101 Quotes

101 Great Coaching Quotes

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"Who, exactly, seeks out a coach?…Winners who want even more out of life." — Chicago Tribune, 12/17/00

“Executives and HR managers know coaching is the most potent tool for inducing positive personal change, ensuring better-than-average odds of success and making the change stick for the long term.” — The Ivy Business Journal, September-October 2000 issue

“Once reserved for executives and professional athletes, personal coaches…are going mainstream. — Christian Science Monitor, 1/25/99

“Investment bankers, entrepreneurs, dentists, accountants, secretaries, even homemakers are hiring coaches to help guide them in everything from changing careers to starting a business to balancing work and family.” — Christian Science Monitor, 1/25/99

“The hottest thing in management is the executive coach…Coaches are everywhere these days…Corporate coaches are in such demand that they can charge from $600 to $2,000 a month for three or four 30- to 60-minute phone conversations.” —Fortune, 5/21/00

“Part therapist, part consultant, part motivational expert, part professional organizer, part friend, part nag — the personal coach seeks to do for your life what a personal trainer does for your body.” — Kim Palmer, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune, 5/26/98

“People who want to stand out at work or face a job crisis increasingly turn to career coaches. There are now an estimated 10,000 coaches nationwide, up from 5,300 in 1998.” — The Wall Street Journal, 6/26/01

“Once used to bolster troubled staffers, coaching now is part of the standard leadership development training for elite executives and talented up-and-comers at IBM, Motorola, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and Hewlett Packard. These companies are discreetly giving their best prospects what star athletes have long had: a trusted adviser to help reach their goals.” — CNN.com, 5/28/01

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“Got a nagging feeling that your life could be more fulfilling? Want to change direction but aren't sure how to do it? Here's how to jump start your new life today…Hire a personal coach.” — Modern Maturity, January-February 2000

“Increasingly nonprofit executives and managers are finding coaches a terrific sounding board and source of help in a demanding and complex job.” — Nonprofit World, 9/1/99

“How do you define success? That's not a trick question, and there are no wrong answers. For some, obviously, success means money. Others rate emotional happiness as being more important. Yet others rate popularity above all else. Regardless of how you define success, an emerging specialty called 'success coaching' (also known as personal and professional coaching) offers the chance to visualize your highest goals and stay on track to achieve them.” — Central New York Business Journal, 5/25/98

“Personal coaches are a hot commodity among executives these days. Never mind the mansion, the Mercedes, the membership in the exclusive country club. In corporate America today, the sign that you have truly arrived — or at least that you are being groomed for arrival — is an executive coach. Your own personal coach, that is. Even if the coach's assignment is to render you less obnoxious, his or her presence at your elbow signals that you are regarded by the company as entirely too valuable to fire or shoot.” — Training, 3/1/98

“Almost overnight, it seems, executive coaching has turned into an industry. And business is booming.” — Training, 3/1/98

“For years, business people have used corporate coaches to help their companies work more effectively. Now, an increasing number of individuals are turning to coaches for help in finding balance in their personal lives.” — The Spokane Spokesman Review, 12/15/98

“Coaching started in the business world to help stressed executives cope with their professional and personal lives, and it still thrives in the corporate environment. But individuals are increasingly turning to coaching for help with all sorts of challenges.” — Kim Palmer, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune, 5/26/98

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“'Very Satisfactory' …This was the way clients most frequently rated the overall effectiveness of their coaching experience on a 5-point scale, where 4 was very satisfactory. The positive image of executive coaching in business media and the continued growth of the practice are supported by client experience.” — Organizational Dynamics, 1/1/99

“Coaching can certainly help you strengthen your sense of self-worth, focus on your goals — and get there, fast.” — The London Daily Telegraph, 3/22/99

“People usually turn to coaches for professional and career growth. They want help in setting goals, solving problems or acquiring new skills. But business coaching often leads to personal insights. Clients are better able to deal with obstacles and change. It's easier to balance work life with their personal life. And in some cases, it gives them the courage to pursue dream.” — The Arizona Republic, 10/31/98

“I first heard about personal coaches five years ago — at the same time personal fitness coaches were beginning to flex their muscles. The two fields are related: coaches in both areas help you achieve your potential…Personal coaches provide powerful professional insights. My personal advice: Get one.” — Chicago Tribune, 5/17/98

