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The Foundation for Coaching

“Our chief want in life is someone who will make us do what we can.”

—Emerson

Why Coaching Now?

Maybe as you select a book about coaching you already have in mind the situation in which you want to use coaching. Perhaps you’re a manager in some kind of organization who is trying to improve the performance of someone who works for you, or maybe you are someone attempting to mentor a young promising person. Alternatively, you might be a team leader on a software development task force attempting to build the proficiency of your team. You could also be a parent who wants to provide the best possible upbringing for your child. The possible scenarios could go on and on, and it’s the purpose of this book to give you an introduction to coaching in a way that allows you to apply it to the wide range of situations we find ourselves in these days.

The common thread running through these circumstances is the intention of the coach to leave the person being coached, whom we’ll call the client, more competent in an activity that is of mutual interest to coach and client. Since many of the people reading this book are probably interested in how coaching applies to business, here are some reasons why coaching is important in the world of commerce today:

1. The need for innovation is endless. Businesses must keep reinventing not only their products and ways of delighting their customers, but also the they organize themselves; communicate so as to coordinate activities; and stay current with changes in technology, demographics, politics, government regulations, and so on.
2. Because of relentless downsizing and reengineering efforts, the traditional relationship between organization and employee has been changed in a way that is probably irreparable. Consequently, even outstanding performers do not anticipate staying with one organization for their entire career and are always working with the knowledge, at least in the background, that their current position is temporary. Organizations have to find a way to retain such people as long as possible by providing both attractive compensation and a chance to continuously learn.
3. Organizations by necessity are having to work in multicultural environments.This happens when organizations recruit or market in other nations as well as within the United States, as our demographics evolve from the historic Eurocentrality.

It is one of the central tenets of this book that command-and-control organizations cannot bring about the conditions and competencies necessary to successfully meet the challenges holistically. For the most part, organizations know this and have attempted to reorganize themselves using the principles of total quality management and reengineering. The usual problem with these interventions is that they are implemented by and end up reinforcing the command-and-control structure. Here’s my objection to that: command-and-control organizations are based on the premise that a power and knowledge hierarchy is the most effective way of structuring an organization. People at the top make the decisions and people further down implement those decisions, changing them as little as possible. The process is slow, expensive, and has as its core belief that people cannot be trusted and must be closely monitored. As long as those beliefs are in place any organization will have tremendous difficulty flourishing in today’s world. Of course, what I’m saying here is not a new statement. What I’m offering in this book is an alternative to working in a command-and-control environment by beginning with new premises. It’s been my experience that organizations must be dedicated to allowing people to be both effective and fulfilled. Organizations are the ongoing creations of the people who work in them. Treating organizations as if they were huge machines, as is done with command and control, badly misunderstands the nature of the phenomenon. To sum up and simplify what I’m saying, coaching is a way of working with people that leaves them more competent and more fulfilled so that they are more able to contribute to their organizations and find meaning in what they are doing. I hope that reading this book will convince you that this is possible and that you will experiment with the ideas presented here. That is the only way you can find out for yourself that what I’m saying here is worthwhile.

What is Coaching?

Perhaps one of the most powerful ways of understanding coaching is from the end. If we know what we are intending to accomplish, we can correct ourselves as we go along and be able to evaluate our success at the end. These products are meant to distinguish what we mean about coaching from other interpretations. We present coaching as more than being an accountability partner that supports someone in reaching her goals or as a disciplinarian who changes someone’s unwanted actions. Instead we claim that coaching occurs in a bigger frame that sometimes includes these two modalities but goes well beyond that.

The Products of Coaching

Long-Term Excellent Performance

This means that the client meets the high objective standards of the discipline in which coaching is occurring. Standards are objective when they can be observed by any competent person. For example, hitting a home run in baseball is an objective standard, as is a checkmate in chess; however, we must know something about each game to be able to observe these outcomes as favorable.

Self-Correction

Well-coached clients can observe when they are performing well and when they are not and will make any necessary adjustments independently of the coach. By keeping this criterion in mind, coaches can avoid the big temptation of becoming indispensable and, instead, work to build the competence of their client.

