“The conversation is the relationship.”
– Susan Scott, Fierce Conversations
When you hear the word “coach,” who comes to mind?
How do those names make you feel?
Now, think about yourself.
Are you a “coach”?
If so, to whom?
In leadership, Daniel Goleman’s foundational research from 2000 identified six leadership styles, or “gears,” as I often refer to them. One of these gears, often underutilized, is that of the “coach.”
Michael Bungay Stanier, in his influential book The Coaching Habit, champions the power of asking more and telling less. He guides leaders to foster growth and potential within their teams. Yet, this mindset isn’t just for managing your team—it’s mission-critical for leading up and out.
The true strength of adopting a coaching approach is its versatility. Mastering the coaching habit allows you to navigate complexity, build stronger relationships, and drive impactful change across your organization. Whether you’re mentoring a direct report or collaborating with senior executives, the ability to lead with a coaching mindset is an invaluable gear in your leadership toolkit.
This week, we’ll explore the principles of coach-like leadership and highlight practical strategies for incorporating this approach. Let’s dive in!
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The Trillion Dollar Coach
(video | words) – via Bill Campbell
As a coach within Google, Bill Campbell became masterful at identifying tensions and figuring out how to resolve them. He would counsel the executives and often sat in on the meetings. Rather than providing opinions on products and strategy, he made sure “the team was communicating, that the tensions and disagreements were brought to the surface and discussed".
Campbell believed that a critical factor for success was for teams to act like communities, “integrating interests and putting aside differences to be individually and collectively obsessed with what’s good for the company” ...
Self Leadership & Legacy
(video | words) – via Daniel Harkavy
Business leaders have to have two things in order to achieve, according to Daniel Harkavy: decision-making ability and influence. Arriving at that rare combination of strengths is largely a matter of mindset.
In seven concise chapters, Harkavy identifies the seven perspectives that produce great decision making and strong influence. He argues that every leader must have a perspective on seven things that goes beyond their own knowledge and experience. That mindset of openness and a willingness to learn in these areas distinguishes a great leader from a good one. The seven perspectives are Current Reality, Vision, Strategic Bets, Team, Customer, Role, and Outsider.
Staying Curious Longer
(interview | video) – via Brené Brown & Michael Bungay Stanier
Michael Bungay Stanier is the author of six books, including The Coaching Habit and The Advice Trap. We talk about taming our Advice Monsters — you know, those insatiable things that fuel our need to offer advice and answers when curiosity and good questions are way more powerful. We also share a very vulnerable, impromptu role play, where I ask him for help on a real issue that I’m struggling with at work and he models incredible coaching and curiosity ...
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Strategic Advisor + Coach
Hey 👋 - I'm Noah!
founder of TOGETHER 4
I help impact leaders build better. Think of me as your growth partner – part strategic advisor and part leadership coach.
After spending 15+ years in-house designing growth plans and building teams, I’m now a consultant lending my experience and learnings to you, while building the community where impact leaders gather and grow.
I’ve led and advised growth at organizations such as Virtuous, Feathr, HubSpot, World Help, The Adventure Project, CauseVox, and many more.
Whether you’re on the frontlines fighting for change or building better tech and services to activate more – you’re an impact leader, and I’m here to help. Book your complimentary discovery session today.