“Today's managers, professionals, and entrepreneurs are hiring coaches to help them with time management, a change in career, or balancing their work and personal lives. People are looking to coaches as sounding boards and motivators who can offer a fresh perspective on career and life problems — but without the conflicting agendas of a spouse, family member, or even a mentor.” — Fortune, 9/28/98

“The number of executives hiring personal coaches is rocketing as more and more professionals turn to outside help for advice in how to manage their day, dollars, employees, develop better leadership skills and maximize effectiveness.” — London Evening Standard, 6/11/99

“If you're thinking of overhauling your career to achieve a more fulfilling life, consider joining the estimated 100,000 Americans who annually enlist the help of some 4,000 personal coaches each year.” — Money, December 1997

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“The benefits we've seen in our experience and in talking with others who have implemented executive coaching include positive behavior change and enhanced skills and knowledge.” — Training & Development, 3/1/99

“Most leaders like executive coaching because: they receive direct one-on-one assistance from someone they respect; they don't have to leave their offices; it fits their timeframes and schedules; they can see fast results, if they're dedicated.” — Training & Development, 3/1/99

“The ROI with executive coaching is often very high — especially if you calculate the value of a high-level executive salary and the return-on-improvement in skill level and decision making.” — Training & Development, 3/1/99

“The present research demonstrated the dramatic effects of one-on-one executive coaching as a transfer of training tool…There are a number of explanations for the dramatic increase in productivity resulting from coaching.” — Public Personnel Management, 12/22/97

“How do you provide career development as a just-in-time, bottom-line-driven business activity? For an increasing number of organizations, the answer seems to be executive coaching. In recent years, there has been an explosion in its use.” — Organizational Dynamics, 1/1/99

“…a personal coach is better than a best friend.” — Sausalito.net, August 2000

“Inside every successful business person is an even more ambitious one trying to get out. He or she just needs a little help.” — “Someone To Watch Over You,” Australian Financial Review, 10/9/00

“Coaching can be an effective means of improving business results while also contributing to executive development. Good coaching affords 'protean learning' for executives, resulting in greater self knowledge, new perspectives, improved performance and greater adaptability.” — Organizational Dynamics, 1/1/99

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“Coaching is an action-oriented partnership that, unlike psychotherapy which delves into patterns of the past, concentrates on where you are today and how you can reach your goals.” — Time, 10/16/00

“What exactly is a coach? Part personal consultant, part sounding board, part manager. Yes, manager. Remember him? That person whose job used to be to advise, motivate, and train — but whose nose is now mostly stuck in e-mail? For a surprising number of people, it is now the coach — not the boss — who pushes them to hire, to fire, to finetune a sales pitch, to stretch.” — Fortune, 5/21/00

“Coaches work with clients in all areas including business, career, finances, health and relationships.” — Sausalito.net, August 2000

“'As a result of coaching, clients set better goals, take more action, make better decisions, and more fully use their natural strengths.” — Sausalito.net, August 2000

“Coaching is not about the past or figuring out why and how life got so complicated or overwhelming. It is about moving forward on the things that matter most to you, dissolving barriers and blocks to your own success, and designing a life that you love.” — Sausalito.net, August 2000

“The coaching relationship also has a unique structure. After an initial assessment of the client's situation, the coach and client set specific goals for the client. In each subsequent meeting with the client, the coach determines what goals have been met and why other goals were not. Different set of goals is agreed upon for the following meeting. The coach prods the client to keep to the action plan.” — The Business Journal, April 1999

“Today's managers, professionals and entrepreneurs are hiring coaches to help them with time management, a change in career or balancing their work and personal lives.” — Fortune, 9/28/98

“Part consultant, part motivational speaker, part therapist, and part rent-a-friend, coaches work with managers, entrepreneurs, and just plain folks, helping them define and achieve their goals — career, personal, or most often, both.” — Kendall Hamilton, Newsweek, 2/5/96

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“…the quickly growing wave of coaching relationships that are helping small-business owners improve their business skills, recalibrate their approaches to management, and, often, totally reboot and rebalance themselves as leaders on the job and in the home and community.” — Dale D. Bliss, Nation’s Business, December 1998

“Coaches can help entrepreneurs get their personal lives in order, which can go a long way toward solving what may have looked like purely business problems.” — Dale D. Bliss, Nation’s Business, December 1998

