An Interview With Chad Silverstein
Coaching for Everyone
It used to be that coaching was only for the upper tier of leadership and management. The benefit of digital reach is that coaching is accessible to everyone. This is especially true for middle management that is quite frequently the connective tissue of an organization. To me, this is the most impactful and positive trend we’re seeing in the world of coaching. I know that it’s where I really do enjoy spending time in an organization. There’s a real hunger from the middle layers of business for more practical, hands-on development. Coaching sits firmly in that category. And, it has the power to create higher levels of engagement that aren’t just good for the employee, but also for the company.
The world of coaching is undergoing a seismic shift, with emerging trends set to redefine its boundaries and possibilities. From digital transformation and the integration of artificial intelligence to the growing emphasis on mental health and the global rise of coaching cultures within organizations, these developments are reshaping the landscape of personal and professional growth. As we navigate through these changes, understanding the forces that drive the future of coaching becomes paramount. I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Lopez.
Michael is a coach to companies, leaders, teams, and individuals seeking to improve performance through transformation. Michael has delivered results for clients across multiple industries and business models. As a student of “the human industry” Michael uses his experience in, and passion for, the science and practice of behavior change to design innovative change strategies. He brings a diverse leadership style forged from a blend of business, civil service, military, and athletic experience, which he uses to accelerate performance for leaders and teams of all types.
Thank you for joining us. To start, could you share your “origin story” with our readers? How did you begin your coaching journey, and what challenges did you face in the early days?
I think becoming a coach always starts with being surrounded by great coaches. As a former college athlete, I was fortunate to be coached by some amazing people. I think that really helps develop a foundation for understanding what a great coach can do. My college football coach is still in my life and a mentor and guide to me. Then, when I finished my playing career, I became a football coach. I coached youth football for years and then when I had my son I have moved up into progressively higher levels and into high school. It’s my way of giving back to a game that has given me so much and a way to teach and guide young people.
This evolution coincided with my career progression. As I worked with clients, I found myself using similar strategies and techniques in coaching leaders and teams. Sometimes it was explicit, sometimes it was more subtle. This translated to incorporating more coaching concepts into my consulting frameworks, as well as in how I was leading my own teams. Doing hands-on coaching like this was so rewarding. However, I felt a tension working in big consulting. High-impact coaching requires hands-on work. The pressure to sell larger-and-larger engagements made it difficult to spend the kind of dedicated time with clients. At the same time, many of these projects didn’t pass what I call “the spreadsheet test.” They simply weren’t big enough to move the financial needle. I recall one of the most rewarding projects I ever did was for Clorox and it was less than $200,000. But we changed their entire decision-making model and created a cultural shift that lasts to this day.
This, and other similar experiences prompted me to create my own company. I’m a practitioner and it’s important that I’m in working with clients at the ground level. Now, I can really dedicate my time to clients.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
It is my personal belief that resilience is the single most important attribute you can have as a person. Withstanding setbacks and finding ways to persevere is essential in whatever you do. I give myself what I call the 12-hour rule. It means that when I encounter a setback, I give myself 12-hours to process it. That might mean just being upset, talking it out with mentors, and so on. But then, I try and move quickly to (and here’s another place where my sports background comes into play) “watch the tape.” This means I try and learn from what happened. It’s important to be self-reflective and honest with yourself. Just like I would do if I lost a football game, it’s important to go back and understand how your behavior contributed to the loss. Then, you learn the lesson and you move on.
I’ve always been someone that’s challenged myself. That includes challenging others. To be fair, at times being disruptive hasn’t always served me well. But, see above. I’ve tried to learn from those moments. I believe deeply that we each must step into difficult and uncomfortable moments. As individuals, as teams, and as organizations. We are the world’s most adaptable species. Adaptation requires that we embrace stress. I’ve always tried to embody that principle and encourage those around me to do the same. My LinkedIn title describes me as an “occasional maverick.” That’s always been a part of my personality. But always in the service of a greater good. Challenging myself includes challenging my own deeply held beliefs and assumptions. When I look back over my life it’s been the moments where I’ve really challenged myself internally where I’ve grown the most.
There is so much information available to us. I’ve tried to really bring what’s available together. This has been the genesis of my foray into the world of neuroscience. The studies, the research, the analysis. It’s all there. I think for many people, it can be too much information. So, I’ve tried to help both simplify what’s available and make it actionable. I’m constantly listening to podcasts, reading, and talking to people to see what’s out there that I can incorporate into my point-of-view, then factor that into how I serve my clients. I have a book coming out in January 2025 and it really represents this concept. It’s all about how to change by leveraging what we know about the science and neuroscience of human behavior. I’m excited to share it.
Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does that resonate with you so much?
“If you want to be different, you have to do different.”
This is a quote I use all the time. It’s something that encapsulates the call-to-action that I believe we all need to embrace — change requires action. I’ve openly challenged the professional change management community, for example, because I believe it’s lost some of the emphasis on the individual accountability to take new actions. The same goes for coaches that are only about manifestation. It’s not that I disregard the critical importance of mindset in the change experience. It’s an essential element. But change requires that we act. For me, this quote is a reminder of that. It’s a derivative of one of my other favorite quotes — “It’s easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than to think your way into a new way of acting.” Credited to Jerry Sternin.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
What I love about my job is that I get to work on a range of challenges. I tell my clients often, as long as you have humans at your organization, I can help. I say that because how challenges are often presented are more often about processes, systems, technologies, strategies, etc. But, I find that at the center of those challenges are people.
For example, I was recently approached by a state agency about a process challenge. The agency was struggling with quality and timeliness in their work. They discussed the idea of mapping the current state and then working with the team to identify where process bottlenecks and efficiencies could be addressed, followed by improved training. What I found after speaking with over 15 leaders was the root of the process challenge was a lack of shared understanding and agreement on who they were as an organization. It wasn’t that people disagreed on the process. They disagreed on the who, why, and how of the process. Much of their timeline challenge, for example, was simply the process of asking people to re-do work because leadership didn’t agree on who the work was serving. So, I’m working with them now to take a step back and really get aligned on their strategy as an organization. Once we agree on that it will be much smoother to walk through their business processes to identify how to execute that strategy. We’re executing that through three focused workshops.
I’m supporting another client in their journey to document their first-ever set of corporate values. This is a very successful healthcare client with a strong leadership team. There isn’t so much a problem as an opportunity to take the “secret sauce” of their organization and bring some structure to it. Their culture has been heavily anchored on a core set of leaders that have been in place for decades. As they look to the next generation of leadership, they are wanting to ensure that their culture doesn’t dissipate. It’s an interesting project because it really brings to light the idea of intentional curation of organizational culture. We’re getting them to answer the question of — who are we and do we want to be? It’s bringing up a whole new dialogue around their culture’s relationship to strategy. And vice versa. Really cool stuff.
Without saying any names could you share a particularly memorable success story from your coaching career?
Over the last year, I worked with a nuclear power station in the Southeast. It’s one of my most proud experiences. In short, I helped the 800-person station with a massive performance turnaround. The station had been suffering declining performance for many years and was in the bottom 10% of all nuclear power stations in the US. New leadership was looking for a way to inspire the station and go faster and broader with a culture change that could lead to real performance outcomes. We started the work in March of 2023 and ran a 120-day program with 50 leaders from a variety of ranks and functions. We worked with the team to identify five key behavior shifts that would form the foundation of their culture change. What resulted was truly inspiring. In six short months the station went from ranked in the bottom 10% of all stations to being competitive with the top stations in the industry. For example, there are 16 performance metrics used to measure station performance. When we started the work, only one of those 15 metrics was green with most trending downward. By November 15 were green and 10 were green for the first time in the history of the station. By March of 2024, the station had completed its transformation. It’s planned refuel outage (where old nuclear material is replaced in the reactor) was executed on time at 28 days. The first sub-30 day refuel ever. For comparison, the 2022 refuel was planned at 46 days and took almost 70. In 2020, the outage was planned for 60 days and instead took close to 100.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview about coaching. How has your approach to coaching evolved over the years, and what personal learnings have you applied to your own development?
As I mentioned, I’ve really tried to overlap the circles in my own personal Venn Diagram where my athletic, military, and corporate experience draw from the latest scientific research. At the core of that Venn Diagram is coaching about change and transformation.
One of the big shifts I’ve made in my own point-of-view and method is around the individual. For years the professional change management industry has focused on change-at-scale — i.e. methodologies that try to affect hundreds, if not thousands, of people at once. My experience suggests that change-at-scale simply isn’t a thing. When it comes to change, the unit of measurement is the individual. If we want organizations to change, we must start with the people. It’s why change always takes longer than we expect. Each person’s journey is a little bit different.
Another evolution has been my understanding and application of the science of change. While each of our journeys might be different, there are some foundational similarities around how our brains and bodies experience change. I try to incorporate that understanding into the methods and frameworks I use. For example, understanding how the adult brain learns through repetition (called long-term potentiation) and the role that our brain plays in creating what we experience as emotions.
