Thomas J. Leonard Coached Me To Go With The Obvious

I came to the coaching phenomenon after being a psychologist and executive coach since 1990. I had a private clinical practice since 1980 and added coaching to the mix for a training firm in Ft. Collins, Colorado in 1990 called, The People Business. I coached top-level executives from Hewlett Packard, Kodak, IBM and others about 10 hours a week. In 1996, I saw Thomas Leonard on TV and read an article in Newsweek. I was burned out as a private psychologist, in the throes of medical management chaos and knew right then, a shift to a career as a coach, was for me!

Within a month,

• I signed up for Coach U, bought my first computer,
• hired my 2nd coach ( My first coach lived on her boat in the Virgin Islands in 1995)
• and I was looking for a new way to use my talents.

By March of 1997…

• I was a full time coach and trainer with Coach U.
• Moved into my new house in Palm Coast, Florida.
• Closed my psychology practice and was going full time into coaching.

Sandy Vilas, President and Owner of Coach U was at my house the day I moved in. We were going to a coach seminar in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida together.

Thomas Leonard was making some audio tapes to sell, called Laser Coaching and I was selected for a coaching session with him. I distinctly remember doing the interview in my empty house and the acoustics were very surreal….like being in a studio.

I told Thomas

my background as a psychologist and that I wanted to get busier as a coach…to find my niche. He coached me to go with the obvious. What I knew was psychology and who I knew were therapists. He asked me what would stop me from specializing in coaching other therapists and create special training for therapists transitioning to Coaching or adding coaching to their business. Later that year I started doing coaching groups with therapists and had several interviews with professional newsletters and journals. In 1998 I started Therapist U (later to become Institute for Life Coach Training) specializing in training therapists and other graduate degreed helping professionals to transition to coaching.

I have now trained over 2500 worldwide and have several international satellite offices.

I had several other interactions with Thomas in classes, think tanks, and in person at events and his Purple Bus tour around the country.

Thomas was a genius and a creative soul.  His influence reaches across time and space even today!

Comments

[Patrick Williams]

Darren...thank you for your kind words and for linking my article. This was certainly a turning point in my career and has taken me all over the globe due to that niche. Pat

[Darren Barr-Engstrom]

Thanks for your article! There's an interesting discussion going on the Coaches Training Institute discussion board about choosing a niche, and whether to go with what you know or just "coach" without giving advice. I put a link over to this article.

It's interesting to hear that Thomas pointed you towards going with what you know and to see where it's taken you. Very inspiring.

Thanks again,
Darren