00:18:42.200 --> 00:18:44.140 you out of the room. But now look at something 00:18:44.140 --> 00:18:46.480 like League of Legends. The complexity of these 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:49.829 games rivals traditional sports. The coaches 00:18:49.829 --> 00:18:52.269 here are doing exactly what sports coaches do. 00:18:52.430 --> 00:18:55.289 They plan strategies. They're on voice chat during 00:18:55.289 --> 00:18:57.369 the pick -and -ban phase. Explain that for the 00:18:57.369 --> 00:18:59.809 non -gamers. Pick -and -ban. So before the match 00:18:59.809 --> 00:19:02.950 starts, each team takes turns picking their characters 00:19:02.950 --> 00:19:05.049 and banning the characters they don't want the 00:19:05.049 --> 00:19:08.089 other team to play. There are over 160 characters. 00:19:08.470 --> 00:19:11.509 The combinations are in the millions. It's high 00:19:11.509 --> 00:19:13.470 -speed chess. And the coach is there to manage 00:19:13.470 --> 00:19:16.950 that strategy. Yes. They're analyzing the opponent's 00:19:16.950 --> 00:19:20.170 data. suggesting counterpicks, and crucially, 00:19:20.230 --> 00:19:23.190 managing the team's emotional state. It's high 00:19:23.190 --> 00:19:26.109 performance cognitive coaching. It's just wild 00:19:26.109 --> 00:19:29.210 to think about the evolution from the Hungarian 00:19:29.210 --> 00:19:32.470 carriage driver in the mud to the guy on a headset 00:19:32.470 --> 00:19:35.609 advising a team on which digital champion to 00:19:35.609 --> 00:19:37.990 ban in a global tournament. But the function 00:19:37.990 --> 00:19:40.359 is the same. Here's where we are. Here's the 00:19:40.359 --> 00:19:42.400 victory condition. Here's how we get there. And 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:44.160 then, of course, we have baiting coaches. Yes. 00:19:44.779 --> 00:19:46.759 Applying coaching principles to personal and 00:19:46.759 --> 00:19:49.299 business relationships. Again, focusing on skills, 00:19:49.400 --> 00:19:51.839 perspective, and specific goals. And one more 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:53.319 distinction I want to hit before we move on. 00:19:53.660 --> 00:19:55.740 Homework coaching versus tutoring. This ties 00:19:55.740 --> 00:19:58.740 back to the ADHD point. It does. A tutor teaches 00:19:58.740 --> 00:20:01.220 you what to learn. Chemistry, history, French. 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:03.619 A homework coach teaches you how to learn. The 00:20:03.619 --> 00:20:07.109 process. The process. Study skills, organization, 00:20:07.609 --> 00:20:10.650 time management. It's a process focus versus 00:20:10.650 --> 00:20:13.269 a content focus. Okay, so we've painted a pretty 00:20:13.269 --> 00:20:15.829 rosy picture so far. Coaching helps you organize 00:20:15.829 --> 00:20:18.170 your brain, advance your career, win video games, 00:20:18.289 --> 00:20:22.769 get fit. It sounds like a miracle drug, but we 00:20:22.769 --> 00:20:24.210 have to talk about the elephant in the room. 00:20:24.369 --> 00:20:26.990 We do, and it's a big elephant. This industry 00:20:26.990 --> 00:20:29.849 is seemingly everywhere, but it is also, as we 00:20:29.849 --> 00:20:32.769 mentioned, a wild west. That is the major critique. 00:20:32.990 --> 00:20:35.529 And it's a valid one. In many jurisdictions, 00:20:35.710 --> 00:20:38.390 including the U .S. and the U .K., anyone can 00:20:38.390 --> 00:20:40.509 wake up tomorrow morning, print a business card 00:20:40.509 --> 00:20:43.170 that says life coach and start charging clients. 00:20:43.390 --> 00:20:45.650 There's no bar exam. There's no medical board. 