“A major benefit of coaching is having someone who helps you see your strengths and weaknesses and use them to accomplish your goals.” — Kim Palmer, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune, 5/26/98

“Using [coaching] instead of sending executives and managers to seminars two or three times a year can be more beneficial to ongoing career development, not to mention less expensive…” — “Coaches Pump Your Career into Shape,” PC Week, 12/20-27/99

“If you want to build your business and at the same time have a rewarding personal life, you call a coach.” — Robert Schwab, “Businesses Hire Coaches to Build Winning Teams,” Denver Post, 10/18/98

“Coaching started in the business world to help stressed out executives cope with their professional and personal lives, and it still thrives in the corporate environment. But, increasingly, individuals are turning to coaches for help with every sort of problem.” — Diane White, Boston Globe, 2/23/98

“Coaching is the latest and most pervasive evolution in the self-improvement industry.” — Career Confidential

“in the next few years, coaching will become the norm in the business world.” — Amy Joyce, Washington Post, 6/28/98

“[Your coach] will guide you to a fuller life or a slimmer figure. Whatever you want. Your weakness is his challenge.” — Craig Wilson, USA Today, 6/3/96

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“Want to get even further ahead?…What you need is a coach, your own personal motivator. They're not just for top-ranked tennis players anymore. —Lydia Martin, Miami Herald, 3/6/96

“At a time when companies are downsizing and out placing…at a time when boomers are facing 50, coaches are easing traumatic transitions.” — “Career Coaches Offer Help in the Game of Life,” Long Beach Press-Telegram, 7/9/96

“The benefits of coaching appear to win over even the most cynical clients within just a few weeks.” — Shari Caudron, “Hire A Coach?” Industry Week, 10/21/96

“A coach maybe the guardian angel you need to rev up your career” — Money, 7/12/97

“[other companies] offer coaching as a prerequisite to proven managers, in the understanding that everyone can benefit from a detached observer.” — Trip Gabriel, “Earning It: Personal Trainers to Buff the Boss’s People Skills,” New York Times, 4/28/96

“The goal of coaching is the goal of good management — to make the most of an organization's valuable resources.” — J. Waldroop & T. Butler, “The Executive as Coach,” Harvard Business Review, November-December 1996

“Executive coaches are not for the meek. They're for people who value unambiguous feedback. All coaches have one thing in common, it's that they’re ruthlessly resultsoriented.” — Claire Tristan, Fast Company, October 1996

“In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, career coaches find themselves busier than ever.” —Kris Maher, “Attacks Change Dynamics for Many Career Coaches, ” The Wall Street Journal Online, 11/2/01

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“Bryant McAfee, 35, is convinced that his coach helped him to achieve a vice president position within eight months in the pay TV channel PlayboyTV. His coach supported him to better focus on the essentials in his job, says McAfee.” — Wirtschaftswoche (weekly German business publication), 7/3/97

“During her 23 years at the advertising agency Campbell Mithun Esty, where Beth Miller is a senior vice president, she has used mentors to help her navigate an industry still run by men. She also has hired a personal coach to help her set and achieve goals. Coaches and mentors have played complementary but distinct roles in Miller's life. As coaching becomes more trendy among harried professionals, however, she's concerned the terms are being confused. ‘I think of a coach like a personal trainer who pushes me to lift more weights,’ Miller says. ‘A mentor is a more experienced running partner.’ —St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press, 4/11/99

“Jim Parkhurst, senior engineer at MCI WorldCom, in Fremont, Calif., so values his coaching that he's willing to pay for it out of his own pocket. ‘It’s like going to the gym with a personal trainer. It's a much more focused event, as opposed to going to the gym alone or just having a mentor to casually talk about things,’ explains Parkhurst, who works with Ferro Nyalka. ‘Here, it's my agenda, not the coach's. We're really defining what my goals are, the best courses of actions, and what am I diverging from. I have a lot less stress about changes, as well as an ability to see clearly what needs to be done to better position myself.’” “Clients also say that coaches give them a fresh perspective. ‘A lot of times you're fighting fires and don't see an easier way to solve the problem,’ Parkhurst says. The objective, distanced view of a coach can also lead to new ways of looking at issues because the coach's ideas aren't limited by politics or a position within the company.” — Infoworld, 5/24/99

