Coach Alisa Cohn on working with startup CEOs and entrepreneurial leaders. She emphasizes picking clients who genuinely want to change, committing to year-long engagements, and notes that 27 CEOs endorsed the book Triggers, signaling coaching's growing acceptance among leaders.
Chapters
You know, Alyssa, it's so good to be here to talk to you today. And I thought it might be fun just to share some observations about coaching. To me, one of the first things I've learned in coaching is that a lot of it is just about picking great clients. In the way my coaching process works, I work with people for a year, year and a half and I really get focused on results. And I've learned I don't get a whole lot of great results and they have great people to work with. So getting great clients is important. What are some of your observations reflect reflections on coaching that maybe you can share?
Well, you know, I think some of my reflections are your point about picking the people who want to change. It's so important. And what I love to see is that when you open up for somebody together, this notion of like, oh, I never saw that before and like there's a whole opening and a whole possibility for them that they didn't have before and I find that really rewarding. And also I think everybody has that. We all have blind spots and we're all, I think, actively trying to overcome our blind spots. If you are in the self development game, which of course we are.
You know, one thing I'm real proud of in my new book triggers is 27 major CEOs endorse the book. And the reason I'm so proud of that is 30 years ago, no CEO would admit to having a coach. They'd be ashamed or embarrassed to have a coach. So really feel good about trying to make coaching. It's come out of the closet.
Yes.
Rather than something that you have to be ashamed of, something you can be proud of. Our roles in life have been a little bit different. You've worked a lot in big companies.
Yeah.
You've also done a lot of work with startup people in smaller companies. My experience there is much more limited than yours. What are some of the experience that you've had working with startup CEOs and startup companies?
Well, I think you're exactly right that coaching's come out of the closet. And so this is a generation of people who've lived with coaching out of the closet already. So actually having a coach for them is definitely like, I wouldn't say it's a badge of honor, but I will say they recognize that they're first time founders, are first time leaders and so they recognize they need that kind of help. Also the VCs and their boards are interested and engaged and like helpful with their coaching process. So altogether the culture is such that it really accepts coaching, and it really kind of values and appreciates coaching. So the people I work with, they talk all the time, oh, my coach said. Or my coach said. And then. So that they're really comfortable with the concept of that kind of mentoring and growing, by the way. I think that also translates into the organization as a whole, like this idea that there's an environment where people recognize that we're all here to learn. So when people say, oh, it's a startup, you know how it is. It's a startup. Part of that is about creating a learning organization, which I think coaching really supports. Sa.