Self-Generation

We can always improve, and well-coached people know this and will continually find ways on their own to do so. They’ll practice more, or they’ll watch others perform, or they’ll learn an activity that will strengthen them in a new way that improves their competence (see Figure 1.1).

FIGURE 1.1 The Products of Coaching

Let me give you an example that will illustrate what I’m saying and will perhaps make these ideas more clear. I coached a man named Bob at a major oil company in California. Bob was referred to me by my friend Nancy, who worked as an internal human resources consultant. He was a competent and well-regarded accountant who traveled to various sites worldwide and audited drilling operations. But Bob had greater ambitions. He felt as if he were trapped by his own success, that management would never let him move on because he was doing such good work. At least that is what he told me.

As I got to know Bob better I saw that he was missing a whole set of competencies to move ahead in a large organization with powerful political forces at play. Bob’s initial assumption was that by doing good work he would get noticed and promoted. When this didn’t happen he blamed management for their shortsightedness and selfishness. This explanation left Bob powerless; there was nothing he could do to change the thinking of his managers.

Of course, this is where a coach comes in. A coach is someone who builds a respectful relationship with a client and then researches the situations the client finds himself in, with particular emphasis on the client’s interpretation of the events. When I did that, I saw that Bob would be captured in the vicious circle of his thinking until he saw the situation in a new way, developed new competencies, and created a new identity for himself in the organization.

I’ll continue to tell you the story of Bob as the book continues, but for now I want to talk about the products of coaching in terms of this scenario. For Bob to be a long-term excellent performer, he had to be known as someone who could deal effectively with the bigger issues facing executives in the company and not merely skillful dealing with problems at his level. He had to know how decisions were made and power was brokered. He needed to learn to build alliances, share concerns, and present himself as executive material.

To be self-correcting, Bob had to be able to alter in midconversation or midmeeting what he was doing to bring about the outcomes he intended. He had to learn about his own habits and how they might get him in trouble, about the subtle communications clues he had been oblivious to in his environment, and he had to be able to keep learning without either being too harsh on himself or too lax.

To be self-generating, Bob had to have more than a list of tasks he was going to accomplish during his coaching program. He had to locate the resources in himself, in his relationships at work, and in the wider community that would allow him to continuously improve. He had to develop the capacity to renew himself, question his premises, let go of assumptions when they no longer were helpful, and do all this while maintaining his well-being, family life, and closely held personal values.

Perhaps from this example you can see that coaches have to address both a short- and a long-term view. Short-term in the sense that they must support their clients in reaching their goals, but long-term in the sense that the client will always have more challenges later and must be left competent to deal with these situations as they arise, while simultaneously conducting a fulfilling life.

An Alternative Model of Coaching

The hundreds of times I’ve described the products of coaching in classes or with individual clients I’ve always had people agree that they were terrific, worthwhile, and desirable. After all, who wouldn’t want to leave people as long-term excellent performers who were self-correcting and self-generating? I found that nearly everyone agrees with the products. Problems arise though, when people attempting to coach work to bring them about.

The heart of these problems is the assumptions coaches make about people. When attempting to bring about changes in others, many of us employ what I call the amoeba theory (see Figure 1.2).

FIGURE 1.2 The Amoeba Theory of Management

You may recall that amoeba are single-cell protozoa. Perhaps you studied them in high school biology. It’s easy to change the behavior of an amoeba. We can either poke it to get it to move away or entice it to move in the desired direction by giving it sugar. Poking and sugar work very well for amoebas, who never wake up and say, “Today I will ignore the sugar.” Day after day they predictably respond to the stimuli presented. All of this was useful and powerful learning that was brought to the world through Pavlov, Watson, and Skinner. The only problem, as far as we’re concerned in this book, is that the amoeba theory becomes management theory. For the most part, managers and coaches attempt to bring about changes in others by figuring out how to poke them or give them sugar.

