Can your “business coach ” or “life coach” ride a bike?
All of a sudden, life and business coaching has become the latest fad. Good counsel is invaluable, but it appears to me that much of the current coach offering is shallow in the extreme. This shallowness is often due to the absence of the most important criterion for the selection of an advisor – experience.
If there is one attribute that demonstrates the value of experience in the ‘University of Life’ over the acknowledged value of a high- class, formal business education, it is the ability to make good decisions in the context of ambiguity. And ambiguity is everywhere for those of us who run businesses.
Henry Mintzberg’s assertion that “university MBA classrooms produce hubris rather than leadership excellence” goes somewhat further than I would want, but there is more than a grain of truth in what he says.
Sure, in a classroom, students can dissect all the theory of management or leadership and write theses on communication, motivation and negotiation, which gain top marks and, in due course perhaps, a job in McKinsey, Bain or PwC.
Then, from their lofty position of knowledge and black or white solutions, these geniuses can counsel us in how to run a business – but they have never run or led anything themselves.
The wise leader certainly will take advantage of the intellectual horsepower that these clever people can deliver, but will also be very selective in the advice she/he takes.
If you are learning to ride a bicycle, you will only really trust a teacher who has actually ridden one and can demonstrate proficiency in the art. In contrast, a physics PhD can explain to you on paper the theory of balance and velocity; but will fail to teach you to deal with the counter-intuitive ambiguities that cause the inevitable crash.
Get a coach who can ride a bike!
There. I feel better already!
4 comments:
I have to agree very much with Will on this one! I work for a large international corporation and one of our most esteemed business leaders, recently retired, used to make the joke that all new resumes he received went straight in the bin as soon as he found the dreaded MBA. On saying that others high up in the company repeatedly pay people like McKinsey lots of money to come and preach to the executive management from their lofty positions of knowledge. And I do tend to get a bit tired of people, with no real experience, trying to tell me how to run my business. Anyway good rant!
Why do grumpy old guys attach the premier value to experience? Does age equal experience? Not really, if nothing is learned and extrapolated for wider application. The value of experience comes from dispassionate reflection on real situations. Maybe old guys do it better because they can be dispassionate?
Well grumpy old guys like you and me, Will, follow their passion not their pension.
However back to the topic, watched a whizzo coach fall on his ***** and was it his sword this week on a presentation about growing business. His obvious lack of business experience shone through like street lights in Promroy on a wet Wednesday in July.
Great analogy Colly. Street lights in Pomeroy!!
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