“’Even modest improvements can justify hiring a coach,’ says Jerome Abarbanel, Vice President of Executive Resources for Citibank: ‘An investment of $30,000 or so in an executive who has responsibility for tens of millions of dollars is a rounding error. Coaching is a success if one subordinate who was too intimidated to speak before comes up with a good idea.’ — Fortune, 12/27/93

“The things I've gained are worth much more [than the $260 monthly fee], says Dominick Bencivenga from Huntington Station, manager of Citibank’s Commack branch, and a client of Nancy Powers, a coach from Bayville. LILCO and phone bills are expenses. This is an investment. I'm designing my life. Coaching has given me an energy to put more of the things I want in my life, he says. I can now focus my downtime, which used to be wasted time.” — Patricia Kitchen, The Long Island Newspaper, 3/17/96

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“Beaverton's Northwest Micro Inc., which made Inc. Magazine's 1992 list of fastestgrowing businesses in the nation, hired Dawn AnJolais of Portland six months ago to help the sales team meet the expectations of Mary Hanigan, the manager.” “I thought she would work with the sales staff and make them wonderful, Hanigan recalled. The first thing I learned was, ‘oops, we have to go back and work on the leader.’” “AnJolais spent four months helping Hanigan manage her anger and improve her motivational skills. Then she worked with the sales force helping them on such things as time management and goal setting.” “’I coach people who want a better way than they've been doing it,’ AnJolais said. ‘I'm trained to point attention to where it needs to be so you can direct the effort.” “’I could have used my training budget to send my sales people to seminars,’ Hanigan said. ‘But I thought this would give us the ability to break out of old habits.’” ‘After six months of coaching, I'm not unhappy with the investment.’” — Roger Crockett, The Oregonian, 5/19/96

“After all, don't we all benefit from encouragement, objectivity and structure in our lives?” — Sausalito.net, August 2000

“Even if executive coaching costs $50K (which it doesn't), it's barely a rounding error to invest in the coaching of a key player who has responsibility for millions of dollars and for key human resources. Coaching is a success if one direct report, who used to be intimidated to speak up, comes up with an innovative idea.” — CEO, Fortune 100 Company

“I'll bet most of the companies that are in life-or-death battles got into that kind of trouble because they didn't pay enough attention to developing their leaders.” — Wayne Calloway, Chairman, Pepsico Inc.

“When you understand the definition of coaching, it seems that everyone should have one!” — Sausalito.net, August 2000

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“Metropolitan Life Financial Services offered an intensive coaching program to part of its retail sales force. They found that productivity among those salespeople coached increased by an average of 35%, while 50% identified new markets to develop. Perhaps most important, Metropolitan has retained all of the salespeople who had the coaching—a big deal, since industry statistics show that each representative who leaves a company with three years' experience cost $140,000 to replace. In all, the coaching program which cost about $620,000, delivered $3.2 million in measurable gains: A 5.16 ROI.” —"Executive Coaching: An Investment in Creating Masterful Leadership,” The Rowell Consulting Group, www.enhanceleaders.com

“Ask Jeff Immelt (the new CEO of General Electric) about coaching to and you will probably get a resounding thumbs up for the concept. After all, in Jack Welch, it's not every day you are given the opportunity be coached by one the most famous and successful business figures of your generation!” — “Perspectives on Coaching,” Journal of Management Development, Volume 20, #5, 2001

“Coaching usually refers to a relationship between an individual and a trained professional who work on a set of pre-defined objectives with the aim of achieving particular goals or targets. Coaching protagonists believe that as a result of this relationship, greater results can be achieved and an individual can go on to do things that would otherwise have been impossible.” — “Perspectives on Coaching,” Journal of Management Development, Volume 20, #5, 2001

“I see coaching as a gift and a positive and energizing experience which above all enables an executive to shake off what may in fact be deeply held automatic beliefs and behaviors that are inhibiting performance and career development. I spent twenty-six years at my previous employer and my confidence increased so substantially as a result of coaching that I declared an ambitious commitment to the directors to win additional business. I estimate that I was able to add more than £15 million of extra value through interventions I initiated directly linked to what I had learnt in coaching.” — Head of Organizational Development at a large bank,” Perspectives on Coaching,” Journal of Management Development, Volume 20, #5, 2001

“…[A coach is] part advisor, part sounding board, part cheerleader, part manager and part strategist.” — The Business Journal, 4/10/00

