You can’t be in a system and, at the same time, understand the system you are in.
Surely successful CEOs don’t need coaches, right?
Or do they? Chairman and former CEO of Google Eric Schmidt believes the best advice he ever got was to hire an executive coach. When board member John Doerr initially suggested this, Schmidt resisted because he didn’t think he needed a coach. But in an interview with Fortune Magazine, he said “everyone needs a coach.”
How would a successful executive benefit from a coach? CEOs actually have more to gain from intelligent counsel than any other person on the org chart. Numerous studies provide ample data affirming the extraordinary results that can be achieved by utilizing a top CEO coach.
Learning from an outside professional brings infinitely more objectivity, as well as a wealth of experience helping other companies that can be very valuable to the team. Below are the top ten reasons for hiring a Mentor Capitalist (shamelessly borrowed from Jonathan Smith, a former EOS® colleague):
- Human Nature: We help you focus on what you need to do vs. human natures tendency to encourage you to do what you want to do.
- Objectivity: We provide external, independent, trusted perspective to challenge your way of thinking and acting.
- Capacity Building: We help you increase your capability to manage your next challenge.
- Faster: We help you do it faster than you could own your own.
- Habit: We help you make lasting change in your organization and make EOS a habit.
- Safety: Everyone needs a safe place to complain, vent, and talk things out.
There are a few other attributes about professional coaches that further support the reason for hiring one:
Seasoning: We have walked in your shoes and have run small and medium-sized businesses.
- Peer-to-Peer: Our experience enables us to communicate with other CEOs on a peer-to-peer basis.
- Experience: We typically have 20 to 30 years of business experience that enables us help ensure an enduring approach.
- Trusted: Our name is on the line, and integrity and relationships are the goodwill that we need to create an enduring practice.
- Accountability: We provide a high level of accountability. We are obsessed about execution, getting it done, and concluding.
If you can afford to hire a coach, I highly recommend spending the money. The external energy, objectivity, expertise, and ability to help you and your team get there faster far outweigh the perceived savings of doing it yourself.
