Coaching self-belief: a sailor’s yarn.

A coachee recently came to me asking, “Am I cut out to be CEO?”

I asked him to imagine himself as CEO in the future. He said he is working on his skills and behaviours as an executive director already, and the organisation feels like the right place to be. It is really about his self-belief.

I wanted him to reflect on how anyone becomes anything. To bring this idea to life, I shared a story about teenagers and how they find their tribe. If you have had kids around this age, you’ll know what I mean. They see a group they want to be part of – in my day it was punk rockers – these days it’s skaters, e-girls/boys, eco-warriors, or any one of several music-related subcultures, such as Grime, Drill, or K-Pop. They say it aloud, “I want to be a …” Then they act it out by dressing a certain way, hanging out with other teens who are into the same thing, speaking like the others, … Before too long, they are one of the gang. We are talking about how people actively define and discover their identity, which of course can expand and change over time.

And then he said that a couple of years before, he had decided to try sailing. At first, it felt like holding on for dear life.? “Now I’m a sailor, I love it, I have the certification and I’m building up my experience.” He reflected that his organisation is the yacht, the executive directors are the crew, and the CEO is the captain. “Am I cut out to be captain? You’re damn right I am!”

How do you coach self-belief?