00:20:45.829 --> 00:20:48.549 None. And this leads to several issues. The first 00:20:48.549 --> 00:20:51.150 is a philosophical one. The criticism that life 00:20:51.150 --> 00:20:53.410 coaching in particular is commercializing friendships. 00:20:54.200 --> 00:20:56.140 Commercializing friendships, that hits hard. 00:20:56.359 --> 00:20:58.200 The skeptics argue that the support a life coach 00:20:58.200 --> 00:21:01.039 offers, listening, encouraging, helping you sort 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:02.819 through your problems, is what a good friend 00:21:02.819 --> 00:21:06.079 used to do for free. By monetizing it, are we 00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:09.160 eroding our natural social bonds? Are we saying 00:21:09.160 --> 00:21:12.079 that we're so lonely we have to pay someone to 00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:14.240 care about our goals? That's a heavy thought. 00:21:14.380 --> 00:21:16.900 But on the flip side, sometimes you need an unbiased 00:21:16.900 --> 00:21:19.559 opinion. A friend wants you to be safe. A coach 00:21:19.559 --> 00:21:21.779 wants you to grow. That is the counter argument. 00:21:22.119 --> 00:21:24.930 But there's also a safety question. Critics argue 00:21:24.930 --> 00:21:27.250 it is akin to psychotherapy, but without the 00:21:27.250 --> 00:21:29.390 guardrails. This is the most dangerous area. 00:21:29.789 --> 00:21:31.849 To be a counseling psychologist in California, 00:21:32.089 --> 00:21:34.809 for example, the sources note you need 3 ,000 00:21:34.809 --> 00:21:36.950 hours of supervised professional experience. 00:21:37.390 --> 00:21:41.029 3 ,000 hours. And to be a life coach. Zero. Zero. 00:21:41.089 --> 00:21:43.289 So you have people potentially dealing with deep 00:21:43.289 --> 00:21:46.289 -seated trauma, anxiety, or depression who are 00:21:46.289 --> 00:21:48.930 not trained to handle it. A coach is supposed 00:21:48.930 --> 00:21:51.009 to be forward -looking. How do we achieve the 00:21:51.009 --> 00:21:55.250 goal? But if a client is blocked by past trauma, 00:21:55.490 --> 00:21:57.890 an untrained coach might try to push through 00:21:57.890 --> 00:21:59.549 it when they really should be referring out to 00:21:59.549 --> 00:22:01.410 a therapist. And then there's the business model 00:22:01.410 --> 00:22:03.549 itself. I was reading about the pyramid implication. 00:22:04.150 --> 00:22:07.509 Yes. This is the critique that the demand for 00:22:07.509 --> 00:22:10.569 actual life coaching services is relatively low 00:22:10.569 --> 00:22:13.509 in some markets. So how do you make money? You 00:22:13.509 --> 00:22:15.069 teach other people how to be coaches. Exactly. 00:22:15.769 --> 00:22:17.670 Critics suggest the most profitable part of the 00:22:17.670 --> 00:22:20.089 industry isn't coaching clients. It's selling 00:22:20.089 --> 00:22:22.769 certificates to would -be coaches. It creates 00:22:22.769 --> 00:22:25.390 a feedback loop where everyone is coaching everyone 00:22:25.390 --> 00:22:27.849 on how to be a coach. That is concerning. But 00:22:27.849 --> 00:22:29.109 it's not all doom and gloom, right? There are 00:22:29.109 --> 00:22:31.950 people trying to fix this. Absolutely. The industry 00:22:31.950 --> 00:22:34.930 is aware of these reputation risks. There's a 00:22:34.930 --> 00:22:37.990 strong push for professionalization. In February 00:22:37.990 --> 00:22:41.210 2016, the Association for Coaching and the European 00:22:41.210 --> 00:22:43.869 Mentoring and Coaching Council launched a global 00:22:43.869 --> 00:22:46.690 code of ethics. So there are standards. There 00:22:46.690 --> 00:22:49.589 are, but the catch is it remains self -regulatory. 