It's Impossible To Be Too Generous

Marshall Goldsmith is THE MAN.

At least for executive coaches like myself he is, and the 150 plus organizations for whom he has developed their CEO.

It’s not only that he is the most accomplished practitioner of the art of executive coaching; he’s really the godfather of the profession. When he added individual coaching to his resume of management education at Loyola Marymount University’s College of Business over 30 years ago, the closest thing to a leadership literature was Lee Iacocca’s eponymous memoir of his years at the head of Chrysler. It was the best-selling non-fiction work of 1984/85, if for no other reason than the world of a CEO was, at that time, incredibly exotic and mysterious, and Chrysler had recently faced down disaster.

Thirty years ago, no CEO would admit to having a coach. In 2017, a coach is de rigueur.

Not the last time that’s happened. I was a young university student at the time, with vague aspirations to become a flight attendant (we may still have been calling them stewardesses; the chronology has grown fuzzy). I’m not sure I’d even heard of CEOs, much less knew what they did. Marshall Goldsmith was on the cutting edge—helping CEOs learn to do whatever it is they did back then, but much better than it was being done.

Fast forward 30 plus years: I’m a coach myself—one of many. Goldsmith could have retired. No telling when he plans to ride off into the sunset, if ever, but for now at least, he is coaching the next generations of coaches, myself included, sharing the accumulated wisdom and experience of decades, absolutely free of charge. He calls this legacy initiative 100 Coaches. It started as 15 Coaches, but after over 12,000 individuals supplicated for inclusion, Goldsmith expanded it to 100. I count myself lucky to have been included.

Want to know what sponsorship looks like in a freelance economy? Look at Goldsmith's #100Coaches

As a result, I was recently able to interview Goldsmith, gleaning insight into his coaching methods and style, but also his motivations. Why would someone become an executive coach, when the profession of executive coaching didn’t exist?

Goldsmith has great stories, freely told. He didn’t emerge from privilege; he rose from straitened circumstances. A poor, poor town in Kentucky. A single income family; his father operated a gas station. His mother, a certified school teacher, was not allowed to work outside the home. Different times, for certain. The sole beneficiary of this restriction was Marshall Goldsmith, a bright child by nature, and his accomplished mother’s only student. Building on the solid foundation provided by his mother, and advantage his peers didn’t have, he would go on to the university and higher education, ultimately a PhD.

Already a successful, still young academic, he crossed paths with some of the renowned leaders of the 20th century—Frances Hesselbein, for example, who ‘brought up’ many incredible subordinates during her tenure as the CEO of the Girl Scouts, and Peter Drucker, a pivotal figure in the development of our contemporary thinking on leadership, as opposed to merely management. There were others who also had so significant an impact on Goldsmith that he honors their effect on him today through 100 Coaches—giving generously to others the opportunities and insights that have been given to him.

Goldsmith’s coaching is performance-based. If his client doesn’t improve to the satisfaction of superiors, peers, subordinates, then Goldsmith isn’t paid. It’s that simple. This practice also evolves from early childhood roots. In our interview, he told the story:

These days we are more familiar with the world of CEOs than we were in the 70s and 80s. Many of them are quite modest, heading up their own small businesses. There are the celebrity CEOs, the empire builders, the lifers, who spend decades at the helms of some of the world’s most profitable and influential businesses. CEOs come in all flavors between these extremes.

Goldsmith has more experience coaching them than anyone else in the biz. He has lots of advice, freely given.

Interestingly, he advises term limits for those with ultimate executive power, from the CEO of the United States—the constitutionally amended eight years—to the CEO’s of corporations large and small. “Don’t overstay your welcome. As a CEO, set a certain time, make your contribution, and leave. Don’t hang on. Be developing your successor; leave with dignity. You’re a CEO ten years? You’re throwing the dice.” Goldsmith has peeked behind the curtain; he knows that most CEOs aren’t as invulnerable and all-powerful as they appear. There are the stockholders and their surrogates on the Board of Directors to satisfy.

Goldsmith has advice for coaches too. “Work with great people. It doesn’t matter if you get paid money or not….Work with great people because you’re going to get paid in many ways beyond money.” And further, “Rather than hoarding ideas and what you know, just give it all away. And then train other people, help other people, teach them everything you know.”

Marshall Goldsmith is generous; mentors in his past were generous to him, now he is generous with the coaches he coaches. In fact, it’s hard to imagine an enterprise or effort that wouldn’t benefit from the generous sharing of insight and expertise that he advocates. If Goldsmith had only one message, I think this would be it—it’s simply impossible to be too generous.

For more from Marshall Goldsmith, check out his book titled Succession: Are You Ready? Or books by his mentor Peter Drucker. Between now and April 30, you can receive 25% off books from Harvard Business Press. Just use the promo code WHITNEY.

Whitney Johnson is one of the world's leading management thinkers (Thinkers50), author of the critically acclaimed Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work and host of the Disrupt Yourself Podcast. You can sign up for her newsletter here.