Wisdom Coaches and the Problem of the Niche
What is a “wisdom coach”?
If you are new to the universe of coaching, you will discover that, these days, every coach has a “niche,” which is fancy name for specialty. Plain old “life coach” isn’t good enough anymore.
This has evolved into some predictable categories, such as time-management coach, happiness coach (I confess. I am one), career coach, executive coach, wellness coach, relationship coach, spiritual coach of dominations that I did not know existed
You will see below that I have added a few categories of my own.
According to at least one coach training course, the best way to decide what type of coach to be is to simply “consider your life and work experience.”
This niche problem presents me with a challenge because I am a devout generalist, jack-of-all trades, master of none.
When I consider my skill sets, they all sort of go together, but, if you asked me what I did, it would be a long elevator ride.
Here are some examples of my potential niches:
Life planning coach
Family law litigation coach
Negotiation coach
Mediator or coach for relationship disputes
Financial coach
Divorce coach
Work/life balance coach
Prostate cancer coach for men/couples
Organization coach
Happiness coach
Wisdom coach?
How so?
First, I’m a planner: long-term, short-term, doesn’t matter, not sure why. Maybe it’s my experience as a chess player. Chess players learn early on the wisdom of “never play without a plan.” Lots of people are playing the game of life without a plan. How do they expect to get the best result?
I’ve spent over 40 years evaluating family law cases with an eye for opportunities to settle, sometimes as a mediator and sometimes as an advocate, not just negotiating agreements but studying the current theories about persuasion, decision making, and, ultimately publishing in 2018, a booklet called “Mastering Negotiation.”
I’ve been a Certified Financial Planner since 1989 (or was it 90?). I’ve never been a full-time financial planner, but I do a lot of estate planning and rarely encounter a client with a good financial plan. At best, they have something a canned software program produced.
I started working on the work-life balance issue in the late 70’s and have been a diligent balancer since. Interested in this issue? “The Art of Balance” by David Bookbinder is a charming little book.
I had rare case of prostate cancer – nightmare – and had to make a series of tough decisions. If you have an elevated PSA or have had a biopsy indicating prostate cancer, please call me. Prostate cancer not only affects the cancer patient; it affects his spouse and significant others. They may benefit from coaching, too.
Don’t ask me why, but I am an uber-organized person. I attribute that to practicing meditation for almost 50 years. If you are challenged in that area, call me. I bring order to chaos. It’s a gift I have.
I have studied positive psychology for ten years or so and am a Certified Happiness Coach.
That leaves us with the original question: What the heck is a “wisdom coach”?
I’m a wisdom junkie. That’s my calling. My mission is simply to study wisdom and share it with people through coaching. Wisdom, ancient and modern, is the platform from which I coach people to solve various types of problems and achieve various types of goals. I call that “wisdom coaching.”
What is wisdom? We will explore this question as we go. I believe that you will see that there are different types of wisdom and a basketful of new neuroscience focused on this issue.
And, what the heck is a “niche” anyway?
Stay with me!