00:22:50.109 --> 00:22:52.069 Membership in these bodies is optional. You don't 00:22:52.069 --> 00:22:54.450 have to join them to practice. So effective coaches 00:22:54.450 --> 00:22:57.009 are defined by their integrity and their credibility, 00:22:57.269 --> 00:22:59.849 but it is entirely up to the consumer to you, 00:22:59.970 --> 00:23:02.849 the listener, to verify that. The law won't do 00:23:02.849 --> 00:23:04.769 it for you. You have to check their credentials. 00:23:04.990 --> 00:23:06.930 You have to see if they're part of these ethical 00:23:06.930 --> 00:23:08.670 bodies. You have to ask about their training. 00:23:08.869 --> 00:23:11.470 So let's bring this all the way back. We started 00:23:11.470 --> 00:23:13.759 in the village of Cokes. We watch this concept 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:16.200 travel through the intense math exams of Cambridge, 00:23:16.420 --> 00:23:19.180 explode during the human potential movement of 00:23:19.180 --> 00:23:22.480 the 60s, and land in the modern corporate boardroom 00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:24.779 and the e -sports arena. It's been quite a journey. 00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:28.259 And the takeaway seems to be this. Coaching is 00:23:28.259 --> 00:23:31.339 an incredibly powerful tool. It really is that 00:23:31.339 --> 00:23:34.440 carriage. It can move you from stagnation to 00:23:34.440 --> 00:23:38.680 success, but it relies heavily on the skill and 00:23:38.680 --> 00:23:41.039 the integrity of the driver. That's the perfect 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:43.849 summary. A carriage with a bad wheel or a driver 00:23:43.849 --> 00:23:45.970 who doesn't know the way isn't going to get you 00:23:45.970 --> 00:23:48.990 anywhere. But a well -built vehicle with an expert 00:23:48.990 --> 00:23:52.190 guide, that can change your life. So as we wrap 00:23:52.190 --> 00:23:53.690 up this deep dive, we want to leave you with 00:23:53.690 --> 00:23:56.410 a thought, a question to mull over. We're seeing 00:23:56.410 --> 00:23:59.690 coaching expand into every single aspect of life. 00:24:00.089 --> 00:24:03.029 How we date, how we study, how we manage our 00:24:03.029 --> 00:24:05.309 money, how we play games. It feels like we're 00:24:05.309 --> 00:24:07.809 outsourcing our executive function. That's the 00:24:07.809 --> 00:24:11.490 question. As we build this massive infrastructure 00:24:11.490 --> 00:24:14.369 of coaches for everything, are we losing the 00:24:14.369 --> 00:24:17.349 ability to self -regulate? Are we forgetting 00:24:17.349 --> 00:24:21.609 how to be our own drivers? Or are we finally 00:24:21.609 --> 00:24:23.509 just admitting that humans were never meant to 00:24:23.509 --> 00:24:25.809 do it alone and we're finally building the support 00:24:25.809 --> 00:24:28.099 structures we've always needed? Are we becoming 00:24:28.099 --> 00:24:30.940 dependent or are we becoming supported? That 00:24:30.940 --> 00:24:33.059 is the question. Indeed. And if you're looking 00:24:33.059 --> 00:24:35.240 to hire a coach, here's our actionable advice. 00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:37.819 Look for the transportation value. Are they actually 00:24:37.819 --> 00:24:41.539 moving you forward or are they just keeping the 00:24:41.539 --> 00:24:44.539 wheels spinning? And please check those credentials. 00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:47.799 Because the barrier to entry is low. Your due 00:24:47.799 --> 00:24:50.420 diligence needs to be high. Thanks for listening 00:24:50.420 --> 00:24:52.359 to The Deep Dive. We'll see you on the next one. 00:24:52.500 --> 00:24:53.119 Safe travels.