Steve Hardison is the Ultimate Coach. He charges his clients $200,000 for 100 hours of coaching.  You must see him at his Arizona office every week without fail. Many clients fly from great distances weekly to be coached by Steve. If you don’t show up, you risk forfeiting the entire $200,000.

Steve’s wife, Amy, and a co-author, Alan Thompson, wrote a book, The Ultimate Coach, that tries to discover the principles that are the foundation of Steve’s success. Below are excerpts from the book related to the Ultimate Coach and leadership:

 

  • “Leaders use their speaking as a way to create hope and possibility”.

 

  • “There are seldom quick, easy answers. Most solutions come from managing conversations”.

 

  • “Acknowledgements are a powerful form of creation. People will become what you acknowledge them to be”.

 

  • “No organization will rise above the level of its leader. My company is a reflection of me”.

 

  • “First the things I believed I couldn’t do were only beliefs. They weren’t really the truth. And second, I learned it is always about who you need to be, not what you need to do. What you need to do will flow from who you are being”.

 

  • “The same accountability I have for myself as a father is the same accountability I have for myself as a boss or as a partner in my business”.

 

  • “I learned that my energy was being drained by not setting proper boundaries”.

 

  • “One of the hallmarks of the coaching experience is Steve’s laser focus”.

 

  • “What I was left with in life is about who you’re being, not what you’re doing. If I am getting off track, I go back to ‘Who am I being in this situation?’ or ‘Who do I need to be in this situation?’ I can be anybody I need to be. I am not a fixed identity”.

 

  • “For an average coach, or even a good coach, it takes a year or two to really uncover your client’s limiting beliefs, because clients don’t reveal them very easily. They’re insecure about them to begin with”.

 

  • In encountering clients who are in denial about themselves, Steve would say, ‘That’s not the truth. That’s not even believable, not even close to believable”.

 

  • “Wanting people to think highly of me secretly drove every part of who I was, what I did, and the daily choices I made. It caused me to place acceptance over integrity, appearance over substance, and illusion over authenticity”.

 

  • The authors refer to a tool for making decisions called 10/10/10. ‘The idea is to ask yourself about your decision in ten minutes, ten months and ten years”.

 

  • “I never use my past to victimize myself or others. I use my past to lead, build, inspire, teach and love”.

 

  • “People say things to us all the time. We can accept or reject what they say. How much power it has is completely up to us”.

 

  • “If I take my word casually, it takes away from my ability to create my future through my speaking. I am not willing to do that”.

 

The Ultimate Coach is well worth reading – for everyone, not only coaches.