Julio. Yes, I have translated that as tenderness, in the best use of the word, and tenderness is safety. This is very interesting. Every gesture of your body when you are tender to a human being is to help to produce safety. No wonder you talk about agape immediately, because that’s the point. How could you speak about the dearest thing in your soul if you are not safe, if agape is not present? How could you? Why would you? But if you know that agape is there- tenderness, love, care; translate it the way you want- you will dare to speak what’s in your soul.

Bill. The word tender in English is not just about gentleness; it’s also about tendering something, holding it true or safe.

Julio. Right. So, among the three words that the Greeks have for love, agape is, for me, the one that most closely deals with the phenomenon of coaching.

Bill. Agape also seems to relate directly to the concept of “I­Thou” that is offered by another philosopher and theologian, Martin Buber (1958).

Julio. Buber is the one that inaugurated an ontology of “we unfold in each other,” and I think he was masterful in that sense.

Bill. It’s required reading.

Julio. Yes, required reading.

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Julio Olalla

Julio Olalla, founder  of Newfield, one  of  the  world’s foremost learning companies,    and author of From Knowledge to Wisdom: Essays on the Crisis in Contemporary Learning, is regarded as a master at creating environments  that establish the trust, safety, respect, fun and well­ being that  accelerate  people’s potential to learn. Julio is also a master executive coach and considered one of the founders and pioneers of the coaching profession. A powerful keynote speaker, Julio addresses audiences on leadership, organizational learning, education and coaching. He teaches that the traditional and accepted approach of what it is “to know” and “to learn” is insufficient to address the concerns we are facing as a global community. His message compels each individual to consciously evaluate not only the content of what he or she is thinking and learning, but also his or her interpretation of learning and its practice.