Michael Gerber is the author of ‘The E-Myth‘, one of my favorite business books.
In his newest book ‘Awakening the Entrepreneur Within‘ released this year he describes how a conversation with his mother started a whole new business project:
… So, in 2005, my mother asked me, “So, what’s going on in your life, Michael?”
“I’m feeling lost, Mom,” I said. “I’m sixty-nine years old and I’m feeling like I used to feel when I was a kid. I don’t know who I am anymore, or where I’m going. I feel disconnected from my company and disconnected from myself. I want to do something new but I don’t know what. I feel at a loss, disconnected from the past and the future, and not doing very well in the present, either. I don’t even know how to say it.”
My mother smiled, “Michael, if there’s one thing I know about you, you’re never at a loss for words! Tell me what you would tell me if you did know how to say it.” …
How his mother reacts to his statement is what I call great coaching. She gets not pulled in his story, tries to fix his problem, gives some solutions or advice. First she acknowledges him and than she asks him an open ended question so he can find his next action steps by exploring what is really going on. During their following dialog she completely trusts his genius to find out, what he needs to do.
That is sometimes the biggest challenge for a coach. Stay out of their story and be passionate with your clients. What always helps me is to look out for the genius in them. Often clients hide that very well. But I can wait until a glimpse of it shows up, often as a light in their eyes and than I follow it.
Tags: coaching tools, genius, lost, Michael Gerber
