Resources
Our perspectives on executive coaching for leaders and high-potential talent, plus links to related thought leadership.
Publications
FOUR ESSENTIAL WAYS THAT COACHING HELPS EXECUTIVES
"Coaching is about bringing out the best in people."
In this bestseller from the Center for Creative Leadership, the first published field book on executive coaching, Robert Witherspoon and Randy White explore key coaching situations and four distinctly different coaching roles. Case examples show how these roles apply to common coaching issues facing executives and their organizations today. Four Essential Ways includes references and suggested readings on executive coaching and development. It has been widely read by executives, coaches, human resource officers, organization development practitioners, and others.
Coaching for Leadership: How the World's Greatest Coaches Help Leaders Learn
"Coaching is relatively new in the executive suite. So, clear goals and roles are especially crucial--both for getting started and for sustained success."
Robert Witherspoon shows how to spot openings and contract effectively for coaching in Coaching for Leadership: How the World's Greatest Coaches Help Leaders Learn. Hailed by Warren Bennis as "the single best collection of writings and writers on executive coaching."
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Double-Loop Coaching for Leadership Development
Robert Witherspoon wrote “Double-Loop Coaching for Leadership Development” to explore a distinctive coaching practice designed to help leaders learn about how they think in action, and then apply that learning to improve their performance and leadership. The essence of Double Loop Coaching (DLC) is the idea that the way leaders act and the results they create begin with the way they think, and that their thinking and mindset can also be subject to skillful coaching.
With actual coaching cases that apply this approach, this article suggests ways leaders can better connect their thinking and their action to increase their chances of success, especially when important matters are at stake among parties with different perspectives.
Now cited as a unique coaching approach, “Double-Loop Coaching for Leadership Development was published in December 2014, by The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science (JABS), the leading peer-reviewed quarterly on group dynamics, organization development, and social change.
Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 2014 50: 261 originally published online 26 December 2013 DOI: 10.1177/0021886313510032
Articles
The Best Leaders are Versatile Ones, Harvard Business Review article by Rob Kaiser
In a disruptive, paradoxical world, organizations need leaders who can read and respond to change with a wide repertoire of complementary skills and behaviors. This article combines his leading ideas about versatile leadership with practical ideas for developing versatility.
Two-thirds of CEOs do not receive outside leadership advice but nearly all want it, a Stanford University study
“It’s lonely at the top,” according this study conducted by the Center for Leadership Development and Research at Stanford Graduate School of Business and The Miles Group. Nearly two-thirds of CEOs do not receive coaching or leadership advice from outside consultants or coaches, and almost half of senior executives are not receiving any either, the survey reveals.