CAREER/LIFECOACHING 111

In their hearts, they know what to do. I think what they truly want is an-
other set of eyes. I have a knack or ingenuity for solving the left-brain/right-
brain problem. What I love most about the people I work with is that they are
not only brilliant thinkers, but caring and responsive people. They have a pro-
found realization of the possibilities and opportunities for humanity—a very
special combination in leaders. But sometimes, they have a blind spot when it
comes to their own specialness. It may seem like a contradiction, but often
such people have received so much external applause, recognition, or admira-
tion that they lose touch with the part of themselves that nobody knows.
They want validation. They want help in looking for what is missing. They
want to perfect it. They ask, “ What am I not seeing here?” I am the innocent
who can see what others overlook. I provide the piece of insight that makes
it all come together.
My preference is to work by phone. Generally, I talk with people 3 times a
month for 45 minutes to an hour each time. I’m also available whenever
someone wants to bounce an idea off me. They might toss a simple question
my way, and I respond with an observation. I even get e-mails and can en-
gage that way, as well. I end up working with people for many years. In the
best relationships, I am their coach for life. We may not always be working
together, may even go a long time between that need, but I’m always there
for them. I am the person who always sees their genius.
I don’t push. There’s an internal shift that occurs. In the most mature
coaching relationship, coach and client are cocreative. The relationship lasts
forever. There are no steps. The coaching f lows from a continuous, creative
conversation. Clients move effortlessly among ideas congruent to their proj-
ects. There’s an energy that occurs, something electric that happens. Some-
times, it’s something brand-new; other times, it’s something the client forgot.
We’re tapping into the most brilliant part of their minds. If it’s true that peo-
ple use a mere 10 percent of their brains, then coaching taps into the other
90 percent. It helps clients connect to what they already know and make con-
nections to what they want to discover.
I think that in the future coaching will evolve into a profession in which
coach and client engage in a level of creative dialogue that can generate such
revelations. Among the thought leaders and world leaders I know, people are
searching for the ideas, connections and points of awareness they can use to
benefit the world. A coach is someone who can help them seek out and rec-
ognize those things over a lifetime.