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The Bottom Line

Lonely at the Top?

The Bottom Line

BBC

Society & Culture, Personal Journals, Business

4.6606 Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2016

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Many senior executives now employ personal coaches to help them through their toughest business challenges. Coaches can provide confidential, independent support for senior managers who find life lonely at the top. But shouldn't the boss be capable of making decisions on his or her own? And are coaches sometimes the hidden power behind the senior executive throne?

Guests:

Gavin Patterson, CEO of BT Group

Melanie Richards, Vice Chairman and Partner of KPMG UK

Jonathan Bowman-Perks, Coach and Mentor

Producer: Ruth Edwards.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Thank you for downloading this program.

0:02.0

In this edition of the bottom line, we're looking at executive coaching,

0:06.0

what it is, what it does, and when it fails.

0:09.0

Hello and welcome to the program.

0:11.0

If you could be a fly on a wall and observe what goes on in private, in business,

0:16.0

there's one relationship you might want to eavesdrop into.

0:20.0

It's the one between a senior executive

0:22.6

and their coach or mentor. You maybe didn't know executives needed coaches. This is not a

0:28.0

sporting relationship, but many business people do employ someone to serve as a guide to managing

0:33.5

business and to managing life in general. Coaching and mentoring has itself been a fast-growing industry,

0:40.5

and we're going to find out all about it today.

0:42.7

I've two clients with me, but first we'll meet someone who comes from the other side.

0:47.6

Jonathan Bowman Perks is an executive coach and mentor,

0:50.7

who's worked individually with over 60 border members.

0:55.2

And in fact, you don't call yourself an executive coach, I think, Jonathan.

0:59.1

I tend to refer to myself as a trusted leadership advisor because I think leadership is the

1:05.4

skill I bring from many years of being in the field.

1:09.2

And people do actually want advice, but they don't have to take it.

1:12.7

Right.

1:13.4

Can we call you a coach for the duration?

1:15.4

Just trusted leadership advisor.

1:17.1

It'd be a bit too worthy, wouldn't it?

...

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