Blog (Success Through Psychology)

Problems Don't Take Years To Solve. Unless You Go To A Therapist

12/21/2013

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge

Many executive and business coaches proudly and publicly proclaim:

"I'm not here to teach you anything -- because I can't do that.
Rather I'm here to bring the best out of you, which you need to have brought out."

I’m adamantly opposed to this type of thinking and this is where my philosophy, frameworks and methodologies part ways with much of the establishment coaching industry and even media-annointed “coaching gurus”.

You see, unlike so many other executive and business coaches who are operating under the principle that it's somehow wrong to teach you things or to directly and explicitly provide a model for your success, I'm actually here to teach you things and provide a variety of models for success and improvement.

Not to tell you things, but to teach you things.

Sometimes you'll discover the solutions on your own. Other times, I'll drop hints or steer you in certain directions for exploration and understanding. But if or when that no longer works for you or we are not satisfied with the results, I'll step in and then together we'll look at various solutions and models, trying them on for size and future-pacing them to ensure efficacy and fit.

You see, besides teaching, advising and guiding you, I'm here to help you solve problems. And yet within the traditional executive and business coaching industry it's almost verboten to do so. Perhaps this is because some many coaches don't have a sufficiently stocked tool box or a set of proven models to work with, choose from and future pace.

From my vantage point, this actually wouldn't be surprising, since in the current business environment so many the current Western coaching models along with many of the associated coaching techniques appear to have hit a wall if they aren't straight-out broken.

The fact is many of these models and techniques were created by pure academicians who never had to battle-test, let alone battle-prove these models and techniques in the fast-paced and, more often than not, viciously competitive corporate world.

If your coach can't help solve your problem, why work them? Anything less than solving a problem is simply therapy. There's nothing wrong with that as we all need a shoulder to cry on once in a while and it's always help to have someone available with which we can share our difficulties. But imagine how much better it would be to solve and mitigate if not eliminate the issues and obstacles confronting or confounding us.

The challenges facing executives as well as entrepreneurs are legion, ranging from communication issues, office politics, marriage and relationship problems and so forth. All of these are addressable and must be addressed for the executive or entrepreneur to operate at peak or near peak effectiveness without over revving their engine and burning out.

Problems never take years to solve, unless you go a therapist.

Executive & Business Coaching >>

0 Comments

SiliconEdge: The Meaning, Essence & Philosophy

11/7/2013

0 Comments

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge

Outside of questions pertaining to SiliconEdge's training and coaching services, two of the most common questions people ask us have to do with our company name.

Is there a particular meaning attached to the name? And if so, what is the philosophy behind it?

Simply stated SiliconEdge represents two concepts.

First, it represents the physical edge of Silicon Valley -- the millions and millions of miles of inhabited space where entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial skills and knowledge have been rapidly diffusing or have already diffused and the exciting innovation and creativity that have been taking place or are about to take place outside of the Valley as well as outside of the United States.

Second, and mostly importantly, if we accept Silicon Valley to be the mecca of technology, creativity, innovation and risk taking, then this "edge" is the next step, the next evolution of this mecca; not a physical edge but a philosophical edge.

To me, it's been very clear that this next evolutionary step is a philosophical shift in recognizing and optimizing the human element and the strategic element and nowhere will this become more true and more important than in the Valley which is increasing becoming a "post-tech" world although very few seem aware of this fact. This shift means that business and people will soon need to recognize that most of the problems they face are not technical or financial in nature but human (we address this in great detail).

To be sure, the intrinsic importance and value of the human element is not new and it has always been of critical importance even when it has gone unrecognized. And due to a number of factors the actual importance of the human element has often been masked, misinterpreted and even when it's been recognized the response has often been to simply address it with platitudes.

A common example of this is found in the expression, "Necessity is the mother of all invention".

Is this really the case? We think not.

To us, this human element relates to being able to most effectively and efficiently select, acquire, develop, deploy, motivate, manage and retain the right people necessary for your business to reach or exceed its objectives and goals as well as ensuring your continued competitiveness and viability in the fast moving, global business environment that is today's reality.

More specifically, the concrete skill sets that now provide the largest ROI and ROL for companies (and individuals) include:

1. Leadership
2. Communication
3. Influencing
4. Persuasion
5. Negotiation
6. Assertivenesss

Beyond this human element, the essence and philosophy of SiliconEdge is to always question the official narrative as to why a particular person, company, product or strategy was "successful" or "failed" and to identify and unpack the most powerful myths and memes to find the real lessons to be learned.

0 Comments

SiliconEdge Sponsors & Leads The Formation Of The Asia-Pacific Coaching Alliance (APCA)

8/1/2013

0 Comments

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge

To help improve the quality and effectiveness of executive, business and career coaches worldwide, SiliconEdge has sponsored and lead the formation of the Asia-Pacific Coaching Alliance.

The Asia-Pacific Coaching Alliance (APCA) is exclusively focused on serving the unique needs of the dynamic and fast-growing Asia-Pacific market as an educational, professional networking organization and knowledge base.

APCA covers the entire region from Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, India, Australia, New Zealand and Vietnam to Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and beyond by providing high-impact and ethically-grounded solutions for coaches of all disciplines: career, personal, life, executive, business, conflict resolution, personal relationships and performance coaches.

Woven throughout the organization are the core principles of high-impact, ethically-grounded coaching.

APCA's mission rests on three pillars:

A. Educate
B. Connect
C. Protect

The Asia-Pacific Coaching Alliance >>

0 Comments

Problems Don't Take Years To Solve. Unless You Go To A Therapist

SiliconEdge: The Meaning, Essence & Philosophy

SiliconEdge Sponsors & Leads The Formation Of The Asia-Pacific Coaching Alliance (APCA)

About

Archives (by date)

Categories