Helping People Change

This book contains drawings in PDF format that you can download from the audiobook page on the website after purchasing it.

Want to help people, but nothing works? Helping is a noble thing. If you’re a leader, manager, doctor, teacher, or coach, then helping is your main job. But even the most noble intentions don’t justify expectations for one simple reason: usually we try to “fix” people, solve their problems, and make them the way we think they should be. Unfortunately, this does not in any way stimulate growth, development, and positive changes.

There is another way. Emotional intelligence expert Richard Boyatzis and colleagues at Weatherhead School of Management Melvin Smith and Ellen Van Oosten offer an accessible and effective method. They believe that in order to develop a person and create lasting changes in their life, it’s not enough to solve their problems—you need to understand their personal vision, their aspirations, their long-standing dream. That’s exactly what effective coaches do: they know that people draw strength from their vision and aspirations and that this strength helps them change even in difficult times. And fixating on solving specific problems activates a physiological response that forces the person to defend themselves and prevents them from receiving new ideas.

The authors provide interesting real-life examples, as well as results from many years of research, to show how a new positive coaching method—coaching with empathy—stimulates creative thinking and helps people grow and develop over a long period.

The book also includes questions for self-reflection and practical exercises.

Your idea of how to help people will change forever.