The "Life Coach Boom" is Looked Down Upon by the Scottish

A life coach is just "fashionable to have," according to this week's article in Scotsman News magazine.

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"For a not-so-small fee, our messed-up, stressed-out, unfulfilled lives can be transformed by the growing number of smooth-talkers and good listeners whose only motive in life is to make our miserable lot better.

And if they make a little cash along the way - an hour’s life coaching session usually costs around £100 and often much more - is it any wonder a course for "wannabe" coaches in Edinburgh this week has attracted up to 60 trainees?

Yet five years ago no-one had heard of life coaches. Two years ago there were just 500 scattered across the UK, mostly viewed with scepticism as was their cliche- ridden advice - branded American nonsense by a wary public."
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The article is the most skeptical writing on the coaching industry I've ever read. One of the main reasons, I think, is because it's written by a European journalist. I remember having a Brittish coaching client, who shared with me that most people who hire a coach in UK would be hesitant about giving a testimonial. They prefer staying anonymous, because hiring a coach there is often considered as a sign of weakness.

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"But why is it that so many traditionally hard-bitten, down-to-earth Scots suddenly need a stranger to tell them how to live?

AND is handing over our dreams to someone else a sign we’ve forgotten how to think for ourselves?"

"Given that the client himself has all the answers, some may well wonder what they are actually paying for - especially when most clients sign up for around ten or 12 sessions with no guarantees."
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Well, I can see where the skeptisism is coming from, but I have a feeling the author of this article has never experienced being coached, or she might have had a different perspective. (What about all those people who turned their lives around, which they can attribute to their working with a coach?)

The thing that left me puzzled about this article is that it actually provides readers with the information about the Coaching Academy course, when and where it takes place, and how to get more information. Sounds like the author simply wants the readers to go do some "coach bashing." No?

Job's more than a life's work, by Sandra Dick