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“Coaches are everywhere these days. Companies hire them to shore up executives or, in some cases, to ship them out. Division heads hire them as change agents. Workers at all levels of the corporate ladder, fed up with a lack of advice from inside the company, are taking matters into their own hands and enlisting coaches for guidance on how to improve their performance, boost their profits, and make better decisions about everything from personnel to strategy.” — Betsy Morris, “So You’re a Player. Do You Need a Coach?” Fortune, 2/21/00

“The leaders of organizations such as Alcoa, American Red Cross, AT&T, Ford, Northwestern Mutual Life, 3M, UPS, American Standard, the federal governments of the United States and Canada are convinced that coaching works to develop people and increase productivity. “ — C2M: Consulting to Management, September 2001

“Motorola say they expect to spend in the low millions this year on executive coaching for their best middle managers.“ — C2M: Consulting to Management, September 2001

“Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch conglomerate, has thirty coaches working in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa with 250 top managers.“ — C2M - Consulting to Management, September 2001

“What's really driving the boom in coaching, is this: as we move from 30 miles an hour to 70 to 120 to 180…as we go from driving straight down the road to making right turns and left turns to abandoning cars and getting on motorcycles…the whole game changes, and a lot of people are trying to keep up, learn how not fall off.” — John Kotter, Professor of Leadership, Harvard Business School.

“Across corporate America, coaching sessions at many companies have become as routine for executives as budget forecasts and quota meetings.” — Gary Stern, “A Coached CEO Can Be that Winning Edge” Investor's Business Daily, 2/28/00

“Justin Yaros, CIO at Los Angeles-based 20th Century Fox, took this advice a step further: He hired an executive coach when he first became CIO. He says the coach gave him useful advice on how to handle the job of CIO and how to develop a leadership agenda. He found it so helpful that he hired her to coach some of his direct reports as part of an overall leadership development program.” — CIO Magazine, 12/15/99-1/1/00

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“The demand for Executive Coaches has skyrocketed over the past 5 years…today's executive coach (EC) is intended to help leaders and potential leaders across the rocky, wild, and challenging road of organizational growth in today's dynamic and unstable work environment...” — The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, American Psychological Association

“We've done lots of research over the past three years, and we've found that leaders who have the best coaching skills have better business results.” — Tanya Clemens, V.P. of Global Executive & Organizational Development at IBM, Time, 9/25/00

“Coaching is the only cost-effective way to reinforce new behaviors and skills until a learner is through the dangerous results dip. Once through the dip, when the new skills bring results, they will become self-reinforcing.” — Training and Development Journal

“Corporations believe that coaching helps keep employees and that the dollar investment in it is far less than the cost of replacing an employee.” — David A. Thomas, Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, Time, 9/25/00

“Bob Wright, an executive coach, says his clients are needing him even more during the downturn, tough times are a great opportunity for those businesses who can make the hard, right decisions during difficult transition and adjustment periods and that's what coaching is all about, learning how to change and grow.” — Management Today

“If ever stressed-out corporate America could use a little couch-time, it’s now. Trust in big companies is at an all-time low. Baby-boomers have been burned; Gen Xers aren't expecting the corporation to take care of them. Under the circumstances, employees are much likelier to go outside and get independent advice to help them be better managers” — Karen Cates, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior, Northwestern University, Kellogg Graduate School of Management

“Between 25 percent and 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies use executive coaches” — Recent survey by The Hay Group, an International Human Resources consultancy

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“I never cease to be amazed at the power of the coaching process to draw out the skills or talent that was previously hidden within an individual, and which invariably finds a way to solve a problem previously thought unsolvable,” — John Russell, Managing Director, Harley-Davidson Europe Ltd.

“Asked for a conservative estimate of the monetary payoff from the coaching they got, these managers described an average return of more than $100,000, or about six times what the coaching had cost their companies.” — “Executive Coaching — With Returns a CFO Could Love,” Fortune, 2/19/01

“Coaching is the number two growth industry right behind IT (Information Technology) jobs, and it's the number one home-based profession.” — Start-Ups Magazine

“I absolutely believe that people, unless coached, never reach their maximum capabilities” — Bob Nardelli, CEO, Home Depot

“Tiger Woods has one. Pete Sampras has one. So why not small business owners?” — Charles Boisseau, “Put Me In, Coach,” localbusiness.com, 9/18/00

