SuperShort Advice on How to Be a Good Coach

Sean Burke is about to complete his MBA at Indiana University but decided he'd rather be a coach than a businessperson. He emailed me asking for a bit of quick advice. Here's how I responded:

Specialize--for example, in unhappy MBAs. And if you're like most guys, you'll need to hone your ability to be a superlative listener and a superlative question asker, someone who manages to get the client to come up with the solution if possible, and when you offer suggestions to do it in a way that makes the client feel empowered. See THIS. .

He responded, "Awesome, thanks! That's all I needed Marty.
Sean Burke
seaburke@umail.iu.edu

I think the advice I gave to Sean is often applicable not just to coaches but to most of us---Too often, I forget to follow my own advice!