I recently ran into an old friend from high school. It was great to see him; he was exactly as I remembered: friendly, easy-going and (still) easy on the eyes.
In our brief conversation, he asked what I had been up to (for the past almost 20 years) and so I shared a couple of details of my life, including the fact that I now worked as an executive coach. He said he had heard about coaching and thought it sounded like a great gig. I said it was. We moved onto other topics and then parted ways, both of us no doubt marveling at the passage of time.
A week later, I received a phone call. It was my friend. He decided that he too would like to start a coaching practice. “Well,” I said, “I am sure you would be very talented as a coach, but you should know, I actually went to school for over ten years to do what I do.”
Initially, I was offended he thought so little about what it took for me to be successful in my profession. However, with the rise in popularity of coaching during the last decade, and the numerous schools that popped up to capitalize on that popularity (some promoting 2-week courses), I realized I really couldn’t fault his (mis)perception.
The experience made me think about the leaders with whom I work. And, I wondered if at least one of the many challenges facing my clients could be the result of them not thinking of leadership as a profession and, as their profession.
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