Which leads to how I integrate those same learnings to myself. I often say that, as a coach, I have three obligations. First, to introduce my clients to difficult and uncomfortable, but necessary, conversations and experiences. Second, to support them through the process of resolving it. Third, and most importantly, to lead by example. So, I do my best every day to live by the same principles and practices.
How do you incorporate feedback into your coaching practice to continuously improve?
Feedback is essential for growth. So are errors. Errors trigger neuroplasticity in the brain. So, you must be continuously trying, failing, and getting feedback. I call it the three Fs of learning — frequency, failure, and feedback. The more I perform an action, and make errors while I perform it, the more I will learn. Unfortunately, making errors doesn’t always feel great. That’s where feedback and coaching come in. So much of my job is helping people bounce back and work through errors. See my previous comment about resilience. For me, I try to self-induce as much of that as possible. I’m always asking people around me for feedback and perspective. As well as finding ways to self-evaluate.
I use a three-step question structure to help me incorporate feedback in my life and with clients. Question 1 — How have I done something previously? This helps baseline my pattern of behavior. Question 2 — How has that served me? I try to answer this question as brutally honestly as possible. I have my own coach help me really answer this. Question 3 — How might I do it differently? If I can answer question 2 honestly and deal with the discomfort, I generally have a much more expansive set of answers available to me in question 3.
Can you discuss an innovation in coaching that you believe is currently underappreciated but has the potential to significantly impact the field?
I’m not sure it’s an innovation as much as it is a return to fundamentals. We must coach the whole person. There’s a phrase “the way we do some things is the way we do everything.” I think there’s a resurgence of this insight. There used to be life coaches, executive coaches, fitness coaches, nutrition coaches, etc. There still are those areas of specialization, but I think we’re getting back to this idea of really understanding the individual more deeply and addressing shifts at the root cause level.
I also think we’re regaining an appreciation for more shoulder-to-shoulder coaching. It’s a bit of a return of the apprenticeship model. Years ago, if you wanted to be a blacksmith, you trained under a blacksmith. You got feedback and guidance while learning through repetition and time. With the proliferation of digital and online coaching, I think we’ve become convinced that there are quick and easy fixes at times. So, where I think technology enables a greater reach experience for coaches, I believe that we have undervalued the time and attention of more personalized experiences.
I also think there’s an idea of coaching principles and coaches. Coaching principles can, and should, be applied everywhere. Central to this idea is empowering others in the search for their own answers. It’s about holding space in the journey for another person. You don’t have to be a formal coach to do that. That said, I think there are some risks of people passing themselves off as coaches that maybe don’t have the required skills. Yes, anyone can be a coach. But I know that going through formal training was helpful for me to understand coaching principles more deeply.
In what ways can coaching address the evolving mental health needs of diverse populations in a digitally connected world?
Well, I think it’s important to point out that coaches are not trained counselors or therapists. It’s something that you learn early in training. Our role as coaches is simple — to help our clients unlock the insights that lie within them. We do this by holding space and asking questions. A counselor or therapist is trained to diagnose deeper mental health issues. It’s important for the coaching community to understand when and where to refer out for additional help.
That said, there’s absolutely a role for coaches in this ecosystem. Coaching is about reflection and contemplation. It’s about understanding motivations, both conscious and unconscious. And uncovering deeper truths. In cases where there is not significant trauma or history of trauma, coaching is a great way to navigate and resolve complexity. I do think specialized coaches are a great part of the ecosystem as well. I’d just encourage people to be diligent in evaluating and selecting their coaches.
How do you foresee artificial intelligence and machine learning transforming the coaching industry in the next decade?
I think there’s a lot of promise. To the point I made earlier, we have more information than at any point in human history. To that end, AI and machine learning can synthesize and distribute all this information in ways that can be beneficial. If we can make more information available more broadly and that information can help individuals generate greater levels of insight than are otherwise available, it’s a huge win. Personalized AI assistants can be a game changer for reminders, quick feedback, and access to information.
That said, I would say though that a unique part of the coaching experience is the human experience. Having another person hold space for you, particularly in person (or video), is incredibly powerful. I’m not sure that AI can do that. But it’s still early and technologies are always evolving. If you think about it like we do with online virtual assistants, there are some things we are ok with having a bot handling my problems. However, the deeper you go there’s a desire to have a human on the other end of the line. If you know it’s AI, will that affect your emotional resonance with the insights? It’s something to keep looking at.
What role do you believe ethical considerations and privacy concerns will play in the future of coaching, especially with the increased use of digital platforms?
