Personal Narratives Regarding Early Years of Professional Coaching

In providing a set of diverse perspectives on the history of coaching, it is also important that we consider what it actually felt like and looked like to live and participate in the early, highly influential world of professional coaching (often called “executive coaching” or “life coaching”). Therefore, in the third section, we provide two video-taped interviews and one transcribed interview with those living in and participating in the early years of professional coaching. These are Agnes Mura, Jeannine Sandstrom and Julio Olalla. The fourth video-taped interview was conducted with David Skibbins, who was one of the first coaches trained at the Coach Training Institute. His first experience of coaching was with Laura Whitworth—one of the legends in the field who passed away quite tragically several years ago.

Each of these four interviews provides a unique perspective on the ways in which coaching perspectives and practices were first conceived (Olalla), how the training and certification of coaching was first established (Mura and Sandstrom) and the nature of early relationship between professional coaching and psychotherapeutic practices (Skibbins).

The first interview was conducted with Agnes Mura and features her own personal reflections on the life she has led in interaction with the emerging field of professional coaching:

Interview with Agnes Mura: Diversity and Challenge in Coaching | Library of Professional Coaching

I also invite you to retrieve a document in the Library of Professional Coaching that features Agnes Mura reflecting on her own inter-cultural life and diverse career: The Interdisciplinary Art and Science of Professional Coaching: Perspectives from a Life Richly Lived | Library of Professional Coaching

The second interview was conducted with Jeannine Sandstrom, another of the major figures in forging the identify of professional coaching:

Interview with Jeannine Sandstrom: Coaching Founder and Legacy Leader | Library of Professional Coaching

I also invite you to retrieve a series of documents prepared by Dr. Sandstrom that features her work on leadership that was presented in the 2020 issue of Curated: Curated 2020: Leadership | Library of Professional Coaching

A third interview is a transcription of the interview I conducted several years ago with Julio Olalla, who formulated one of the most important (and revolutionary) sets of perspectives and practices on the field of professional coaching

Interview with Julio Olalla | Library of Professional Coaching

My final interview with David Skibbins offers the perspective of someone who was strongly influenced by Laura Whitworth, one of the other important (and revolutionary) figures in the emerging field of professional psychology:

Interview with David Skibbins: The Impact of Co-Active Coaching | Library of Professional Coaching

I also invite you to retrieve an essay in the Library of Professional Coaching that was prepared by Dr. Skibbins and myself that highlighted the nature, opportunities and challenges associated with personal/life coaching: Ten Trends in Personal/Life Coaching | Library of Professional Coaching

I hope that you find these essays and interviews to be insightful and even provocative as they provide a variety of insights about the past (and future) of professional coaching. As we have seen to these essays, there have been many sources of professional coaching perspective and practices—which means that there is a wide playing field for your own work in the field. Perhaps your own perspectives and practices will be acknowledged and honored when future publications are devoted to the history of coaching.

William Bergquist, Ph.D.

Editor

Curated 2022

Bergquist, William (2020) “Leadership and Anxiety: Containment and Metabolism I: Anxiety in a VUCA Plus Environment. Library of Professional Psychology.  https://psychology.edu/library/leadership-and-anxiety-containment-and-metabolism-i-anxiety-in-a-vuca-plus-environment/