As Executive Director for 7 Paths Forward, David is responsible for building an organization that supports the development of great coaches worldwide. This includes workshops, community development and helping organizations source great coaches.
As a pioneer in the coaching industry, he worked closely with Thomas Leonard and served as the first president of Coach U. During that time, he and Thomas founded the International Coach Federation. He later went on to lead CoachInc.com through its expansion. He then organized the first coaching conferences that highlighted research about the profession.
He and Ruth Ann Harnisch co-founded the Foundation of Coaching which later became the Institute of Coaching at Harvard furthering the profession’s commitment to research. The Foundation provided journalism, community, research and resources to the profession.
As coaching spread around the globe he trained the first Japanese coaches working closely with Coach 21 and Coach A to help establish coaching in Japan.
He wrote the “Dear Coach” column for the Sunday London Times and has been featured in radio and television interviews about the coaching profession.
He is one of the first to attain the Master Certified Coach and Board-Certified Coach credentials.
As a coach for over 25 years, he primarily works with executives, professionals and entrepreneurs. Often known as the coaches “coach,” he has worked with many of the leaders in the industry.”
Mr. Goldsmith is a graduate of Cornell University and is a member of the International Coach Federation. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his wife Marie Motroni.
Session length: 45 minutes
In our increasingly complex world, the coaches that thrive will be the true professionals who are helping their clients solve their most complex problems. We need to raise the bar for coaching and continue to articulate what it means to be a true professional.
To raise the bar we have to go much further than credentialing and ethics. It’s easy to be a “good” coach. Clients are happy with the results and the coaches feel good about their work. What’s missed is the opportunity to provide significantly more value for the client. The true professional is constantly working at the edge to improve their skill at delivering transformative results in a far more efficient way. This takes work!
Coaching has exploded worldwide; some are well-trained, and others merely added the title to their previous offerings with no apparent training or professional skills. We have others that use coaching as part of their job, however they aren’t a professional coach. If you want to thrive as a coach, you need to aim higher.
There are many trainers/marketers providing “coaching.” For them it takes little work and they can charge a lot. This is often actually individualized teaching and training. Unfortunately, there are a lot of unhappy customers who paid a lot for “coaching” that didn’t work. We need to define and distinguish ourselves.
As coaching has evolved we now see many coaches creating dependent clients. The coaching relationship starts becoming more valuable for the coach rather than the client. The true professional creates independence and autonomy and helps their clients become better learners.
In this session we’ll uncover the work needed to continually seek improvement of yourself, your practice, your offerings, and your value to your client.
1. We are in a crowded and growing market with many people calling themselves a coach who are unqualified. We need to stand out.
2. It’s easy to be a coach, another order of magnitude to be a professional coach. It’s more than training and ethics.
3. You need to continually seek improvement of yourself, your practice, your offerings, and your value to your client
Session length: 90 minutes
By all accounts we are in the Golden Age of Coaching. Demand is high, fees are high (for those who are good) and coaching is widely accepted. Coaching, as a profession, is widely understood in the lexicon and has made an imprint worldwide.
More and more organizations have built robust coaching organizations using a mix of internal and external coaches. Managers are routinely trained in coaching skills. Coaching is hot!
The problem is we are starting to see signs that fees are slipping. Supply is starting to grow faster than demand. The number of coaches being trained each year continues to grow with increasing numbers of coaching schools and approaches. The market is maturing.
It’s also relatively easy to be a good coach and provide acceptable results. Clients are generally happy. This breeds a false sense of security.
Within the next five years, ordinary coaching will be provided by Alexa. The advances in voice comprehension combined with artificial intelligence (all done from your smartphone or voice appliance) will soon replace the ordinary, well trained coach. Once this technology is working, fees for most coaching will go down and organizations will look for the most efficient way to get the results they need. Fast food coaching will work well for many but there will still be room for 3 star Michelin coaches who will be able to maintain the fee structure they have become accustomed to.
In order to continue to command fees at our current levels, coaches will need to become great. They will need to help their clients solve their most complex problems. And they will need to do this ever faster and more efficiently.
There are many paths forward for coaches to thrive beyond the golden age and not be replaced by Alexa.
1.The supply and demand ratio is changing and fees are slipping
2. Technology will change the way coaching is bought and consumed
3. It’s easy to be a good coach, you need to become great to truly thrive
Session length: 90 minutes
By all accounts we are in the Golden Age of Coaching. Demand is high, fees are high (for those who are good) and coaching is widely accepted. Coaching, as a profession, is widely understood in the lexicon and has made an imprint worldwide.
More and more organizations have built robust coaching organizations using a mix of internal and external coaches. Managers are routinely trained in coaching skills. Coaching is hot!
The problem is we are starting to see signs that fees are slipping. Supply is starting to grow faster than demand. The number of coaches being trained each year continues to grow with increasing numbers of coaching schools and approaches. The market is maturing.
It’s also relatively easy to be a good coach and provide acceptable results. Clients are generally happy. This breeds a false sense of security.
Within the next five years, ordinary coaching will be provided by Alexa. The advances in voice comprehension combined with artificial intelligence (all done from your smartphone or voice appliance) will soon replace the ordinary, well trained coach. Once this technology is working, fees for most coaching will go down and organizations will look for the most efficient way to get the results they need. Fast food coaching will work well for many but there will still be room for 3 star Michelin coaches who will be able to maintain the fee structure they have become accustomed to.
In order to continue to command fees at our current levels, coaches will need to become great. They will need to help their clients solve their most complex problems. And they will need to do this ever faster and more efficiently.
There are many paths forward for coaches to thrive beyond the golden age and not be replaced by Alexa.
1.The supply and demand ratio is changing and fees are slipping
2. Technology will change the way coaching is bought and consumed
3. It’s easy to be a good coach, you need to become great to truly thrive