Newspaper columnist slams life coaching.
Writing for the Allentown, PA, The Morning Call.com, columnist Renee A. James, slams life coaching as an expensive, frivolous service offered by “coaches” who don’t have the credentials and training needed to advise clients about such a weighty matter like “life.”
Do People Need A Coach To Play the Game of Life? is certainly not the first public whipping the coaching industry has received. But James slices at life coaches with a gusto and malevolence usually reserved for crooked politicians and Internet scam artists.
Here’s a sample:
Life coaches come from all walks of life. My favorites are those who get accredited online in a matter of months, with no additional certification in counseling, social work or psychology. What kind of self-assurance must you have if you believe — in good conscience, and with every confidence that the advice you impart is truly useful and achievable — that you can help others by becoming something as unstructured and un-measurable as a life coach?
I would say her column ”gets better,” but that would only be true if you have a sharp ax to grind about coaching. And I suspect Ms. James does have an ax to grind. How galling it must be to write a blog (which she does) and newspaper columns (which pay next to nothing) and have little impact on the lives of others — at least when compared to an active life coach.
I suspect that’s how she sees it: being a successful life coach just isn’t fair.
And then there’s the touchy matter of all that money coaches are making. In fact, Ms. James fantasizes about the luxurious lifestyle she would have if she were a coach:
All I know is that some life coaches earn $225 an hour to coach their clients via e-mail or phone. (Maybe from their living rooms. In their pajamas.) They talk; they listen; they e-mail scads of empowering, positive, life-affirming advice. . . . Honest, I could do this for hours. And at $225 per, I wouldn’t have to do it for that many hours every week. I’m thinking three clients a day, four days a week and I’d be very content.
On the newspaper’s web site, several coaches commented on the column. One in particular made the point - a fair one - that an industry as unregulated as coaching is vulnerable to criticism. Given the hodgepodge of training and certification standards that now exists, it is inevitable that poorly trained or even untrained “coaches” make it into the marketplace — giving everyone else a black eye by association.
But even if industry criticism is sometimes warranted, it’s the over-kill in Ms. James’ column that makes me think she probably could use a life coach. Even her blog is laden with a certain morose negativity.
Personal empowerment and positive thinking are topics for ridicule:
I’m trying to figure out how I would sign my e-mails at the conclusion of each session if I were a life coach, doling out wisdom to clients through the Internet. ”Have a super-empowering week!” ”Go be the best you ever!” ”Say yes! And keep going!” ”You are powerful. You are aware. You are your own destiny.” ”Your life. Your choice. Everyday.”
Without intending to, perhaps I have empowered Ms. James by noticing her column and giving it a wider audience. But that’s the paradox of negative thinking — and writing attack articles. Do it harshly enough and people will notice.
So, I noticed.
That’ll be $225, Ms. James. Thank you!
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[...] Of course, the editor of Coaching News & Events took exception to Ms. James point of view and wrote a response, Newspaper columnist slams life coaching. [...]