Limiting Belief BS and Other Ways Traditional Coaching Fails People of Color

Almost ten years ago, in a viral 2013 Ted Talk, Bill Gates proclaimed that “everyone needs a coach.” In that speech, Gates made the case that coaching is a mechanism by which people can receive unbiased feedback and with that unbiased take we improve.

I didn’t know anything about Gates’ Ted Talk or coaching at the time. To be honest, I thought that coaching was a lot of new-aged, woo-woo B.S. that rich people in California pay for. A profession that sitcoms make fun of on a regular basis, like when they portray a wayward cousin or kooky aunt who’s just come back from a spiritual retreat and is suddenly a coach.

I thought all this about coaches until I myself got a coach. Way back when I thought I was going to open a vegan hair products line, I went to an expo for vegan products and hit it off with a vendor there. He happened to be a coach and offered to have an initial session with me for free. 

I took him up on his offer, not expecting much, and was blown away. We worked for almost a ye…