Developing as a coach: leadership, culture, and purpose

Coaching, like leadership and culture, often gets reduced to simplicities and shallow observations or expressions. To combat these entrenched views and their associated practices, this chapter provides a critical review of some of the literature on leadership and culture, presented in such a way as to invite the reader into critical reflection and self-, organizational, and social improvement. This chapter calls for a cultural shift in strength and conditioning (S&C): away from grand narratives on science, leadership, and coaching, and towards an approach to S&C coach education that seeks dynamic, critical, and creative thinkers, who can problematize what knowledge and practice do in everyday life. Tomorrow’s leaders in S&C will demonstrate the interconnectedness of science, wisdom, and ethics, what was, what is, and what should be, and exercise their power responsibly, negotiating the needs and wants of many.