The vast majority of psychologists have abandoned the amoeba theory, which is more properly called behaviorism, because they made an amazing discovery: human beings are more complicated than amoebas. It’s unfortunate that many managers and many coaches act as if they haven’t made a similar discovery. In fact, one of the most well-known coaching books by Fournies proposes that the only way to coach is to use behaviorism in its most blunt and stark form.

I can assure you that using the amoeba theory will never bring about the products of coaching. Here’s why:

1. Nothing long term can come from the amoeba theory; as soon as the stimulus ends, the behavior ends.
2. People are more clever than amoebas and we learn to get the reward without doing the action. Many of us have learned, for example, how to get top grades in college without really learning much, and organizations are full of people who have mastered looking good, while not accomplishing anything of use.
3. The amoeba theory eliminates the possibility of people being self-correcting because they are merely responding to stimuli and not correcting according to principles, desired outcomes, or values.
4. The amoeba theory weakens people every time it’s applied because it habituates people to taking actions only when someone else provides the stimulus. This is terrific when we want passive, nonthinking drones, but deadly when we expect initiative, innovation, risk-taking, and creativity.
5. The amoeba theory eliminates the chance for people to be self-generating because their ambition and curiosity are crushed, since any unauthorized initiatives or unsanctioned relationships are thwarted. All attention must be on only those actions that lead to the immediate cessation of the pain or the immediate acquisition of the reward. The immediate is worshipped. The building of long-term competence is thwarted.

These reasons could go on and on, and probably you can come up with plenty of them yourself. Everyone I know resents being manipulated either overtly or covertly and that is what the amoeba theory is—manipulation. The amoeba theory is also a theory underlying command-and-control practices in organizations. Since this theory won’t bring about the products of coaching, and we realize that these products are highly desirable and probably necessary, it is important to abandon this theory and embrace something else.

Many people, when confronted with the amoeba theory, can readily see its limitations and pernicious aspects. Nonetheless, under pressure that’s what many of us employ. Coaches need a lot of discipline and practice over an extended amount of time to stay out of the amoeba theory and to employ instead an alternate theory that makes it more likely that the products of coaching will occur (see Figure 1.3).

FIGURE 1.3 The Premise of Coaching

This alternate theory must be respectful of people, flexible enough to include the vast differences among people, allow the coach to understand the client and design and conduct coaching programs that result in a client who is a long-term excellent performer who is self-correcting and self-generating. Simultaneously, the theory must also be a blending of academic rigor and everyday, commonsense experience. Absent this blending, any coaching theory will lack the robustness necessary to actively engage both coach and client.

The theory I’m proposing is drawn from phenomenology, a school of modern philosophy centered on the way phenomena actually show up in people’s lives, as distinct from metaphysical schools of philosophy in which events and experiences are categorized by pre-existing distinctions. By explaining the theory with some examples I hope to make clear exactly what I’m saying.

The coach must account for behavior because behavior leads to outcomes. A coach whose work does not affect outcomes will soon find himself unemployed. The question then becomes how to account for behavior. I recommend that we account for behavior by understanding it as what follows from the way the world is showing up for someone. In other words, it’s not events, communication, or stimuli that lead to behavior, it is the interpretation an individual gives to the phenomenon that leads to the actions taken.

To use an example drawn from the work of Perls (1973), imagine that three people are coming to the same party. The celebration is a typical one with music, food, drink, and people engaged in conversation. It’s important to understand in this example that although the actions of the three people described are different, it’s not because the environment they are in is different. Each person finds himself in the middle of a different interpretation of the environment and his actions come from that interpretation. The first person who comes to the party is an artist who has sold a work of art to the family hosting the party. What action does this artist take? He begins to look for where his art is hung, and he wonders aloud when he discovers it whether being placed above the toilet is really the best possible location for his work. The second attendee is an alcoholic. You can probably easily predict that his first action is to find out where the alcohol is, and like the first partygoer, everything else—food, people, and music—fades way into the background. You might need a little more imagination or memory to predict the actions of the third person. He is madly in love with someone he is meeting at the party. Can you remember being headover-heels in love with someone and the moment when you spotted your beloved? It’s as if time slows down, sounds other than the beloved’s voice quiet, and the loved one’s presence stands out as if lit by a huge spotlight. For our third partygoer, everything besides his beloved—the food, the music, the other people—becomes transparent.

