The Portable Coach: 28 Sure Fire Strategies For Business And Personal Success (Hardcover)

by Thomas J. Leonard (Author), Byron Larson (Author) "Selfish. It's a little adjective that can carry a big load..." (more)
Key Phrases: worst weakness, virtual assistant, soft costs, Capillary System, Section Score, Section Total (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Want to be more successful, happier, wealthier? You could hire a personal coach: a business and personal-growth mentor who consults with you, offering advice and insights. Or you could read this book by Thomas Leonard, the "father of personal coaching" and founder of Coach U, a virtual university that trains coaches from 30 countries. In his lively The Portable Coach, Leonard presents 28 principles to help you shape your life, career, and relationships so that they are satisfying and profitable, with 10 ways to accomplish each principle, and additional tips and self-tests.

This is no superficial, feel-good-now, get-rich-tomorrow book. It's like having a year of sessions with this celebrated coach without paying his $400 per hour fee. Flip through the book until you land on just the right tip for what you need to learn right now, or take a progressive journey through the book, putting the tips into action as you go. The Portable Coach bursts with more immediately useful, personally relevant suggestions than you can possibly use. It should expand your mind, improve your performance, enhance your relationships (business and personal), help you enjoy life more, and give you many swift kicks toward becoming your best. Highly recommended. --Joan Price

From Library Journal
We're not talking football here. As a financial adviser, Leonard realized that more than anything else, he was a career counselor, confidant, and therapist to his clients. So he founded a movement to help people attain what they want through special coaching?and an institution called Coach University to provide the coaches. Here's a quick course for interested New Agers.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (August 6, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684850419
• ISBN-13: 978-0684850412
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #79,598 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Personal Success through handling the basics., July 17, 2003

By	C. Middleton (Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Most of us know the things in life that are preventing us from reaching our true potential. Then again, some of us simply don't care. However, after reading this highly informative book, I discovered that there are a few areas in life that required attention - absurdly simple areas, such as basics for caring for one and one's home and possessions. It astonishes how a dirty car, a non-existent filing system and a messy cloths closet can have such a negative affect on one's life. Thomas Leonard brings these apparently non-important basics to your attention and coaches in a friendly manner, gently instructing us to do something about it.

The text offers 28 strategies in 28 chapters, including numerous tests that help you to reflect on your current state or condition, and simple step-by-step guidelines to change your current condition for the better. The key notion in his strategy is to make oneself more attractive by living a fulfilling life. Rather than `strive' and `hard sell' your way to success, his method is more along the lines of taking the path of least resistance - that by being aware and sensitive to oneself and one's environment, you create an attitude of mind where living and success becomes almost effortless. His method more or less has a Zen quality to it - surrendering to the Tao and moving through life in a natural way. In other words, by attaining clarity of mind, one is more in a position to recognize opportunities when they present themselves, and because we have become more ourselves and in-flow with our environment, good things will happen. Put in other terms; remove the physical and emotional clutter in your life, thereby creating the space for success to occur.

It is impossible for a single self-help book to be the answer for everybody. Though Leonard has an approachable method covering general areas that most of us experience and have trouble with from time to time. If anything, it could well bring your attention to areas that you thought were under control and moving smoothly and are not. This book is worth having a look at...

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Will change the way you think about self improvement books, May 20, 2002

By	J. Murdoch "guerrilla marketing gal" (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've probably bought about 100 books in the self-improvement category in the last fifteen years. About ten of those books are ones that really changed my thinking and my life. This book is one of the ten.

The premise of this book is that success is a byproduct of your growth as a person. That by focusing on your physical, emotional, and spiritual health, you naturally become more attractive to yourself and others. And by being attractive, you naturally PULL success to you. However "impractical" this may sound, it really works. I seen it work in my own life and in the lives of others.

This is a very different approach to success if you believe that you have to fight and scrape to succeed. I used to feel success was a constant zero-sum battle and my success came at a great cost to my health, relationships, and peace of mind. In all honesty, the approach described in this book, not only works, but it works better than the old "success at any cost" philosophy. It does require some willingness to suspend judgement and try some things that feel uncomfortable but for me, it's been worth it.

The book also suggests plenty of practical steps you can do immediately to begin seeing results. Also check out related tools at Thomas Leonard's website. There's a lot of great stuff there.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing ideas - difficult to implement, December 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The PORTABLE COACH: 28 Sure-Fire Strategies for Business and Personal Success (Audio Cassette)

The 28 principles outlined in these tapes run the gamut from common-sense to slightly insane. Worthwhile, but way-too challenging for most folks. Build a super-reserve in all areas? Sure - where do I sign?? Nice idea - but most of us struggle to get there! Unhook from the future? Great idea - also hard to do!! Take care of yourself - elimnate delay - don't tolerate anything - all interesting ideas, all VERY difficult to accomplish!! I listened twice and found few practical applications or advice on the HOW of these methods. Lots of positive thinking, not a lot of reality-based suggestions!!