168 50 TOPEXECUTIVECOACHES
few short years ago, the idea of educating senior executives was an alien one.
Now you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who does not subscribe to
that idea.
Once the game of leadership gained legitimacy, the logic for coaching
evolved. If continuous learning can really occur, and is in fact necessary for
leaders to be successful, then it would be nice to have a coach to turn to dur-
ing the middle of the game and ask, “ What do you think? Do you see some-
thing that I’m doing right or wrong? What kind of feedback can you give
me?”
Similarly, with respect to Strategic Diversity Management™, as it gains
credibility as a field, senior executives will seek Strategic Diversity Manage-
ment™ coaches. It has been only in recent years that I have been asked to
coach. This is a result of leaders deciding that Strategic Diversity Manage-
ment™ is a legitimate game. And, once again, I stress the distinction be-
tween Strategic Diversity Management™ and diversity. As more executives
decide that there is a game, more will determine that it is one worth winning.Gifford Pinchot
Coaching Innovation Leaders
C
oaching innovation leaders is a whole system task. The issues in a single
assignment may range from personality issues, through dealing effectively
with the organizational immune system, to dealing with a tough competitor.Gifford Pinchot leads Pinchot & Company, a firm that
helps companies to reduce bureaucratic obstacles, and to
design and implement more effective and sustainable
business practices. He is also Chairman of the Bain-
bridge Island Graduate Institute, one of the first busi-
ness schools to focus on sustainable business practices
(www.bgiedu.org). His best-selling book, INTRAPRE-
NEURING: Why You Don’t Have to Leave the Cor pora-
tion to Become an Entrepreneur,defined the ground
rules for an emerging field of enterprise: the courageous pursuit of
new ideas in established organizations. He can be reached by phone at (206)
780-2800 or via the Internet at http://www.pinchot.com.