Mike: Mistaking Competence for Luck.

Mike’s biggest concern was: “How long is this luck going to last?”

He was convinced that his last seventeen years of steady rise in status and responsibility were simply the result of good luck.

Through coaching, he discovered the difference. Winning a lottery once in a while is luck; a trajectory that continues over time reflects method and competence.

Maurizio: Fun Is the Consequence of Competence.

Maurizio had just arrived from Canada to lead the racing team of a well-known automotive brand in Munich.

He asked me how he could ensure his reports had fun in their work.

I asked him to show me any employment contract that promises “fun” at work.

This experienced, senior industry leader was amazed, and admitted he had never thought about it that way.

He left with a new answer of his own: “Fun is the consequence of competence.”

If you are good at your work, you are likely to enjoy it too.

CB: Seeing Affection Where He Once Saw Interference.

CB, a young, successful chartered accountant in New Delhi, wanted to take a road trip with his young family.

His father warned him about the risk of avalanches on the route.

Before coaching, CB would have taken his father’s remark as an objection—and carried it as a disappointment.

After coaching, he thanked his father for his care and concern, and told him he would postpone the trip.

His father’s response surprised him: “Why take the east road? Why not go west – there are fewer avalanches there.”

Through coaching, CB not only kept his own reactions in balance, but positively shifted his father’s behavior too.

Friedrich and the 20,000 Defective Components.

Friedrich faced a serious dilemma. His company had 20,000 units of a component—built into a world-famous brand—that turned out to be defective.

His CEO in Germany told him to ship them anyway.

During coaching, Friedrich said this could damage the company’s reputation for years if the defective parts were delivered. Talking it through, he realized he did not have to remain constrained by his immediate superior’s authority.

He reached out directly to the CEO’s superiors in the US and stopped the shipment.

He was praised for months afterward for having the courage to override a short-sighted decision.