Coaching is a profession that arose from people applying influence over others in the way that influence should be used, real Power. (See the  Brezlover Megilat Esther for a full discussion on Power). That is to say, the influence of the coach is used to benefit the Coachee, to develop their own Power over their own actions for their own benefit, in order to free them to achieve what they feel their Purpose is.

Whichever direction one looks in the coaching world, the truly great coaches all have certain things in common:

• They have a great respect for the ability of their coachees
• they have knowledge of where and how people trap themselves or become trapped
• They know how to release themselves and other from their negative consequence restrictions, freeing them to live their lives as they truly wish to lead, productively and with satisfaction, lives of purpose and giving.

Lest you think that the coach is a manipulator, a person who influences people to do what is good for the coach, (and bad for the client) it is necessary to examine the history of coaching.  To my knowledge, there has never been a great coach who has exploited the people he coached to their detriment.  Right from the beginning of this type of work, the coaches have been driven by a “religious” drive to serve.  There is a win-win drive, and a desire to NOT rule and dominate.  It is part of coaching culture that such rule over others and domination is self-defeating and against the philosophy of responsibility for self that the coach has and must convey to the client.  Anyone who attended EST, or experienced the work of Werner Erhard, for example by attending courses from Landmark Education (which is the product of his lifetime of work) understands this.

I don’t use the word religion lightly.  A brief review of successful coaches unveils journeys of religious and ethical growth, which is reflected in their influence on their clients.  Tony Robbins, probably the world’s most influential popular coach ever, says you have to practice your religion if you want to succeed in being the person you can be.  Brendon Burchard, the most prominent business coach at this time, puts his appreciation of G-d in the world and in his life into every major publication.

Probably the world’s most influential business coach today is Rich Schefren.  This brilliant, committed man claims he believes he was born to accomplish his mission- which is to teach people how to build businesses successfully.  He, like the others, delivers a money back guaranteed system which he provides to customers with tremendous support during the process of implementation.

These people are quite humble, considering the considerable influence they have on others in the world.

Great coaches are also generous, faithful and so far, my experience of them is that they are honest, reliable and deliver more than what they sell to you.  I am always receiving bonuses that were never listed in the package I bought.

Contrast this with government-run professions:  Let’s have a look a medicine.

Medicine is run by interest groups that use the government bodies to legislate opposition to independent, brilliant innovative methods that work- to the point of making progress towards alternative and natural health remedies illegal, at least in America.  The case of Dr Burzynski is a great example.  He has been repeatedly charged in court by the FDA for using antineoplastons to successfully treat cancer where chemotherapy fails and kills. This in spite of the legality of his operation, and the many lives he saves.  The FDA ordered the court to make irrelevant whether the treatment works or not.

The attempts by the FDA to suppress information about healthy eating, and their attempts to make food supplements illegal unless they are in charge of the supply, are other examples.  Who would think that there would have to be a “freedom of information act” passed in Congress to enable food producers to say how their food is healthy without  being put out of business by the FDA- who claim that they have a right to confiscate the food products which are now called  “drugs” because the manufacturers advertised scientific information that the food promoted health?

In Britain,  South Africa and Israel, the government sanctioned rulers of the profession use their power to exploit young Doctors to the extent that a certain percentage of them  every year are so stressed that they develop mental illnesses.  Some of them never recover.  The long hours of work, excessive responsibility falling on the young physicians, who are subjected to sleep deprivation and lack of support and encouragement, as well as constant criticism, frequently cause burnout and physician attrition- the doctors leave clinical practice to save themselves; some professors I knew were suicidal as they were leading their departments, from the stress.  Salaries are legislated and below what is necessary to sustain the lives of the families of the doctors.  In the past, housing was supplied, but today that is rare. The doctors are so overloaded in the system there is not time to think- do you think you want a doctor who has no time to think, deciding what to do with your one and only life?  You probably have a doctor just like that!

I have come to the conclusion that far from safeguard the interests of practitioners, clients and patients, government run professions are criminal in the execution of their power, and do little to promote ethics, development of personality and social responsibility, generosity and kindness and all the characteristics one would want in our Professions.

It really is a sick joke to try to submit the coaching professionals to government standards.  The leaders of the coaching fraternity have set for themselves standards far higher than any ethics committee of any profession have made up.  Contrast with the professions of psychology and social work -where the ethics, far from protecting the clients, are specifically there to protect the psychologist from too much responsibility for the client and from being sued!

In medicine, European Medical Ethicists have reached the level of the genocidal Axis Power leaders who will not be named. Guess what?  Abortion of prospectively ill babies is almost mandatory- the government doesn’t want to spend money on them.  (If you want the name of the country e-mail me).  Assisted suicide of people who lose their zest for life is just fine, and since the doctors wanted to cover themselves legally, there are legal means to suicide one can purchase and use to lawfully murder oneself or one’s not perfect child.

I trust the leaders of the coaching world more than any government organization. My experience as a paying coachee of more than one of them can be summed up this way:

These great people are really helpful, responsible leaders and people-nurturers, builders of the world.  They serve their flock with commitment. They measure results and improve performance and methods all the time. G-d bless them.

If you disagree, I would like your logical arguments and proof that government can do a better job than Rich, Tony and Brendon, to name a few of the greats who walk among us.  By the way, these leaders also take it upon themselves to organize themselves and help each other help everyone else, set best practice standards and teach them in a cycle of review and innovation.  NO government organization could come up with the leadership and generativity of these motivated leaders who do what they do because they love it.

On the other hand, I am not against Government financial assistance, provided the whole thing remains privately run.  Britain developed a system of local governance of education where communities proposed what they wanted and received the funds to make it happen from the government.  This type of support allows self-governance.

If you have suggestions or thoughts on this subject, please comment