“Coaching — which can help managers talk with subordinates about their developmental needs — absolutely affects the relationship positively" — Francine Russo “Play of the Day,” Time, 9/25/00

“Leaders view themselves more as a coach than the person in charge" —Frank Blount, former CEO of Telstra

“When W.L. (Trey) Crowdus, then a 41-year-old strategic marketing consultant in Austin, Tex., sought a CEO post three years ago, he had help from an executive coach…Within three months, Crowdus was hired as CEO of Ambiatech, an Austin environmental company…In the interview game, coaches can take your play to a new level.” — BusinessWeek Investor, 10/22/01

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“Most executives seek out a coach when they know they need to make improvements, but they don’t know how to do it. It’s like baseball, if we were swinging the bat perfectly we wouldn’t have coaches.” — Barbara Brannen, former Vice President of Human Resources for Qwest Communications

“Coaches aren't just for sports: They goad you, guide you on the road to success” — Cynthia Flash, Seattle Times, 6/18/01

“Coaches provide inspiration, and consultants provide information” — Jeremy Robinson, President of Robinson Capital

“In the past, executive coaching was viewed as a perk; now companies realize it can help their bottom line” — Steven Hilferty, CEO of Silicon Valley Coaching

“You've really got to have someone from the outside who says, `All right John, what are we out to achieve? Why are these good goals? Why is this a good strategy?' he said. And then hold you accountable.” — Tapei Times Online, 6/28/01

“Coaching simply speeds up a process of change that would most likely occur anyway if an individual had enough time. Without a coaching program that forces a client to focus and make time, people sometimes miss the real issues they need to focus on.” — The Ivy Business Journal, September-October 2000

“The hottest thing in management is the executive coach — part boss, part consultant, part therapist.” — Betsy Morris, “So You’re a Player. Do You Need a Coach?” Fortune, 2/21/00

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“Ernst partner Barry Mabry has found a coach to be a valuable sounding board in today's crazy business climate. He'd received a notice last year telling him that coaching would be available to Ernst & Young partners. He made a call and soon found himself on the phone with 'a strange woman.' (It was Cynder Niemela.) 'I was in New Orleans; she was in San Francisco. She didn’t know much about my area of work,' he recalls. But within 20 minutes, he decided she could be both trusted and helpful. Ever since, he has had routine telephone conversations with her in which he has discussed matters ranging from the mundane (how to improve communications with subordinates) to the cosmic (what do you want to get out of life?). 'Why do I need a coach?' he muses. 'I've wrestled with this.’ He’s a corporate finance partner in New Orleans. He has been with Ernst 27 years. He's successful; he's happy. His recent performance review was quite flattering. 'Perhaps it's for the same reason that Tiger Woods needs a coach or Pete Sampras needs a coach,' says Mabry. 'Tiger Woods would say, 'I know how to play golf.' But his coach is probably the most important person in his life.'“ — Betsy Morris, “So You’re a Player. Do You Need a Coach?” Fortune, 2/21/00

“Several years ago Bradford was another middle-management burnout candidate: on the job early each morning, on the phone each night until ten, giving far too little time to her family. She was facing a stressful mid-career move from Washington, D.C., back to Maine and a big transition to a new job at Met Life. But a boss let her in on his little secret: He had a personal coach. She might want to get one too. A friend of hers, who also had a coach, made the referral, and Bradford began having weekly phone conversations with Talane Miedaner, an executive coach in New York City who has worked with people at Bear Stearns, Citicorp, Motorola, Salomon Smith Barney, and Sears. Miedaner pushed Bradford to reexamine her goals and values. She helped her to reclaim control of her time. Often, she helped her with the nitty-gritty of her job. As is so common with salespeople, Bradford had a habit of overpromising. Miedaner coached her to under promise and over deliver--much more impressive. Miedaner helped Bradford plot strategies for opening doors with prospective clients, and rehearsed with her when Bradford interviewed for promotion. Bradford began to believe that if something felt impossible or outrageous, it was exactly the right thing to do. Bradford says her year of coaching 'was like a grenade in my life that’s still going off.' It taught her, she says, that 'people have to take more responsibility for their own growth and development. They can't depend on human resources. Coaches can help people come to grips with huge changes in the way we do work, in getting through big transitions.” — Betsy Morris, “So You’re a Player. Do You Need a Coach?” Fortune, 2/21/00

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