By Dr Tyler A. Gerdin
Almost two decades ago, during my doctoral training in clinical psychology, I became enamored of psychoanalysis. The interest only lasted a few years, but I learned a great deal from the depth-oriented psychologists, and I still go back to them. I just finished Carl Jung’s Modern Man in Search of a Soul.
A couple of words on Jung. He was a man of intense learning and culture. Reading him is a bit dizzying — he’ll move between neurology, anthroposophy, Catholicism, and shamanism within the same paragraph. It seems to me that Jung has turned a great many people into wanderers rather than finders when it comes to the problems of their lives. But he also started many of them on their journey of discovery, and that counts for something.
Here is one passage that stopped me:
“I do not wish to pass myself off as a prophet, but I cannot outline the spiritual problem of modern man without giving emphasis to the yearning for rest that arises in a period of unrest, or to the longing for security that is bred of insecurity. It is from need and distress that new forms of life take their rise, and not from mere wishes or from the requirements of our ideals.”
The spiritual problem underneath the psychological one
The good doctor speaks at length about how many of his patients came to him not merely in a psychological crisis but a spiritual one. He blames, in part, what he calls the Americanization of culture — a world in which efficiency matters above all else.
I notice the same malaise in many of the leaders I’ve coached. One of the most common things that brings a client to me is a sense of being aimless — as an owner, as an executive. Some of the people who seek me out are doing exceptionally well, at least on the business side. But they seem exhausted and drifting. Relationships haven’t gone the way they hoped, at home or at work, and in key areas they’ve had the opposite effect of what they intended.
I’m sketching, of course. There are several philosophical and cultural problems of this postmodern age tangled up in that description, and I couldn’t deal with them all in one post. But I will say this plainly: a legitimate reason for coaching often has to do with finding a sense of one’s spirit — one’s meaning and direction in life and in work.
Yes, it’s also about the bottom line
This isn’t always related to the numbers. But business leaders with real foresight understand that it usually is.
It’s hard to lead people without actual passion and concern for their well-being. It’s hard to lead a company in the right direction without believing in the goodness of the cause. And people these days are very good at sniffing out hypocrites.
So the human — the all-too-human — matter of finding oneself turns out to be a leadership matter too.
Midway upon the journey
Dante opens the Divine Comedy this way:
“Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, For the straightforward pathway had been lost.”
Most of the leaders I work with know that wood. They didn’t set out to get lost. They were moving fast, doing well, and one day looked up and couldn’t say where the path went.
There is no easily defined set of tricks, tips, and techniques for helping someone find the direction they need to go. Whatever the way out is, it likely leads somewhere different from where they’ve been headed so far.
Yes, I’m a believer in helping leaders hit clear objectives, grow in closely defined skills, and I fully stand behind a structured, goal-oriented coaching engagement. All I’m trying to do in this post is say that finding meaning, clarifying values, and taking stock of where you are when you’re lost in a dark wood is often a legitimate — and crucial — need for coaching. Not a soft add-on to the real work. Often, the real work.
If that’s where you are, find somebody who can help with these things.
If that’s where you are, reach out. I’d be glad to talk about whether coaching is the right next step — mtnorthcc.com.
