Preface to the Fourth Edition

After over 30-plus years of coaching, my understanding of it is still evolving. This seems to me to be a very good thing, because every time I sit across from a client is a fresh moment to discover what is possible and to let go of what has worked before.

Of course, for someone who is beginning coaching what I just said is not so helpful and might even be anxiety producing. When we first start any activity, it is important for us to have norms, rules, procedures, and standards. All of us have encountered this when we took up driving or skiing or typing. The more mechanical the activity, the more rule-based it is. So for example in learning to type, we don’t have to worry about the keyboard changing between practice ...

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