Books and Reality

At www.coaching-coaches.com a coach asked me recently what management books do I buy and what could I recommend. To be honest there are some good ‘classics’ out there some of which I have included in the bonus with my e-book ‘How to be a Great Executive Coach’ at www.coaching-coaches.com These are useful and stimulate thought and debate. But I much prefer, and therefore tend to recommend, the biographical ones, the ones about real leaders and managers dealing with the day-to-day running of their organisations. These are much more fun and ‘real’ than the dry, dull, strategic thinking stuff put out by many. The real stories – like the ones clients tell me about in training and coaching – are where it’s at! These, warts and all, are what managing and leading lessons are learnt – not from the books. If you want to write a book as a coach collect the stories you hear and write it from that perspective … real experiences – even the mundane stuff here is educational … I hope to reveal some of the stories that leaders and managers have told me over time so watch this space…