Here is my major point; if this becomes clear for you everything else in coaching will fall from it. Each person’s actions were fully consistent with the interpretation he brought, an interpretation that will persist across time, across events, across circumstances. Our job as coaches will be to understand the client’s structure of interpretation, then in partnership alter this structure so that the actions that follow bring about the intended outcome. As coaches we do this by providing a new language that allows the client to make new observations. For example, we cannot find chartreuse unless we have the language for it. We can’t find the brake pedal in our car unless we have the language of driving. We can’t observe what we’re feeling if we don’t have the language of emotion. We can’t tell if we are communicating effectively if we don’t know what to look for.

Providing language that allows for new observations is not sufficient but it’s surely necessary. The second vital element the coach provides is practices that allow the language introduced to become permanently part of the client’s structure of interpretation. No one can learn to drive a car simply by learning the language of automobiles and traffic laws. After learning that language we must get behind the wheel, spending many hours practicing driving. It’s only by this continual, focused, intentional practice that we become competent drivers. Practicing without knowing the language may leave us able to drive, but we will be powerless when breakdowns occur or when we have to coordinate our driving with other people, say at a crowded urban intersection.

To connect the importance of language and practice to the products of coaching, language is what allows the client to be self-correcting and self-generating, and it’s practice that makes it possible for the client to be a long-term excellent performer.

Maybe it has occurred to you while you read this why it is that many interventions we attempt to improve the competence of others fail. Either we simply attempt to employ the amoeba theory by judicially applying rewards and punishments, or we provide language inadequate or inappropriate for new observations to be made. Or we don’t know how to design practices so that the learning can become permanently a part of our client. The remainder of this book is an explanation and demonstration about how to do all of this.

Operating Principles of Coaching

Interventions in competence to improve the actions of others can be called coaching when they adhere to these five principles (see Figure 1.4). You can use these five principles as a way to design your coaching or correct it when it’s not working.

FIGURE 1.4 Five Principles of Coaching

Relationship is the first principle and the most important one. We will speak about the coaching relationship in detail later in the book. So let me say here simply that the relationship is the background for all coaching efforts. The relationship must be one in which there is mutual respect, trust, and mutual freedom of expression.

The second principle is that coaching must be pragmatic. Pragmatism is America’s contribution to philosophy. Its central tenet is that what’s “true” is what works. Practical outcomes replace theoretical constructs. Coaching is not a collection of techniques to apply or dogma to adhere to, rather it’s a discipline that requires freshness, innovation, and relentless correction according to the outcomes being produced. In other words, it’s invalid for a coach to say, “I did everything right, but the coaching didn’t work.” My view is that a coach who makes that statement wasn’t correcting as he went along, and instead followed a rote routine that may have worked before.

The rigor of pragmatism requires that as coaches we continually undo our conclusions, and face each coaching situation with a willingness to learn anew and find out that what we learned last time does not apply now.

Coaching is a learning experience for both coach and client. I refer to that in the principle called “two tracks.” Track one is work coaches do with clients. Track two is the ongoing work coaches must do with themselves. Unless we question our assumptions, abandon our techniques, and vigilantly correct from the outcomes we’re producing, we will soon fail as coaches.

Often coaching fails because of the blindness, prejudice, stubbornness, or rigidity of the coach and not because of the “uncoachability” of the client. Many life situations, such as managing in large organizations, teaching, or parenting, do not provide us with the luxury of selecting who we will coach. Coaches in sports have the chance to cut players from the team or bring new people aboard, and it’s unfortunate in a way that the word used to describe the activities of someone working to have a team or individual succeed in sports is the same term we’re using to describe the efforts of someone dedicated to the excellence of someone else.

