Learning From a Great Leader

In my role as an executive coach, over the years I've had a very unique billing philosophy. I didn’t get paid if my clients didn’t get better. "Better" was not judged by me or them. It was judged by everyone around them.

That’s a great way to test if someone really believes what they’re saying—ask them one question: “Do you want to bet on it?” If they say, “I believe it, but I don’t want to bet on it,” they don’t believe it that much. I bet on this every time.

When you get paid for results, you learn humility.

• The client I coached that I spent the most time with didn’t improve at all, and I didn’t get paid.

• The client I coached that I spent the least amount of time with improved more than anyone I’ve ever coached—200 people got better—and I did get paid.

This was a humbling lesson.

For those of you with a background in mathematics, I made a chart. One dimension was called time spent with executive coach Marshall Goldsmith. The other dimension was called improvement.

There seemed to be a clear, negative correlation between spending time with me and getting better.

I thought, this is a very troubling chart. I have to talk to my client who improved the most, who I spent the least amount of time with—who, by the way, was ranked:

• CEO of the Year in the United States

• #3 Greatest Leader in the World by Fortune magazine

His name? Alan Mulally.

Alan went to the Ford Motor Company.

• The stock was at $1.01

• When he left, it was $18.40

• Even more impressive, he had a 97% approval rating from every employee in a union company

A great leader. A great human being. We’re working on a project together, a new book. I love him.

So I go talk to my friend Alan. I said,

“Alan, of all the people I coached, I spent the least amount of time with you. You were great to start with, and you improved more than anyone I ever coached.”

I showed Alan my chart:

“The way this chart looks, there’s a negative correlation between spending time with me and getting better. The way this chart looks… had you never met me, you’d really be good.”

I asked,

“Alan, what should I learn about coaching?”

He taught me a lesson that changed my life.

“Marshall, your biggest challenge as a coach is one thing—it’s called customer selection. If you pick the right customer, your coaching process will always work. If you pick the wrong customer, your coaching process will never work.

And don’t make the coaching process about yourself and your own ego and how smart you think you are. Make it about the wonderful, wonderful people you work with and how proud you are of them—not about you.”

He continued:

“You know, when I was CEO of Ford, my job wasn’t that different. I don’t build the cars. I don’t develop the cars. I don’t sell the cars. They have to have great people. And every day I would drive to work and tell myself one thing: Leadership’s not about me. It’s about them.”

That’s the lesson that changed my life as a coach.

I’ve been ranked the #1 executive coach forever. Why? Nobody knows if I’m a good coach or not. There are thousands and thousands of coaches. I couldn’t be so arrogant as to claim I’m the best coach.

But I can claim one thing: I get the best clients in the world.

And why do I get ranked as the best coach? Because these people publicly talk about having a coach, they talk about getting better, and they make my life so much better.

I think almost any coach would look pretty good if you coached the people I’ve been coaching.

Key Lesson: Coaching Is About the Client

• The key to successful coaching is having great clients.

• If they don’t care, don’t waste your time.

• They’re not going to get better at anything they don’t care about changing. You’re just wasting your time.

The time we waste with people who don’t care is time that’s stolen from people who do care.

As a coach, put your time and energy into the people who care. They’re the ones who are going to get better.

Your Homework Assignment

Have you ever tried to change the behavior of a husband, wife, friend, or partner who had no interest in changing?

• How did that work out for you?

• Write that down. Think of examples.

Even worse—have you ever tried to change Mommy or Daddy when they had no interest in changing?

• How’d that go?

One of my clients at the Dartmouth Tuck School raised her hand. I asked,

“Are you trying to change Mommy or Daddy?”

She said, “I’m trying to change Daddy.” I asked, “What’s his problem?” She replied, “He does not have a healthy lifestyle.” I asked, “How old is Daddy?” She said, “94 years old.”

I said,

“Leave the old boy alone. You want to smoke a cigarette, old man? Smoke two. Who cares?”

Have a happier life and be a better coach.

• Don’t make it all about you.

• Make it about them.

• Work with great people who are motivated and care.

• They’re the ones who are going to get better.

Make that list of all the people you’ve tried to change who didn’t care. Write down the outcomes.

Let me give you a guess: It’s going to be a very, very, very instructive story.