Is Life Coaching and Executive Coaching Effective? Experts Speak Out

“People who use a career coach find jobs 15% to 46% faster than those who don’t, according to a study by talent management firm Lee Hecht Harrison.”
– Wall Street Journal Jan. 2009

“Business Coaching is attracting America’s top CEO’s because, put simply, business coaching works. Asked for a conservative estimate of the the monetary payoff from the coaching they got, these managers described an average return of more than $100,000, or about six times what the coaching had cost their companies.”
– FORTUNE Magazine Feb 2001

“A coach may be the guardian angel you need to rev up your career.”
– MONEY Magazine

“If ever stressed out corporate America could use a little couch-time, it’s now. Trust in big companies is at an all-time low. Baby-boomers have been burned; Gen Xers aren’t expecting the Corporation to take care of them. Under the circumstances, employees are much likelier to go outside and get independent advice to help them be better managers.”
– Karen Cates, Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management

“Between 25 percent and 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies use executive coaches.”
– Suvey, The Hay Group, International

“Across corporate America, coaching sessions at many companies have become as routine for executives as budget forecasts and quota meetings.”
– Investors Business Daily

“Coaches are not for the meek. They’re for people who value unambiguous feedback. All coaches have one thing in common, it’s that they are ruthlessly results-oriented.”
– Fast Company Magazine

“Coaching is the universal language of change and learning.”
– CNN

“Executives and HR managers know coaching is the most potent tool for inducing lasting personal change.”
– Ivy Business Journal

“Part therapist, part consultant, part motivational expert, part professional organizer, part friend, part nag — the personal coach seeks to do for your life what a personal trainer does for your body.”
– Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune

“Once used to bolster troubled staffers, coaching now is part of the standard leadership development training for elite executives and talented up-and-comers at IBM, Motorola, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and Hewlett Packard. These companies are discreetly giving their best prospects what star athletes have long had: a trusted adviser to help reach their goals.”
– CNN.com

“Got a nagging feeling that your life could be more fulfilling? Want to change direction but aren’t sure how to do it? Here’s how to jump start your new life today … Hire a personal coach.”
– Modern Maturity

“Increasingly, nonprofit executives and managers are finding coaches a terrific sounding board and source of help in a demanding and complex job.”
– Nonprofit World

“The goal of coaching is the goal of good management: to make the most of an organization’s valuable resources.”
– Harvard Business Review

“An Ethics Resource Center study found that 90% of employees value leaders with integrity as highly as they value income. The Manchester survey of 140 companies shows nine in 10 executives believe coaching to be worth their time and dollars. The average return was more than $5 for each $1 spent.”
– The Denver Post

“What’s really driving the boom in coaching, is this: as we move from 30 miles an hour to 70 to 120 to 180……as we go from driving straight down the road to making right turns and left turns to abandoning cars and getting motorcycles…the whole game changes, and a lot of people are trying to keep up, learn how not to fall.”– John Kotter, Harvard Business School