Nonetheless, we continue to use the word coaching even though it may for some readers bring to mind what is done in sports. I hope that as you read through this book the distinctions between sports coaching and coaching to evoke excellence in others will become more and more clear.

Many times the antics, pressure, and force of athletic coaches are held up as models for what coaches in organizations, schools, and families ought to be doing. These situations are vastly different. But you will be on safe ground if you follow the premise of coaching as presented earlier and the five principles in this section. These notions have been developed by both academic research and practical application over many years in the world of organizations, schools, and families.

Athletic coaches rarely take the stance that they can learn something from their players, and perhaps that makes sense given the situation they’re in, but I assure you that as coaches elsewhere in life, we must keep ourselves learning as an integral part of our coaching. Central to this learning is engaging ourselves continually in asking how we might be getting in the way of the coaching’s success. A later chapter in the book will recommend ways to develop the skills and qualities necessary to coach.

The fourth principle is that clients are always and already in the middle of their lives. When coaching adults, our interventions must always fit in with their structure of interpretation. They are already in the middle of their lives and always have views, commitments, possibilities, and concerns. Five-year-olds who come to school don’t brush off the teachers by saying, “I don’t need to learn how to write the alphabet, I already have my own method.” But when coaching adults we must recognize that it’s likely that the clients already have their own way of doing things, and given the stability and momentum of habit, our coaching has to be adapted to fit individuals.

That techniques don’t work is the final principle. When I say techniques don’t work, I mean to bring about two outcomes. The first is to challenge the routinized, mechanical way we may be doing coaching, and the second is to warn that clients quickly catch on when techniques are being used on them and react with resentment. This happens, for example, when the boss returns from the latest training class and begins to apply the techniques she learned there. Usually people wait for this surge in enthusiasm to die off, and in the meantime shield themselves from the effects of any new procedures.

Perhaps it would be more fair to say that using only techniques won’t work, since there are probably fundamental techniques that each coach has to use. The difficulty in using techniques, besides what I’ve already said, is that the coach has to know when to use what technique, even proven ones. It is also dangerous for coaches to imagine that the use of any technique, however powerful, will allow them to escape engaging fully with the client with openness, courage, and curiosity. Techniques cannot replace human heart and creativity in coaching.

It’s my premise that coaching is a principle-shaped ontological stance and not a series of techniques. By that I mean that I consider any activity to be coaching when the ontological stance is as described earlier in the chapter, or is the equivalent; the listed operating principles are in force; and the intended outcomes are long-term excellence, the competence to self-correct, and the competence to self-generate. Beyond that the coach is free to create any form for the work. This book is meant to be an example of a particular form that can be used and that has proven to be effective. It’s not intended to be “the answer” to every coaching situation. I expect that other coaches will create their own forms and I look forward to learning from them.

Suggested Reading

The list below is the longest for any chapter. That’s because, similar to the chapter, the foundation of coaching can be found in these volumes. If you haven’t read philosophy before, perhaps the Passion of the Western Mind by Richard Tarnas can give you a friendly introduction to the domain.

If you’re interested in reading only a few books, I suggest the following in this order:

1. Being-in-the-World, Hubert Dreyfus
2. Understanding Computers and Cognition, Fernando Flores and Terry Winograd
3. The Tree of Knowledge, Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela

All of the books, however, are worth your time and effort.

Barrett, William. The Illusion of Technique. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1979.

A slice through the modern history of philosophy focusing on the topic of the title. Well written. Terrific orientation for coaches.

Becker, Ernest. The Denial of Death. New York: Free Press, 1973.

A book that, with its title alone, defines our postmodern culture. An anthropologist uses the insight of depth psychology (especially Rank) to show us the source of our suffering/confusion and a way beyond it.

Boss, Medard. Existential Foundations of Medicine and Psychology. New York: Jason Aronson,Inc., 1983.

Provides a model that considers physical, emotional, mental, and ontological factors that are always occurring simultaneously and contribute to or diminish our health.

Boss, Medard. Psychoanalysis and Daseinanalysis. New York: Da Capo Press, 1982.

