This post appeared in HuffPost in 2013. How has leadership, executive coaching, changed since then? How are we doing with regard to empathy in leadership?

  • 2/3 of CEOs don’t receive coaching
  • 1/2 of senior executives are not receiving either.
  • And almost 100% wanted to be coached! (But then that is how the world is. Is it enough if you merely want it? As leaders what prompted them to ask for it?)

With the luxury of the option to look back, I wonder… some of the problems we see in the corporate world and perhaps every part of leadership in the society, across the globe… can be attributed to leadership. And that includes political leadership.

The world would have been very different if pure, classical coaching was available for more corporate leaders. Better late, than never.

‘The higher up you go in companies, the more you’re dealing with psychological and relational issues’

The author lists out the key elements:

  1. Power & Empathy: It is the shift from IQ to Emotional Quotient (EQ) and still better, to Spiritual Quotient (SQ). The leaders are appreciated for the aggression. But the most important aspect of leadership is ‘people’.  With the knowledge to the consciousness of the people what it is today, it is impossible to manage them with ‘power’. #IQ2EQ2SQ
  2. Self-awareness can be tapped only from that level of being, not from a state of pure ego
  3. It is also an opportunity to operate from a position of vulnerability and authenticity, if not for the sake of others but purely for the sake of the leaders themselves. Everything else is a mask.

‘Self-awareness and the growth it supports, combined with such business perspectives and practices, can and should be the heart of executive coaching and leadership programs.’ remains valid

Leadership development not based on these would be merely scratching the surface. Of course it a matter a choice if the developmental initiatives (training, mentoring) are merely transactional or transformational.

Check out the original article by Douglas LaBier in HuffPost

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