cover image Your Coach (in a Book): Mastering the Trickiest Leadership, Business, and Career Challenges You Will Ever Face

Your Coach (in a Book): Mastering the Trickiest Leadership, Business, and Career Challenges You Will Ever Face

Robert A. Hargrove, Michel Renaud. Jossey-Bass, $24.95 (254pp) ISBN 978-0-7879-7128-1

Once they get past the authors' rah-rah style and their extravagant claim that their coaching method can change the world, corporate leaders will find a wealth of practical advice on how to advance themselves in this buck-up for the up-and-comer. Hargrove (Masterful Coaching), the chair of Masterful Coaching Inc., and Renaud, a senior partner at the company, condense a year's worth of private coaching into this manual, which is addressed to exceptionally motivated business people with leadership aspirations. Many of the leadership tactics put forth here are familiar, such as the use of ""360 degree feedback"" to divide employees into A, B and C categories (nourish A's, coach B's and dump C's). The authors draw from a wealth of clients for case studies: Assistant Secretary of the Navy John Young, Phillips Electronics Executive VP Patrick Lamonde and EMG Corp.'s John Reingold all make appearances. Strategies presented in a clear and fairly well organized manner include creating an inspiring blueprint for the future, learning to become a master corporate politician, and building coalitions when you are not yet in charge.