The author was analyzed by Freud, was a neighbor of Jung, and was a long-term friend and student of Heidegger. He presents an alternative to psychoanalysis that can be called daseinanalysis. He shows its power with several amazing examples. Very useful as an entry to a new understanding of people.

Dreyfus, Hubert L. Being-in-the-World. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1991.

An explanation of Being and Time, written by a top professor who’s been studying and teaching Heidegger for decades. The book has charts, summaries, and good examples. Sometimes you didn’t understand Heidegger (you’ll learn in the text) because he was unclear or self-contradictory himself.

Dreyfus, Hubert L. and Paul Rabinow. Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982.

Even if you don’t understand the title, the book is worth reading. When you read it you’ll understand the title, and you’ll be introduced to how and why Foucault wrote scathing critiques of modern cultural practices that determine our reality.

Flores, Fernando, and Terry Winograd. Understanding Computers and Cognition. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1986.

The authors combine (in a rigorous and concise style) many seminal ideas of twentieth-century thought (from Heidegger, Maturana, Habermas, etc.) into their own creative synthesis of what it is to be, speak, and work as a human being. Especially useful for people looking for a practical application of powerful principles. In that, Flores and Winograd are unsurpassed.

Fromm, Erich. To Have or to Be? New York: Harper & Row, 1976.

The way we respond to the title determines if our lives will be dedicated to greed or to the fulfillment of our natures. A powerful work by a profound, compassionate philosopher and therapist.

Grossmann, Reinhardt. Phenomenology and Existentialism. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984.

A solid introductory text to these two philosophical schools which, along with pragmatism, underlie the theory and practice of coaching.

Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time. Translated by John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson. New York: Harper & Row, 1962.

A very challenging book that turned philosophy away from idealism and positivism by showing the way we actually live. Along with pragmatism, Heidegger’s work provides the philosophical foundations for coaching.

Hillman, James. Suicide and the Soul. Dallas, TX: Spring Publications, Inc., 1964.

Don’t let the title deter you. Hillman penetrates to the essential issues in being human in our times.

Ihde, Don. Experimental Phenomenology. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1986.

An introductory text that gives the reader a chance to experience phenomenology by doing a series of fascinating exercises.

Iyengar, B. K. S. Light on Yoga. New York: Schocken Books, Inc., 1966.

A liberally illustrated encyclopedia of yoga postures (asanas) written and demonstrated by an influential contemporary teacher. The author’s introductory essay on yoga is considered a classic in itself.

James, William. Pragmatism. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1963.

In a style that lays out the ideas openly and boldly, James presents the basic notions of a philosophy that suits coaching perfectly.

James, William. The Will to Believe. New York: Dover Publications, 1956.

James’s book is so well written, clear, and accessible, you may wonder why all philosophy isn’t so available. He wrote and spoke for the nonphilosopher and brought pragmatism to a wide audience.

Kierkegaard, Søren. The Present Age. New York: Harper & Row, 1962.

A short book that takes unerring aim at the shallowness and rootlessness of our modern culture.

Kockelmans, Joseph J. On the Truth of Being. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1984.

An exploration of Heidegger’s ontological notions emphasizing the ramifications they have on what counts as truth. An esoteric subject that strikes at the root of positivism.

Levine, Stephen. Who Dies? New York: Anchor Books/Doubleday, 1982.

The author has been with thousands of people as they died or dealt with the death of a loved one. Profoundly compassionate and unwavering in its insistence that we come to terms with mortality and live accordingly.

Lowen, Alexander, M.D. Betrayal of the Body. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1969.

Accessible book (along with the following two books) for a lay reader in which the author presents the theoretical basis for his work and recommendations for its applicability.

Lowen, Alexander, M.D. Bioenergetics. New York: Penguin Books, 1975.

Lowen, Alexander, M.D. The Language of the Body. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1971. (Originally published as Physical Dynamics of Character Structure, Grune and Stratton, Inc., 1958.)

Maturana, Humberto R., and Francisco J. Varela. The Tree of Knowledge. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1987.

