Executive Coaching with Backbone and Heart: A Systems Approach to Engaging Leaders with Their Challenges [Hardcover]

Mary Beth A. O'Neill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 27, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0787986399 | ISBN-13: 978-0787986391 | Edition: 2

Praise for Executive Coaching with Backbone and Heart

"In this book, O'Neill brings form and structure to the art of executive coaching. Novices are provided a path while seasoned practitioners will find affirmation."
--Daryl R. Conner, CEO and president, ODR-USA, Inc.

"Mary Beth O'Neill's executive coaching gave me the tools and clarity to become a far more effective leader and change agent. The bottom line was that we succeeded with a monumental organizational turnaround that had seemed impossible to accomplish."
--Eric Stevens, former CEO, Courage Center

"O'Neill writes in a way that allows you to see this experienced coach in action. What a wonderful way to learn!"
--Geoff Bellman, consultant and author, The Consultant's Calling

"Mary Beth brings a keen business focus to coaching by not just contributing insights but through helping me and my team gain the insights that we need to solve our own problems. She has the ability to see through the sometimes chaotic dialogue and personalities in order to help a team focus on the real issues and dynamics that can impede organizations from achieving their goals."
--John C. Nicol, general manager, MSN Media Network

"Effective leaders require courage, compassion, and initiative. O'Neill's systems-based coaching serves as a guide for both coaches and executives to better enable good decisions and good decision-makers."
--Paul D. Purcell, president, Beacon Development Group

"With Mary Beth O'Neill's coaching, I've become the kind of leader who balances both the needs to get results and to develop great working relationships.?Since I started working with her, I've won accolades as the Top Innovator for my company, and as Professional of the Year for my industry.?More important, I've been able to scope my job in a way that allows me to learn and contribute at the same time, all the while delivering great results to the bottom line."
--Lynann Bradbury, vice president, Waggener Edstrom

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Executives are tough customers with high expectations. This direct and pragmatic book reveals the importance of the coach's immediacy and self-awareness in the successful coaching of top leaders." --Brian Clewes, senior vice president, human resources, TransAlta Corporation

"O'Neill writes in a way that allows you to see this experienced coach in action. What a wonderful way to learn!" --Geoff Bellman, consultant and author, The Consultant's Calling

"This is an important book. Executive coaches will find in Executive Coaching with Backbone and Heart a sensible and sensitive process that leads to guaranteed results." --Carla J. Murray, general manager, The Westin Seattle

"In this book, O'Neill brings form and structure to the art of executive coaching. Novices are provided a path while seasoned practitioners will find affirmation." --Daryl R. Conner, CEO/President, ODR-USA, Inc.

"Effective leaders require courage, compassion, and initiative. O'Neill's systems-based coaching serves as a guide for both coaches and executives to better enable good decisions and good decision-makers." --Paul D. Purcell, president, Beacon Development Group --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From the Inside Flap

Executive Coaching with Backbone and Heart

Coaching high-powered executives requires something extra. Executive coaches must become partners whose emotional investment in business outcomes equals that of their clients. They must have the strength and courage to face

an organizational leader in a time of crisis and speak the unvarnished truth. They must be a force to be reckoned with. They have to have backbone and heart.

When it was first published in 2000, Mary Beth O'Neill's book Executive Coaching with Backbone and Heart helped to define the field of coaching at the senior and executive level. This second edition of O'Neill's groundbreaking book shares the secrets of O'Neill's success and details the techniques she's developed and refined over the course of her exceptional career. This edition has been thoroughly revised and expanded to include

• Three Key Factors methodology for setting up client goals and the measures for those goals

• Iinformation about how to involve the client's boss in the coaching contract

• More extensive material on live action coaching

• Commentary on the use of assessment tools and instruments

• A method to work with clients on the systemic patterns they want to change

• An entirely new chapter devoted solely?to calculating the ROI of coaching work with the client

• And more illustrative stories

O'Neill teaches coaches how to deal with clients in terms of the "force fields" they create and react to, that is, the political and emotional climates within organizations that can ensnare both executive and coach and make for faulty decision making. O'Neill reinforces her observations on coach self-management and her systems perspective with a sound four-phase methodology for implementing both, a methodology that covers contracting, planning, live action intervening, and debriefing.

Executive Coaching with Backbone and Heart is written for anyone, no matter what their discipline or background, who is interested in helping leaders work through their dilemmas so they can transform their learning directly into results for their organizations.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 2 edition (July 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787986399
• ISBN-13: 978-0787986391
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.2 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,131 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #45 in Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Management Science

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive book that should not be under estimated., June 25, 2001

By 

Roberta Hill (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Executive Coaching with Backbone and Heart : A Systems Approach to Engaging Leaders with Their Challenges (Hardcover)

It seems quite awhile since I have found a book in my own field that I can completely recommend to almost anyone. This is a terrific book for coaches, consultants and leaders at all levels. Finally here is a book that explains the role of coaching as an Organization Development intervention. As well it clearly alginates the differences between calling yourself an executive coach and the competencies required to actually be one. In fact I would have to say that this is a must read for any executive or corporate coach.

One reviewer said this book was easy to read. While it is well written and gives the illusion of simplicity, the concepts and specifics inside are subtler than that. I am a quick reader and it took me some time to properly digest what O'Neill was really saying. And this is not a big book. When I first picked it up, I remember thinking: "Oh brother another expensive book without much meat." I was completely wrong. There doesn't appear to be a lot of theory, but it is clear that theory is the underpinning of the author's work and it is there front and centre. However, you do not notice it because of how it is presented.  

This one of the few books that I have read where the short case studies really added value to the book. In the cases typical situations and examples of how she expertly handled them were reviewed, as well as some warnings about how the coach can also get triggered by what is happening. Another great part is that this book as a "go back to" reference. The three Appendix contain a personal assessment, questions to ask clients and issues on how to combine consulting with coaching or vice versa.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique perspective makes this book very powerful, June 23, 2000

By 

John M. McConnell (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Executive Coaching with Backbone and Heart : A Systems Approach to Engaging Leaders with Their Challenges (Hardcover)

In a field crowded with many new titles this book is unique and very empowering. While most coaching books focus on "technique," Mary Beth O'Neill shines the light on how we use OURSELVES to catalyze change. The author helped me better understand emotional systems thinking and how I can use these principles in my coaching practice. Another unusual perspective I found in this book is the author's focus on coaching in the context of bottom line results. Highly recommended!

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Resource on Coaching I Have Seen, March 27, 2000

By 

Donna J. Dickinson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Executive Coaching with Backbone and Heart : A Systems Approach to Engaging Leaders with Their Challenges (Hardcover)

Mary Beth O'niell writes with great clarity and her book is very engaging--almost like watching her in action. O'Neill's four-phased, systems-based methology provides a structure for coaching that encourages individuality. In fact, O'Neill stresses the importance of a coach's self-awareness and developemnt of ones signature presence. She uses many relevant examples to illustrate her approach. I especially value suggestions made throughout the book for how to effectively engage clients. O'Neill has the ability to explain complex sustems theory and interpersonal dynamics in a way that aides understanding. In a recent conversation with a potential coaching client I found myself using, in the moment, the useful information O'Neill offers. If you coach executives, or leaders at any level in organizations, this is a must resource.