Only a decade ago, executive coaching was associated with either very senior business leaders coached by well-known authors and thought leaders, or with leaders who were struggling in their roles and were given a coach as a last resort.

Today, executive coaching has become mainstream — and it has changed significantly.

First, despite the name, it is no longer the prerogative of C-level executives or their direct reports. Many companies now offer coaching to leaders at all levels of the organisation.

Second, it is no longer seen as a remedy for underperformance. Instead, executive coaches are increasingly viewed the way we view coaches in sport: helping already high-performing individuals to become even better.
As an executive coach myself, I support business leaders with a wide range of challenges: transitioning into new roles, defining strategies for their teams and organisations, improving collaboration with their own leaders and teams, and navigating change.

As a result, executive coaching has evolved from a niche activity into a serious industry. And, like any growing industry, this raises questions about developing and maintaining professional standards, pricing, quality and technology.

Stefan Stenzel has been active in the coaching world since the early 2000s and published ‘Die Zukunft des Coaching-Business’ (‘The Future of the Coaching Business’) in 2022.

I recently sat down with him for two conversations to explore the state of the executive coaching business today.
In our first conversation, we focused on ‘The Executive Coaching Business’
and covered the following topics:

• The value of executive coaching
• Measuring the ROI of executive coaching
• The characteristics of a good executive coach
• Assessing the quality of an executive coach
• Does the downward pressure on fees impact the quality of executive coaches?
• The red and blue oceans for executive coaches
• The place for independent coaches in the world of Digital Coaching Platforms (DCPs)
• Face-to-face versus digital coaching
• External coaches versus internal coaches

About Stefan Stenzel

Stefan Stenzel (Dipl.-Psych.) studied Organizational Psychology at Heidelberg and Mannheim with a minor in business administration. He has almost 30 years of experience in PD and OD. Since 2001 he is working at SAP SE in the role of a HR Senior Expert for Learning in the team of Global Leadership Development with varying areas of responsibilities. Based on his initial coaching training in 1998, he is working as an internal coach at SAP since 2002. With short interruptions he is globally responsible for the external coach pool across all management levels and is currently implementing a coachbot to complement the service portfolio. He is Co-founder of DBVC e.V. in 2004. In 2023 he co-founded in this context with, Dr. Uwe Böning. the so-called Think Tank “Future of Coaching” . He is author of various publications on the topic of (the future of) coaching.

Stefan Stenzel Linkedin

Contact Stefan Stenzel: kontakt@coaching-reset.de

Webpage: www.coaching-reset.de

Book: Die Zukunft des Coaching-Business https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-662-64421-8

Disclaimer

The statements and expressed opinions of Stefan Stenzel are his own and do not represent the views, positions, or policies of SAP SE.

Any comments he made are purely personal and should not be interpreted as being endorsed with SAP SE.

For any official information or statements, please refer directly to SAP SE.

Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!

In corporate life, we accept that 40% of newly appointed executives fail - we simply accept it as an unavoidable risk.

The financial and professional implications of failed transitions however, are significant for both the individual and the organization.

For the individual, it means their livelihood is threatened and their professional reputation is damaged.

For organizations, failed transitions have financial implications (recruitment costs and performance losses), as well as operational implications (new initiatives), and have a negative impact on for instance, employee engagement and the Employer Value Proposition (EVP).

🎤 In the 37th episode of the Leadership 2.0 podcast, I talk to Navid Nazemian, my brother in arms in the Executive Transition Coaching space, about how organizations can mitigate the risk associated with executive appointments by engaging an executive coach.

► During our conversation, we discussed the following topics:

• Why executive transitions should be managed
• The number one reason why executive transitions fail
• The value of executive coaches in executive transitions
• Why many organizations do not use executive coaching
• The timeframe of transition coaching
• The structure of transition coaching
• Identifying the right ‘early wins’
• Balancing ‘learning and delivering’
• Selecting ‘the team’
• Developing transition skills
• Managing executive exits
• Final thoughts

► About Navid Nazemian

When it comes to executive transitions, Navid Nazemian speaks with an authority that is grounded in research and complemented by authentic, demonstrated experience. His coach education took him on a three-year journey across three continents—Europe, Africa, and America.

Working with over 250 C-level coaching clients worldwide, he distills key insights, guidance, and coaching to maximize leadership impact. Using strategies designed to avoid and overcome obstacles quickly, he has helped numerous C-suite coaching clients successfully eliminate unproductive actions and solve their toughest, most complex transition challenges.

Navid has been recognized as HR's Most Influential Practitioner by HR Magazine, received the Outstanding Leadership Award from Education 2.0, and has been ranked as the world’s #1 Executive Coach by CEO Today for three consecutive years.

He is the author of 'Mastering Executive Transitions: The Definitive Guide'.

► Newsletter: http://masteringleadership.kit.com/

Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!

Unfortunately, nowadays one look at a television news bulletin or a glance at a newspaper cover is enough to see the dark side of leadership. However, many people do not need to switch on the TV or read the paper to witness this; instead, they experience the dark side of leadership every day within their own organizations. They happen to work for "Psychopath Lights"—or, as Manfred Kets de Vries likes to call them 'Seductive Operational Bullies' (SOBs).

In the 36th episode of the Leadership 2.0 podcast, I interview Manfred Kets de Vries, who has published extensively on this topic. During our conversation, Manfred and I discussed the following:

• 00:00 Why do people want to lead others?
• 02:32 Why do people want to be led?
• 11:05 The Dark Dyad and Psychopaths Lights (SOBs)
• 16:51 Why are SOBs attracted to the Financial Sector?
• 21:30 Can SOBs Be coached?
• 26:38 The Impact of Life Changing Circumstances On SOBs
• 35:21 Strategies for SOB victims
• 40:45 Why Leaders Should Understand Their Shadow Side

► About Manfred Kets de Vries

Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries is the Distinguished Clinical Professor of Leadership Development and Organisational Change and the Raoul de Vitry d'Avaucourt Chaired Professor of Leadership Development, Emeritus, at INSEAD.

His specific areas of interest are leadership, career dynamics, executive stress, entrepreneurship, family business, succession planning, cross-cultural management, team building, coaching, and the dynamics of corporate transformation and change. Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries directs The Challenge of Leadership Executive Education programme.

He is the founder of the INSEAD Global Leadership Centre, the programme director of INSEAD's top management seminar The Challenge of Leadership, and the scientific director of the INSEAD Executive Master in Change. He has received the INSEAD Distinguished Teacher Award five times. He has held professorships at McGill University, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales, Montreal, and the Harvard Business School, and has lectured at management institutions around the world.

Financial Times, Le Capital, Wirtschaftswoche, and The Economist rated Manfred Kets de Vries as one of the world's top fifty leading management thinkers, as well as one of the most influential contributors to human resource management.

In 2008, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Leadership Association (the Leadership Legacy Project), being viewed as one of the world’s six founding professionals in the development of leadership as a field and discipline.

He is the author, co-author or editor of forty-nine books and has published over 400 papers as articles or chapters in books. His books and articles were translated into thirty-one languages. He is a member of seventeen editorial boards.

Kets de Vries is a consultant on organisational design/transformation and strategic human resource management to leading US, Canadian, European, African, and Asian companies. As an educator and consultant, he has worked in more than forty countries.

► Kets De Vries Institute (KDVI) https://kdvi.com/

Any questions or comments? Press this link and send me a message!