A rigorous, scientific presentation of the biological roots of human consciousness. Convincingly shows the interaction of the biological, social, and linguistic. Founds coaching in the bedrock of fundamental biology. Unravels many of the pseudoproblems of skepticism and other philosophical schools. Changes you as you read it.

Morgan, Gareth, ed. Beyond Method. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1983.

It’s all very well to say that techniques don’t work, but what’s the alternative? This book is a collection of essays by managers and academics who have found ways to work successfully in complex environments. Rigorous, useful, and human.

Needleman, Jacob. The Heart of Philosophy. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1982; reprint, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986.

A powerful antidote for those of us who became glazed and disgruntled in Philosophy 101. Shows that it is questioning that keeps us alive and fully human.

Palmer, Richard E. Hermeneutics. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1969.

An introductory text to one of the important philosophical movements of the twentieth century. The premise that human reality is always historically shaped interpretation is vital to coaches.

Perls, Fritz. The Gestalt Approach and Eye Witness to Therapy. Berkeley, CA: Science & Behavior Books, 1973.

The great therapist’s last attempt to make his work clear and accessible. Full of profound wisdom practically applied.

Rolf, Ida P. Rolfing. Santa Monica, CA: Dennis-Landman Publisher, 1977.

The author discusses her powerful process for self-development through working to free up and realign the body. Many photographs and beautiful anatomical drawings, and a text that explains the principles and benefits of the process.

Rorty, Richard. Consequences of Pragmatism. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1982.

Provides a philosophical foundation for designing, conducting, and correcting coaching programs. Rorty’s style is lively, thought-provoking, and lucid.

Ryle, Gilbert. The Concept of Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949.

A classic text that demystifies a deeply rooted cultural myth—that there exists a mind separate from the functionality it displays. A monument to light, to logical argumentation, and to observation-based assessment.

Searle, John R. Minds, Brains and Science. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984.

A series of talks meant to untangle many long-standing philosophical dilemmas. Useful as a model for rigor and insistence.

Tarnas, Richard. The Passion of the Western Mind. New York: Random House, 1991.

A beautifully written history of Western thought from the pre-Socratics to the 1990s. Includes a useful timeline of major events and an extensive bibliography. Near the end, the author steps out of his role as dispassionate commentator and recommends a way to confront the current dilemmas of thought and morality.

Taylor, Charles. Human Agency and Language: Philosophical Papers I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

Provides a clear, well-written argument against reductionistic tendencies, and presents practical alternatives in understanding people.

Taylor, Charles. Sources of the Self. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989.

A tour-de-force historical review of how our modern Western views evolved through political and philosophical discourse.

Vail, L. M. Heidegger and Ontological Difference. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1972.

A rigorous presentation of one of Heidegger’s most problematic ideas. By following the argument, the reader will acquire a deep appreciation of what it is to be human.

Wilber, Ken. A Brief History of Everything. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications, 1996.

A tongue-in-cheek title for a shorter presentation of Wilber’s central principles. Thought provoking. Many angles, distinctions, views that can shift our world view.

Wilber, Ken. Sex, Ecology, Spirituality. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications, 1995.

A title that covers all bases. A long, deep, generous book that passionately argues for a unified view of human development, spirituality, biologically, socially, economically (and many other ways). A huge gift to the world. Amazing breadth. Astounding reference.

Wilson, William Julius. The Truly Disadvantaged. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.

A book that will forever change your understanding of the roots of poverty and class in the United States. Required background for understanding the world of today’s U.S. citizen.

Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Philosophical Investigations. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1953.

A book seldom matched for clarity and cohesion. Precise and elegant. Lays out the insights of Wittgenstein’s later work. The basis for a highly original and powerful view of language.

Yalom, Irvin D. Existential Psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books, Inc./HarperCollins, 1980.

The classic introductory text. Cogent and clear in its discussion of the ultimately unavoidable human issues—death, loneliness, meaninglessness—and the huge suffering that occurs when we try to avoid them.