Learning and Insights from 2012 to date: Starting with Much Ado About Coaching
the good coach has published its 320th blog since its first piece was published in April 2012. That’s roughly 50 blogs published every year, or the equivalent of ‘almost’ one new piece every week. To celebrate this fantastic achievement, we decided to publish, consecutively every week in December, the three prefaces of our self-published books which share our learning and insights every couple of years. As we published each of our books, the insights and knowledge of how coaching is really practised by everyday practitioners helped us to map more visibly both the breadth and depth of coaching. We hope you enjoy reading each of them, whether for the first time or as a refresher, and continue to realize the added value coaching can bring.
In our first book, Much Ado About Coaching, many of the pieces reflect how coaches and clients managed their change and transition for a better work-life balance. A common challenge for coaches who have started their journey into coaching.
For more details about our books, check out Blog Press Publishing
Much Ado About Coaching - The Preface
What is coaching?
That’s a great question! Why? Because if we were to ask a hundred people what coaching means to them, we would probably get a hundred different answers which would overlap, but not necessarily coincide.
Although coaching has been around for almost five decades, it has only recently been formalised and professionalised as a discipline. We are three coaches from different parts of the world who met by chance and decided to work together and explore executive coaching, based on our different experiences and locations. As participants in the field, we wanted to make people familiar with what coaching is, and raise awareness of how it can contribute to personal and professional well-being.
This book explores many different aspects of coaching. Our aim is not just to provide a perspective on what coaching is and can be, but also to provide key insights from our experiences as professional coaches.
Who are we writing for?
This book is for everyone curious about coaching!
Professionals who have been or will be clients
Leaders who have already had coaching, and are applying techniques in their roles
Coaches who have just completed their training and are starting out
Coaches who are seeking alternative perspectives for continuing their professional development
Being curious and actively following through is a cornerstone for learning and growth, and is vital for coaching. It opens up new possibilities and sparks new conversations – and that is also our aim in this book.
Change and transition are key themes in Much Ado About Coaching.
In this book, experienced coaches from all over the world share their perspectives on change, growth, and evolution, with reference to both their professional and personal experiences.
Particularly inspirational was the experience of author and editor Charlotte Rydlund, who underwent a profound change in her life when she left her role as a multinational corporate executive and internal coach to follow her passion as an entrepreneur. Her transition began with an advocacy project: a four-month diving expedition whose aim was to mobilize communities to clean up the underwater environment across Canada and raise awareness through online and offline media. When the expedition ended, Charlotte actualized her transition and now works as a certified change management coach and entrepreneur who empowers leaders and business owners to grow and succeed. leaders and business owners to grow and succeed. This experience inspired her to write a series of essays on what she learned about herself on her journey.
We hope you will share all of our ups and downs, our triumphs and setbacks, as well as our insights and epiphanies. This book in your hand (or on your screen) is the labour of love, not just for the three of us, but also for the many friends and collaborators who helped make it possible. We hope this book inspires your transition as much as it inspired us!
For more details about our books, check out Blog Press Publishing
