In this article, I write about the interaction of coaching with psychology, summarizing the key approaches, methodologies and tools that can be found in both coaching and psychological interventions with the aim of demonstrating that coaching has strong roots in the various disciplines of psychology. I will also present an overview of where coaching can be positioned compared to other helping professions.

“Ruling a great nation is like frying small fish.
When they are over stirred, they will break into pieces.”
Lao-ce: Tao Te Ching

In the fall of 2012, I started working as a Senior Program Manager at Vodafone Hungary. At that time I had no idea about VUCA. A few weeks later, I noticed that I became exhausted very quickly psychologically; my first thing was to go to sleep after work. Having just come back from a six months long retreat in India and Nepal, my nervous system was under shock by the constant flood of information, organizational and project-level changes.

“I’m not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I’m afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.” The ancient Greek conqueror, Alexander the Great was quoted by an Indian friend, Mithun, when I asked him what makes a good leader. We see both versions as management consultants, coaches and employees: how a competent, courageous leader leads a humble team to success, and how a leader who is weak, ego driven or incompetent breaks down a high-performing one.

Like all good coaches and coaching schools, I also try to give a definition of coaching. An American coaching webinar I attended recently also started by sharing how we tell our family members and clients what coaching is all about. I was just about to explain what coaching means to me, when one of the course participants, a lady working in the Silicon Valley, turned to me and asked “hey, Julia isn’t it a Hungarian word?”