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Unleashed! Expecting Greatness and Other Secrets of Coaching for Exceptional Performance

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There is a powerful, timeless concept in this book - it's the chapter on the expectation/performance connection: "People live up, or down to our expectations of them". How easy it is for us to forget this truth and how quickly we can sabotage relationships with the people who report to us or our colleagues by not paying attention to the fact that, whether we voice our thoughts or not, people have a way of sensing how we judge them or assess them. As the author says, people innately know how we rate them. And to enter a coaching relationship with someone, we need to suspend our judgments otherwise coaching is not effective.

Among the many practical tools and concepts in this book are:

1. The 60 Big Coaching Questions (I was stopped in my tracks by questions such as: "which working relationships are affirming and which are degrading?")

2. The 10 Big Intuitional Perspectives (many books on coaching talk about the importance of "messaging" but few actually provide a tool such as the 10 big perspective that often show up in a coaching conversation).

3. The 10 Big Acknowledgments.

4. "Try This". This is a series of useful quick tips. I found myself leafing through the book to read each one quickly, in succession.

5. The concept of "walking away empty".

6. "Nixing the Sounding Board". (I found this novel - traditionally, we think of coaches as individuals that we can use to safely "vent" about our situation - the author uses a contrarian approach to this which is refreshing and powerful in making sure that the coaching conversation time is not wasted in this unproductive activity).

There are also references to many useful books. For example, I re-discovered Eric Berne's Transactional Analysis model of conversation - very powerful for any situation in which we interact with others. I also found useful the many thought provoking questions such as: "Consider yourself a brand. What would the marketplace say about who you are?"


Overall, this book is clearly laid out, easy to read and helpful not only for coaching others but also for self-coaching and self-development.

Gregg Thompson and Susanne Biro hit pay dirt with a great read for those that want to unlock the secret of coaching - Unleash the Talent in those you lead. It's in them. Know it and believe in them and great things will happen.
After coaching executives for over 24 years and having read everything I could find on the profession of coaching I would place this book in the top 3 books about coaching on my shelf!

I grew after only reading the introduction of this book! I am a facilitator/corporate trainer and started reading Unleashed! for research, but found that it helped ME - not only as a mother (read the introduction and see), but as a facilitator, employee, wife, and friend. Gregg and Susanne write in a way that pull you in and make it real/tangible/understandable. Watch out world, this book has created a coach in me and I have already begun to build my legacy!

"Unleashed!: Expecting Greatness And Other Secrets Of coaching for Exceptional Performance" is the collaborative work of business leader, operations manager, executive coach, facilitator, management consultant, and president of Bluepoint Leadership Development Inc., Gregg Thompson and Susanne Biro (Director of Coaching at Bluepoint Leadership Development). Thompson and Biro draw upon their years of experience and expertise to provide business managers and human resource directors with step-by-step, easy-to-apply instructions, tips and techniques for getting the most out of the people for whom they are responsible. Readers will learn what 'High Performance Coach' is and isn't; how to identify the qualities that comprise an effective Leader Coach; what is required in the role of coach and how to recognize coaching strengths; come to a more comprehensive understanding of all aspects of the coaching process; identify their own 'self development work and personal growth curve'; understand current challenges to leadership; detect and create opportunities to coach subordinates, staff, and personnel; and effectively participate in the personal growth of others while developing high performance coaching skills. Very strongly recommended reading for anyone charged with the responsibility of training and leading others, "Unleashed!" is superbly organized, articulate, and as close to participating in a Bluepoint Leadership Development seminar/workshop without actually being enrolled in one.

The insights in this book for developing and unleashing a person's special talents are invaluable not only for the workplace but also for parents, teachers and others involved in coaching people. The concept of developing a talent in others that is different from the coaches special gift and which will hopefully surpass the coach is refreshing and can be expected to result in "Exceptional Performance". Our schools and our workplace trainers need to read and apply these principles if they desire to improve.

