In this solo episode of the No Days Off podcast, host Brian Gubernick explains why coachability is essential for entrepreneurs seeking growth. He defines coachability as the willingness to change and improve, then outlines six core characteristics of a coachable person: open‑mindedness, humility, proactive attitude, adaptability, positive attitude, and commitment. Gubernick describes the personal and professional benefits of being coachable—greater personal development, professional advancement, stronger relationships, resilience, and higher performance. He then offers concrete tactics for demonstrating and cultivating coachability, including active listening, asking clarifying questions, implementing feedback promptly (avoiding the “askhole” trap), reflecting on feedback, and expressing gratitude. The episode closes with a call‑to‑action for listeners to assess their own coachability gaps and apply the suggested tactics to become a more coachable version of themselves.
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Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. If you're on this journey, if you're a hard-charging entrepreneur and you're aiming to grow, you've got to be coachable. Bottom line, you've gotta be coachable. We've been talking about it a lot as of late. Like, in order to get to where you want to go, you've gotta become a different version of who you are today, right? Like, if you've got a big goal, that big goal will only be attained if a different version of you exists at that time. That person needs new habits, new strategy, new behaviors, new social circle, in some regard, new environment, just new energy, that's a totally different person. And in order to get to that, to becoming that new person, things have to change. If in fact you're going to change, I strongly believe you've got to be a very coachable person. You've got to be a very coachable entrepreneur. Now, what are these characteristics that make up a coachable person? Right, I want you to think about yourself. I want you to look in the mirror and I want you to honestly ask yourself, am I this? Each one of these characteristics, characteristics I run through. And by the way, if you're not, that is great news because now you're aware and we can do something about it. So here's the key characteristics. As a matter of fact, the 6 key characteristics of being coachable. Number 1, coachable people are open-minded. Are you open-minded? Open-mindedness to me means receptive to feedback. So you, you accept constructive criticism without being defensive, and you're willing to listen. You have a willingness to listen, so you actively listen to advice and suggestions, and you consider different perspectives. Coachable people are open-minded, number one. Number two, Number 2 key characteristics, a characteristic of being coachable, humility. Humility. Do you have humility? Now, what is humility? I think it's acknowledging your limitations, recognize there's always room for improvement. And if you're coachable, you're not afraid to admit when you don't know something. If you have humility, you're also eager to learn. You show genuine interest in learning new skills, gaining new knowledge, and again, listening to others that may have the skill or the knowledge that you desire to possess. So a characteristic of being coachable is humility because you have a willingness to acknowledge your limitations and, and you have a willingness to learn. You're eager to learn. Number 3, third characteristic of being coachable Proactive attitude. You have a proactive attitude. You seek feedback. So you're not just receptive to feedback, but you seek feedback. So you're actively asking for input and feedback to improve your performance. And you also take initiative. You take responsibility for your own growth and your own development by seeking out opportunities to learn. See, a lot of people, I think, might believe they're coachable because they'll receive feedback or they'll respond in a positive way. And that is important. That is important. That shows you're open-minded. But I'm saying coachable people are also very proactive. They have a proactive attitude in that they seek the feedback. They actively look for input and they take initiative in generating or seeking that input because they know they're responsible for their own growth. They know that they're responsible for the development. Number 4, the fourth characteristic of coachable people, adaptability. Adaptability. Coachable people are willing to change. They're open to changing habits. They're open to changing behaviors. They're open to approaches in response to feedback, which also means that, that they're flexible. They have flexibility. So their adaptability is dependent on how flexible they can be. Can they adjust their strategies and their tactics as needed? Based on the guidance and new information. Coachable individuals are adaptable individuals in that they're willing to change and they're flexible. Number 5, I think this might even be number 1 if you were to rank them by priority, but number 5, the 5th characteristic of coachable individuals, positive attitude. Positive attitude. Coachable people are resilient. They maintain a positive attitude even when faced with criticism or setbacks. And they're optimistic. They have optimism. They believe in their ability to improve. They believe in, in their ability to succeed if they have the right effort and the right guidance. They're just optimistic. They believe positively, like they're going to go in the right direction. They have a positive attitude. And number 6, the 6th characteristic of this list of 6 of those that are coachable: commitment. They're dedicated to improvement. They demonstrate a strong commitment to personal and professional development, and they're persistent. They show determination, they show commitment, they show persistence in applying what they learn to improve their performance. So, coachable people, 6 key characteristics: open-minded, number 1; number 2, humility; number 3, proactive attitude; number 4, adaptability; number 5, positive attitude, and number 6, commitment. Now, what are the benefits of being coachable? Again, remember, I believe that in order to get to where you want to go, you've got to become a different version of you. So, what are the benefits of being coachable? Personal development, personal growth, professional advancement, better relationships or enhanced relationships, greater resilience, increased performance, These are the things that show up with coachable individuals. How do you demonstrate your coachability though? That's a really good question. What do you go about— how do you go about every day to demonstrate this coachability? Or maybe if you're thinking around tactics as to how you can become more coachable, here's some things you should be thinking around. Actively listening, actively listening. We've done episodes on active listening. You've got to pay full attention to the coach or the mentor, whoever you're learning from, and show that you value their input. If you stop valuing their input or you give any indication that you don't value their input, they're not going to continue to give it to you. So active listening is a great way to demonstrate coachability, as is asking questions. You showing curiosity and desire to understand by asking clarifying questions makes you more coachable. Demonstrates coachability. Now for me, if I'm ever coaching an individual, this next thing I'm gonna say is probably arguably most important to me in that if I'm sharing insight or guidance or experience, I wanna see you take action. In other words, implementing feedback demonstrates coachability. Applying the advice and the feedback you receive and doing so in a timely manner and not being what, you know, you may have heard this phrase before, uh, an askhole. Somebody that asks an awful lot of questions and does nothing with the information you give them. An askhole. Don't be an askhole. Uh, if you want to demonstrate coachability, reflect on your feedback that you're getting. Take time to actually reflect on the feedback and assess how it can be integrated in your actions. And then lastly, if you want to demonstrate coachability, Show gratitude, express appreciation. So being coachable is a really valuable trait in personal and professional context, and it fosters this continuous, continuous growth, adaptability, and success. Again, remember, if you want to go someplace, if you have big goals in front of you, you've got to become a different version of you. And one way to become a different version of you is to become more coachable. We ran through 6 characteristics of the coachable, as well as some tactics and strategies to becoming a more coachable person. So the focusing question for you today: where are the opportunities for you with respect to coachability? What areas may you potentially be lacking in? And which of the tactics can you in fact deploy today so that you can become a more coachable person and take one more step towards the success you desire? That's all I have for you today, the No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening, and remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it.
