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FROM THE FOUNDER
Things I’ve been wanting to say
E very so often – maybe once every two or three years – I like to write about the things I have wanted to say on these pages but haven’t. Some of these thoughts our readers could disagree with. That’s OK. We welcome your feedback and contributions to the discussion. And none of these thoughts required an entire editorial devoted to it. Unspoken thoughts about business coaching, writing skills, phone disconnection, and more.
Mark Zweig
So, here you go:
then their whole marketing plan is to reach out to business owners and get THEM as clients. My experience is that most privately-held business owners see success in business as a prerequisite to giving them any input. So that’s a hard sale. No wonder so many have only been “coaching” for such a short time. ■ Where did the notion come from that as a consultant, you cannot give a client advice on what to do or how to do it, and instead have to let them come up with it on their own so they think it was their idea in the first place? This idea seems to have come over from the “coaching” people. Somewhere in their training they are being told you cannot give direct advice and that you instead have to pull it from the client so
■ Why are there so many self-described business “coaches,” and why would anyone follow business advice from someone who hasn’t been successful in business? This has been weighing on me for some time, because not a week goes by I don’t get at least a half dozen emails or LinkedIn messages from people who want to be my “coach.” Do they ever do any research on what my businesses do or what stage I am at in this point in my career? No. So I know our readers must be going through the same or worse. It seems to me that anyone who gets laid off or has a hard time finding a job at any level of management in corporate America takes some online classes or goes to a seminar and pays a fee to become a certified business coach. And
See MARK ZWEIG , page 6
THE ZWEIG LETTER APRIL 15, 2024, ISSUE 1533
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