There are a growing list of coaching book authors that share their coaching "formula" or model with you - supposedly so that you can learn to be a great coach from reading their book. Unleashed is not that kind of book. Gregg Thompson and Susanne Biro have written a book that shares what goes on "under the skin" of great coaching and reveals not only the guts of coaching, but the guts you have to have to be a great coach that can unleash potential in others. I enjoyed their focus on the qualities of great coaches - things like holding the highest expectation for others, the courage to share the truth, and the willingness to engage in Dangerous Conversations, and more. They share their experiences and their wisdom and I appreciate the courage they had to write a coaching book unlike the others. If you want to know what makes for GREAT coaching, this is your book.

True to their authentic selves, Gregg Thompson and Susanne Biro created a brilliant model, the Great Expectations Coaching Model, which calls us to be who we are as a leader coach. In their book Unleashed they challenge us to use our talents to be in the service of others, to commit ourselves to their success, and to sacrifice ourselves in the name of enabling the very best abilities in those we lead. The call is resounding...soul shaking. You cannot read this book without feeling an up tick in adrenaline and a gnawing curiosity for what is possible. Don't go looking for a "five easy steps how-to" chapter. You won't find it here. What you will find is a challenge to look within yourself, unleash yourself and use the best of you to help others realize their greatness. Daunting? Yes. This book makes the journey doable, purposeful and rich.

Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (6/07)


As everybody in the Human Resources field knows all too well, it is time-consuming to find new talent and quite expensive to keep hiring new people all the time. That is why the idea presented by Gregg Thompson and Susanne Biro in "Unleashed!" should prove invaluable to people who are in a managerial/coaching position, regardless of the size of their company. They will show you how to expect greatness, which should open a wealth of opportunities for you and people who work with you.

If the reader is expecting another step-by-step, how-to guide, I would highly recommend he or she picks up another book. This book does not follow such an approach, but rather teaches one the process of becoming the kind of a person that other people would want to receive coaching from.

Thompson and Biro lead the reader through three principles essential to coaching: Earning the Right to Coach, A Perfect Partnership and Dangerous Conversations. Although this book is not a step-by-step guide, as I've already mentioned, it still provides many practical tools and thought-provoking sections. If you want to make sure this is the right book for you, just check out chapter 12. If you can agree with it, buy a copy and I am certain that it will drastically change your approach to life in general as well as your approach to leadership and coaching.

I found this book an enlightening read, written in a fluid, easy-to-follow and easy-to-understand style. My favorite parts were the "Try This" sections, which I found applicable not only to the work situations, but quite often to the general life. The 60 Big Coaching Questions found in Chapter 12 were truly eye-opening and I would have bought this book just for those pages. There are also some great photographs, notably the one on page 98 (and no, I am not going to tell you what is in it!), that complement the writing very well.

Overall I found "Unleashed!" to be a provocative read that delivers. I surely hope a similar description (provocative, but delivers...) would be used for anybody who reads it and applies it to his or hers approach to coaching.

Book received free of charge.

I have just finished Gregg Thompson and Susanne Biro's book "Unleashed!" Now this is not my usual read as while I am in the business of coaching people it is at a different level i.e. I am not a professional coach in the normally accepted way those words would give meaning.
However, I would like to comment about the book rather than me. I really enjoyed the principle of "Great Expectations" as described in the book. So much of our lives is about scrutiny and tests. This methodology sets the "Talent" up to be as successful as she or he can be, before any limiting judgements are made.
The book is easy to read while retaining lots of "meaty content". Peppered with interesting and appropriate quotes, the book holds the readers' interest all the way through.
A thoroughly reccommended read............almost textbook quality.
As a New Zealand resident, this is/was a refreshing and instructive read appropriate to our social rules and environment.
Thankyou Gregg and Susanne.

Once I started reading the book, I couldn't put it down! Three hours later I was finished. The book is written so that you feel the author is conversing with you.

While other business books may have a wonderful story to tell, it is difficult interpreting how most of the information can be applied to real life; they wind up being more story and not enough pointed information. That is not an issue with this book.

Unleashed! is full of practical information that can easily be transferred to the work environment and is written by someone who's been there, done that, and is still doing it. Even if you are not interested in being a "coach" per se, there is so much "relationship" information you will most definitely take something away from the book.

The numerous quotes help to drive the message home with the best one by Yoda - "Do or do not, there is no try." So - read the book and grow!