Book Review

Book Review: The Psychology of Executive Coaching: Theory and Application, Bruce Peltier, Taylor & Francis, New York (Second Edition, 2009)

In the Preface for Peltier’s text, he describes the goal of his book “to make the principals, research, and wisdom of psychology accessible to the practice of executive coaching”. I believe he has achieved his goal and his translation of theory into practice is what led me to select this book for review.

Peltier is himself a counselling psychologist with 30 years of clinical and organizational experience, as well as an MBA and small business experience and his pragmatic style of writing demonstrates that he has practiced and implemented many of the approaches he refers to. This, combined with a bite sized approach to some complex theories meant that I was able to easily dip in and out, always richer in awareness and rarely overwhelmed with scientific jargon.

To start, the contents page make it easy to select topics that are most useful for a current coaching relationship and while I really enjoyed the foundational behavioural concepts of Chapter 4, I also like the focus on Empathy, Emotional Intelligence and Coaching Women in later sections.

Key highlights:

Working in venture capital, the Lessons from Athletic Coaches really resonated. The hard-charging financiers I have surrounded myself with throughout my career may consider counselling or therapy remedial and a sign of weakness and yet the association of coaching with athletes has certainly helped to normalize our practice.

In chapter 12, Peltier states the need for flexibility and ingenuity when coaching. Having pushed myself into the non-directive space and grabbed the GROW model with both hands, I found I had hit a ceiling and my practice clients were looking for a less formulaic approach and Peltier’s statement really hit home: “Cookbook approaches are doomed and executive clients will sniff them out and run for the door…Coaches are paid to bring a wide-ranging, creative, individually designed and compelling repertoire to the effort.”

As a coach, I have embraced Carl Rogers person-centred approach (covered in Chapter 5) and unconditional positive regard but, have learned to accept that we cannot and nor can our clients control organizational decisions and so there will inevitably be times when we have to coach through a sense of failure. Here, the motto ‘play against yourself’ feels useful and I anticipate referring back to the concept that by controlling your expectations, goals and effort you can take some control over your own destiny.

Potential lowlights:

Peltier covers quite a lot of ground and in deftly summarizes a range of psychological and coaching concepts. There are moments where I hoped for more coaching applications, for example in Coaching Women, I enjoyed and related to the themes and tendencies displayed by women in the workforce but found the advice for coaches somewhat shallow; is raising awareness of these “flaws” and focusing clients on authenticity enough to bring about meaningful change?

For some, this text may seem overly simplified and compendium-like, broad and shallow rather than profound. For someone like me who appreciates the theory but wants to make it relatable, this makes it a great reference text and the summaries at the end of each chapter help to contextualise and frame the core concepts beyond all doubt.