Why Coaches Give Crappy Advice—And What To Do About It

A CEO of a billion dollar company I once worked with felt stuck. Now that he was sleeping again and confident in his, his team’s, and his company’s performance, he was ready to raise another round of funding. But he wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. “Should I do it?” he asked me, begging for advice.

I thought it was a bonkers idea.

So did he.

There were as many reasons to wait as there were to raise.

And yet his heart said yes. He struggled to make the call.

My clients ask me for advice all the time. I sometimes offer it—as long as they agree to fight me on it. Because in my experience, even the best coaches give crappy advice. We’re not there to tell you how to run your business—when you’re the CEO, you have enough people telling you what to do.

The best coaches help you figure out what YOU need to do in the most informed way possible, without wasting too much time, energy, or money on the wrong things. It’s a balancing act. But it works.

So, in this case, rather than make an ill-informed decision, I invited my client to call on a stealth team of super-friends—his mentors—to share opinions, war stories, and intelligence from the field. After talking to them, we would debrief. Then he would know what to do.

Two weeks later, he showed up beaming. He had successfully raised $150M.

As an executive coach, I work with a lot of successful founders, CEOs, and senior leaders at high-growth companies. But having a great coach, team, and company is only one part of a much larger story.

Mentors and advisors are also a key ingredient that is a part of every successful CEO’s support system.

And sometimes, you have to not only get out of your head and talk to your coach, but also get out of the building (or Zoom room) and talk to people. Your team, board, advisors, mentors, customers. Everyone.

The trick is to not spend too much time talking to everyone and to get just enough data so that you can make quick, calculated, heart-driven experiments as you get clear on and take your next steps.

Who is a part of your support system? If you need help, download this worksheet in my totally free leadership toolkit to help you figure this out.