Episode 19

Go Out Onto the Balcony and Coach Yourself – with Pam McLean

If you really want to grow in your career, it’s going to take more than buying a book of tips from an airport bookstore.  You need to examine your inner landscape, ask yourself what needs to change, and anticipate what’s going to be hard about that change.  In this episode, we speak with Pam McLean, the CEO of the Hudson Institute of Coaching, which is where Michael got his own coaching training back in the day.  Pam and Michael talk about what it means to “go out onto the balcony,” explain the concept of “the self as coach” and offer some guidelines for coaching yourself.  We learn how coaching is simultaneously a conversation, a relationship and a space and why reflection becomes ever more important as you get older. 

The Hudson Institute is a key voice in coaching and leadership development.  Learn more about it here. 

Pam McLean is the author of Self as Coach, Self as Leader as well as The Handbook of Coaching. 

Some of the references Pam and Michael make during this episode:

Nick Petri came up with the distinction of horizontal vs. vertical development.  You can download a graphic that explains this here.

Ron Haifetz, of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, is one of the big minds in the field of leadership development.  He originated the distinction “technical” and “adaptive” learning.  He has written numerous books and articles on these themes.

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