What is Coaching? What Do Coaches Do?

In a relatively new field with few barriers to entry, there are a lot of questions. Is coaching some kind of therapy by another name? Is it like talking to your best friend? Why would someone hire a coach? What do you use a coach for? What might a coach do for me? While the field is becoming familiar, I still talk to audiences on cruises where no one has heard of coaching. The best analogy I can think of is the sports coach. No athlete gets to their peak without a good coach. The athletic coach is someone who understands the physical, emotional and mental skills needed for peak performance, and is able to teach these skills to someone else, shaping it to the particular and unique situation of the athlete involved. One person needs to work on their backhand. Another needs to learn to control his temper. When you think about it, when you