Coach the Person, Not the Problem

CHAPTER 10

CATCH AND RELEASE JUDGMENT

Coaching gives people a safe space to be themselves, with all their emotions and moods.

—MARCIA REYNOLDS

I WAS COACHING a man in China in front of a big audience. He wanted to explore if he should be a coach when he retired. I asked him what he loved about his job being the director of human resources for his company. He told me he loved developing people. He loved seeing the light in their eyes when they realized they could be so much more than they imagined. Most of all, he was proud he could instill the principles of Communism in them. I felt my entire body shudder. Not only did his political values conflict with mine, but the word Communism dredged up horror stories of nuclear attacks emblazoned in my ...