The Very Real Dangers Of Executive Coaching

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SKIP TO CONTENTHarvard Business Review LogoLeadershipThe Very Real Dangers of Executive Coaching

by Steven Berglas

From the Magazine (June 2002)
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Over the past 15 years, it has become more and more popular to hire coaches for promising executives. Although some of these coaches hail from the world of psychology, a greater share are former athletes, lawyers, business academics, and consultants. No doubt these people help executives improve their performance in many areas. But I want to tell a different story. I believe that in an alarming number of situations, executive coaches who lack rigorous psychological training do more harm than good. By dint of their backgrounds and biases, they downplay or simply ignore deep-seated psychological problems they don’t understand. Even more concerning, when an executive’s problems stem from undetected or ignored psychological difficulties, coaching can actually make a bad situation worse. In my view, the solution most often lies in addressing unconscious conflict when the symptoms plaguing an executive are stubborn or severe.

A version of this article appeared in the June 2002 issue of Harvard Business Review.SBSteven Berglas A faculty member of Harvard Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry and staff member of McLean Hospital for 25 years, Dr. is now an executive coach and corporate consultant based in Los Angeles, CA.
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