Why Executives Should Consider Being Coached
I once listened to a recorded practice session of Andrea Bocelli, the opera singer. At the time, he was not yet a superstar. He had just performed a pop song and they were listening to a recording of it. His manager, acting as his coach, suggested that he do it over. "What, it's not good enough?" Andrea asked. "It's perfect," said his coach. "But you can do it better." And he did. I learned a valuable lesson from that, and in the 1980s, during the quality improvement movement, Dr. Edwards Demming emphasized that you are either improving or dying. If you stand still, your competition will pass you and eventually you will die. And this is true even what you are currently doing is perfect, as was true of Bocelli's song. The value of being coached is that the coach will nudge you to always strive for bettering yourself. Successful people don't compare themselves to others. That can be truly intimidating because there will always be someone be