The Hidden History Of Coaching (Coaching in Practice (Paperback))

A more accurate title for this book would have been "My Hidden History of Coaching". There are a lot of interesting personal narratives in this book, and one might learn some new ideas to explore. That said, it's one person's story of how she engaged in her own journey through the coaching profession during her life, and reflects the paths she chose.As far as being a "history", there's little intellectual rigor in this book, and the author offers up virtually no historical evidence to support the importance her slice of coaching history.It was an interesting read, but if you're looking for a broad, rigorous review of the history of the coaching profession, there are better sources than this.

Solid book for this specialized area in coaching

Leni Wildflower is a coaching master, extremely knowledgable and an engagingly literate writer. This book is a must for coaches.

A wealth of information structured to provide new coordinates for a choice of future perspectives. It's both bold and brilliant and written in the way books should be written...a real page turner experience serving to narrate the collective mindset biography.Angelos Derlopas

It is missing a lot of important historia of the 70s

Where did coaching come from? What were its influences, and its roots?No one has ever really considered this before, much less documented it.In this well-written and highly informative book, Leni Wildflower demonstrates considerable scholarship (and knowledge in the field) to answer these questions.If you are a coach, or you received coaching, this will be of more than passing interest to you. And face it -- these days, especially if you have a corporate job, just about everyone receives coaching of one kind or another.This is an excellent book.Disclosure: I know the author personally, and was one of her students at Fielding Graduate University's "Evidence Based Coaching" program. From my own experience, I can say with certainty that Leni is a terrific scholar, teacher, and practitioner.My only regret was that in the year-long program, I didn't learn 90% of what I learned in the book!But that may be my fault entirely. I spent most of my time arguing with just about everything Leni had to say. She was very patient and quite a good debater, respectfully countering my points (and teaching me a lot about good coaching in the process!).My approach to coaching requires a lot more instruction and command-and-control tactics than the type of coaching Leni teaches. Yet I freely admit I have moved much closer to the "Leni" side of the profession after taking the Fielding program, and after reading her book.Well worth it. I highly recommend this book!

I am currently a coaching student and bought this book with the idea that I would use this in conjunction with my other textbooks, just another resource. I wasn't necessarily looking forward to opening it, expecting it to read like a textbook. So over Christmas break, at the in-laws, when I needed to look busy so I wouldn't have to help in the kitchen, I cracked this book open and immediately found I was sucked in exploring these characters that helped contribute to what coaching is today. It read more like a story where I was enjoying reading about each individual, the family life they came from (some very unpleasant) and how that brought them to do the great work they did. I was fascinated by the practices and experiments that occurred that gave us great things such as CBT, positive psychology, and a dozen other topics. Great book and I highly recommend.

Leni's detailed and well-researched history is conveyed with insight, wit and affection. It's a tremendous resource for all who have an interest in the wellsprings of this young field called coaching.

This book in an Open University press series edited by Jenny Rogers is an unsystematic but fascinating meander through the world of therapy/counselling leading into the world of coaching. For many coaches it will be an eye-opener to the many strands that have gone into the development of the discipline of coaching. Some of the early counselling work with underachieving children would proabbly nowadays be labelled "coaching".As a retired psychiatrist, with experiences of training in some of the therapeutic techniques discussed, I felt as though I was revisiting my own professional development in the area of psychological approaches to helping people. Leni, however, never loses the understanding that coaching, though derived partly from these approaches, is essentially different in its emphasis on the equality of the relationship and the fact that coaches don't fix people with problems but support people in reaching their potential.Recommended reading for all coaches with an interest in where the ideas used in coaching come from.

This is the book all Coaches should read! So many trainings, including mine with CTI, fail to tell you where all their ideas come from, this book gives you the history you need to inform your coaching and answer those inevitable questions from clients about where does coaching come from.Also the book tells you how to use insights from all the founders of Psychotherapy in your coaching work, including Freud, Jung and Rogers.

Reading this was as if I were reflecting on my own coaching stance...a delight to experience!