146 50 TOPEXECUTIVECOACHES
David Giber
I
n many ways, coaching is the inter weaving of two stories—the coach’s and
the person being coached. The coach must understand the experiences or
stories of his or her clients, but also help them connect the drivers and les-
sons from their lives to the future stories they need to write.
I use the idea of life stories and themes to guide my work and approach.
Often, my clients emerge because they are in a transition, either moving from
one level in an organization to another, or resolving some problem between
the fit of their current skills and abilities, and the demands of their job. Many
times I see people struggling with what I call leadership paradoxes such as
balancing concerns about people while still driving results; thinking strategi-
cally while finding new ways to monitor the operation; and defining one’s own
vision and direction while simultaneously learning to empower others.
Coaching people through these dilemmas requires that the coach under-
stand the evolving life story of the client. Who are they trying to become?
What life problem are they searching to solve? I make extensive use of the
leadership story exercise, which I learned from Noel Tichy at the University
ofMichigan. I ask people to write an autobiography of two pages or less, and
ask them to think about those people and incidents that have had a big impact
on them. Having executives draw out the high and low points of their lives
and careers, and the lessons and values learned from them, is a tremendously
useful exercise in helping them connect better with others. One senior vice
president used this exercise to understand how leaving home as a teenager and
working his way through college in menial jobs had affected his overdemand-
ing standards for others and his own lack of life balance. As a coach, I try to
help clients learn from both positive and negative experiences by identifying
what they took out of those incidents and considering how those lessons affect
their behavior today.David Giber, PhD, has served as a coach to leaders and ex-
ecutives for over 20 years. He is Senior Vice President of
Leadership Development at Linkage, Inc., an organiza-
tional development company whose specialty is leadership
development. David has designed and implemented lead-
ership programs worldwide. He is the editor of two top-
selling books in the field, Best Practices in Leadership
Development Handbook andBest Practices in Organiza-
tional Development and Change.He can be reached by
e-mail at [email protected].