Want to get great at something? Get a Coach.

ByDavid Paul Carter

How do we improve in the face of complexity? Atul Gawande has studied this question with a surgeon’s precision. And he has delivered one of the most powerful TED Talks on coaching that I have experienced. I have always presented you, my readers, with as many points of view, different perspectives and lenses that I can on topics to make your business better. And today’s topic is coaching.

A Different Perspective

But not coaching from a business or corporate perspective. Gawande delivers a powerful talk on coaching from a medical point of view. He shares what he believes to be the key: having a good coach to provide a more accurate picture of our reality, to instill positive habits of thinking, and to break our actions down and then help us build them back up again. He discusses how his international organization, Ariadne Labs, improved child birth survival rates in India through coaching nurses, physicians and managers. He shares his own personal experience being coached as a physician and surgeon (and yes, it was painful!).

Gawande passionately believes that “Its not how good you are now; its how good you’re going to be that really counts.”

I don’t want to spoil his TED Talk – please view and listen yourself below. See how the art of coaching can provide powerful results in unexpected fields of endeavor and in unexpected ways! Want to get great at something? Get a Coach.