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US New and World Report
Money & Business 2/16/04
Give me a C-O-A-C-H!
By Marci Mcdonald
At strategy sessions, he hunkered
in the back of the room, a shadowy presence taking notes. In the
chief executive's office, he sat in on every meeting, whispering
into the boss's ear. But as he whipped up an atmosphere of
intimidation and mistrust at the company, some staffers demanded a
background check on the outsider they thought was having such a
disastrous Svengali effect on their CEO.That inquiry revealed that
the boss's self-styled executive coach had no relevant training or
experience for his trendy job. Having rubbed shoulders with CEOs, he
"thought he might like a career change," says Howard Guttman, whose
New Jersey company sets up coaching programs for Fortune 500 firms.
"You've got somebody who thinks, `Hey, I'm good with people,' and
they hang out their shingle," Guttman says. "They can do real
damage."
Across the country, tales of
wannabe corporate gurus dispensing psycho- babble or cultlike
techniques have tarnished one of the nation's hottest growth
industries. Over the past five years, coaching has mushroomed from a
sideline on the motivational and consulting circuits to an expected
perk in virtually every executive suite.
One reason for the explosion is a
series of public testimonials on the conversions that a handful of
high-profile coaches have wrought. David Pottruck, president and CEO
of Charles Schwab & Co., credits former IBM executive Terry Pearce
with transforming him from a sharp-elbowed despot into a sensitive
consensus-builder. Pfizer Chairman Henry McKinnell was so
enthusiastic about the feedback he got from Boston coach Dan Ciampa
that he posted his own performance review on the company's internal
Web site.
Some coaches, like Dartmouth
Professor Vijay Govindarajan, specialize in strategizing, while
others, like Ciampa, focus on merging clashing corporate cultures.
But at a time when globalization makes the delegation of authority
de rigueur and corporate governance scandals abound, both boards and
shareholders are increasingly obsessed with leadership development.
Most coaches are now called in to smooth a CEO's rough,
my-way-or-the-highway edges that may be driving top talent to
rivals. "Companies used to be able to function with autocratic
bosses," says Rosabeth Moss Kanter of Harvard Business School. "We
don't live in that world anymore."
Now, the very qualities that may
have propelled hard-chargers up the corporate ladder often make them
unfit to lead, including an unwillingness to tolerate dissent or a
propensity for tantrums. "Screaming and throwing things can be
fixed," says Marshall Goldsmith, an exuberant, Zen-spouting Ph.D.
whose CEO makeovers were profiled in the New Yorker in 2002. "Any
behavior can change--unless there's a defective gene." As Helen
Ryane, whose clients include American Standard, puts it: "Coaching
has become an acceptable form of therapy."
So great has the demand become that
leading consulting and outplacement firms have begun to offer
coaching. And some multinationals are setting up in-house coaching
teams. Next month, pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, which already
supplies senior executives with outside coaches, will begin training
55 human resource staffers to work one on one with middle
management. "It's a way of building our leadership bench strength,"
says Janet Steinwedel, the company's director of leadership
coaching.
But a coach doesn't come cheap.
Fees can range from $250 an hour to $17,000 a day. Such potentially
enormous profits have spawned hundreds of online coaching schools
with lively titles like GottaGettaCoach.com, dispensing assorted
bona fides for prices ranging from $29.95 to $1,795 a course. That
proliferation has helped breed skepticism about a profession that is
not only unregulated but also boasts no oversight body or generally
accepted credentials. "It's kind of like the Wild West," says Gisele
Garcia, a coach who has organized a seminar for the Conference Board
in New York this week on helping firms draft hiring criteria.
Some coaches have joined together
to set up voluntary standards. But only 1,100 of the International
Coach Federation's 7,000 members have qualified for ICF
certification. And the Association of Career Professionals
International--which counts outplacement specialists in its
ranks--has certified only 500 of the 2,000 names on its roster. But
stars of the field like Goldsmith and Ciampa don't belong to either.
To winnow the field, some
corporations have created pools of approved coaches from which top
executives can pick their private Vince Lombardis. And a handful of
entrepreneurs have set up coach brokerages to offer experienced
professionals to smaller businesses. Others are advised to check out
degree claims and references with care.
A client should demand a code of
ethics that guarantees revelations remain confidential and coaches
don't overstep their limits. "If a coach sees someone is deeply
depressed," says Toronto-based coach Dorothy Greenaway, "he or she
has a professional obligation to say, `I'm not qualified to deal
with this. Go see a doctor.' "
While most coaches insist a
client's soul-baring is a sacred trust, Dee Soder, founder of New
York's CEO Perspective Group, warns that some skittish boards and
CEOs argue they have a buyer's right to know what key officers
disclose. One result: An increasing number of corporate comers have
begun paying for coaches from their own pockets.
Ciampa blames some clients' vague
expectations for programming failure. Now he's writing an
advice-taker's guide that will counsel clients to set up benchmarks
for progress. For his part, Goldsmith prods clients to define a
goal, then seek out a coach in that niche market. He himself refuses
to deal with issues such as career planning or getting organized. In
fact, Goldsmith has hired colleagues to coach him in both. "One of
the biggest problems is not enough coaches turn down business," he
says. Even in his own "narrow thing"--transforming CEO
behavior--Goldsmith draws the line at clients whose problem is
cooking the books. "People with integrity problems should not be
coached," he says. "They should be fired."
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