What is common to Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Jeff Bezos and many more successful entrepreneurs? They have all had a coach!
I hope the ‘power-list’ of achievers has done its bit to spark some interest around coaching. Let me try and double-guess the questions in your head and answer them to clear some cobwebs.
Q) Coaching must be for laggards. Why do I need it?
Coaching helps you become the best version of yourself. It’s like the stretch that adds inches to your height or the performance booster that adds notches to your career. Coaching is perhaps the best investment that you can make in yourself. In case my reply is not convincing enough, watch the video where the world’s richest man makes a strong case for coaching! Watch the video here…
Q) What? The coach might not be from my area of expertise. How can s/he possibly guide me?
Consider this, Silicon Valley’s most sought after coach was Bill Campbell. He was a coach to the maverick Steve Jobs and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Campbell took pride in being non-technical and yet impacted the 2 most influential technology companies – Apple and Google.
Let’s consider another example from the sports field. Can you guess what is common to the 2011 World Cup winning Indian Cricket Squad, 2014 IPL Champions Kolkata Knight Riders and the 2014 FIFA World Cup Winners Germany? Heard of Mike Horn?
Mike Horn is a full-time adventure-junkie and a part-time motivational coach. He completed a journey around the equator without any motorized transport and a solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle. He uses his understanding of the human brain and extent of physical endurance of the human body to motivate champion teams into becoming an ‘unbeatable’ force. The German side was packed with world-beaters and were firm favourites to win for the last 2 decades. Yet, they could never cross the finish line. Horn helped Germany achieve the ultimate football honour, just the way Bill Campbell helped Steve Jobs and the Google founders dream big and achieve resounding success.
Whether it is an intense sporting encounter or a tense boardroom battle – the key to winning is how you play the game in the space between your ears! And this is where a coach unlocks your untapped potential.
A great coach might not have all the answers, but he has the insight to ask powerful questions. He focusses on your vision, not the drama. He listens to you for potential, not to colour your mind with his baggage. He aligns your strengths to your purpose and not to his beliefs. More importantly, he helps you shine as the best version of yourself, not a pale version of himself!
Q) What is the coaching module ‘Winning Way for Startups’ all about?
The challenges faced by founding teams are unique. They are expected to push the pedal to achieve acceleration while heavy lifting and multi-tasking simultaneously. A tough ask! But, then again entrepreneurship is not for the faint-hearted. The 3-sesssion coaching module has been specially crafted to cater to the specific challenges of a startup by using principles of Neuroscience. The contours of the session are as follows
- Week 1: Goal Setting (using the Mining to Shining process) and crafting custom-created strategies and actions for each stretch-goal. The unique brain-based approach aligns your goals to your purpose, significantly increasing the odds to achieving the very best.
- Week 2: Reviewing the progress and a coaching conversation around rising to the VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) challenge and playing to your strengths thereby engaging the PreFrontal Cortex (thinking part of the brain) and aligning the brain to a ‘reward’ state. Thereby, not being limited by one’s hardwiring and the ability to create new wiring and adopt winning habits.
- Week 3: Reviewing the progress and a coaching conversation around fuelling the growth mindset. Recent advancements in neuroplasticity demonstrate that individuals who believe that their intelligence, ability to learn and development of talent is infinite, possess a growth mindset and tend to achieve a lot more.
You can check-out the details here
Now, some good news! Rodinhood is giving away free coaching packages to the first 11 startups that apply. All you need to do is email reachout@happcoach.com. In addition, use the coupon code RODINHOOD for a 35% discount on any of the coaching packages.
Sorbojeet Chatterjee is an entrepreneur, certified coach, marketing and strategy consultant and a mentor to startups. He is the CEO & Co-Founder of Happ Coach and tweets @sorbojeet