All certified coaches take an oath to uphold ethical standards. We take that very seriously. It is foundational to the profession.
It does seem that there is a proliferation of coaches these days. Particularly online coaches. I think that digital coaching has made it easier to reach people, which is great. I do worry sometimes that some coaches might not have the depth of training required. I have also seen an expansion of coaches that speak to their “proven five step program” or other proprietary solution. Remember, coaches are there to help unlock the insights within the individual. It’s not about the coach’s process. It’s about the client’s insight. I certainly don’t want to sound like sour grapes. There are many wonderful coaches and people online. My focus is on making sure that the person who is looking for a coach can filter through what’s online. Influencers are not coaches. So, it can be hard for the person looking for a coach to sort through that.
Could you list and briefly explain “Top 5 Trends Shaping the Future of Coaching” based on your experiences and insights? If you can, please share a story or example for each.
1. Coaching Businesses and Systems / Coaching for Coaches
One only needs to open Instagram to see many people that will help you build your six-figure coaching business. There is a plethora of people whose business is to help emerging coaches build their business, gain new clients, and reach new heights. These coaching businesses and systems to help, “coach the coaches” are proliferating. I think it’s great that there are resources to help coaches create successful businesses. I always urge caution in ensuring that coaches are doing their due diligence. A coaching business isn’t just about the revenue profile, it’s about impact.
2. Digital Reach
Technology allows us to access world-class coaches from anywhere. This is a game changer for coaches and clients. Just like video technology has become the norm for therapy and counselors, coaches can now connect across time zones and continents. From access to training to coach-to-coach support to more cost-effective delivery options, digital access to coaches has changed the game. Digital platforms allow for clients to access flexible options (e.g. one-time sessions) or quickly filter to specialized coaches much more quickly. I’m a big fan of anything that enables faster access, broader reach, at more effective prices.
3. Coaching for Everyone
It used to be that coaching was only for the upper tier of leadership and management. The benefit of digital reach is that coaching is accessible to everyone. This is especially true for middle management that is quite frequently the connective tissue of an organization. To me, this is the most impactful and positive trend we’re seeing in the world of coaching. I know that it’s where I really do enjoy spending time in an organization. There’s a real hunger from the middle layers of business for more practical, hands-on development. Coaching sits firmly in that category. And, it has the power to create higher levels of engagement that aren’t just good for the employee, but also for the company.
4. Coaching principles embedded in all leadership training
Connected to the idea of coaching for everyone is the increase of coaching principles embedded in all layers of leadership training. There are many solid leadership models available and certainly each organization should prioritize leadership behaviors that fit with their culture and strategy. However, within coaching there are a set of universal principles and skills that transcend any individual leadership framework. Active listening, empathy, open-ended questioning, and holding space, are all foundational skills that every leader should have. It’s a bit of a return to the basics approach to ensure that the people entrusted with leading others are equipped with the foundational skills to do so.
5. AI
No discussion of coaching trends can occur without AI. The hyper-personalization and instant access created from AI is a game changer. I do think there’s an interesting debate around AI which I referenced earlier. For me, AI stratifies the client base. There are clients that will take to the AI-driven coaching experience and others that want to interact with a real human. For some, it’s the connection to another person that is essential to the experience. Other clients might be totally fine getting recommendations and feedback from an AI-avatar that can synthesize client situations and responses into customized insights. It definitely opens the aperture for coaching models. I do believe that AI can be great in many formats for reminders, behavior nudges, quick response insights that don’t require you to schedule a full hour coaching session to attain. For me, it really is about the client experience and how they want to curate their coaching support. Which, of course, is the purpose of AI — to allow you to create personalized experiences that work for you.
How do you envision the integration of coaching within organizational cultures changing the landscape of leadership and employee development?
One of my favorite quotes is — “Leaders create culture. And culture creates leaders.” For me, a coaching mindset and skills are at the center of a leader’s ability to create and sustain culture. I often remind my clients that your culture will build itself, whether you tend to it or not. Therefore, you might as well be intentional about the kind of culture you have and, more importantly, the kind you want. Leaders are the lifeblood of transferring culture. For this reason, I think leaders that have a coaching aptitude will be in even higher demand. One need only look at the tech industry and some of the middle management challenges they have had, for example. For years, leaders were promoted because of their technical acumen. As these companies grew and matured, many of those leaders struggled to lead the humans in their charge. Technical skills were no longer enough to attract and retain talent. Leading people is a skill. Leading people with a coaching mindset and toolkit is a skill. With enough leaders operating with coaching principles, you can create a coaching culture — which is a culture that values feedback, reflection and growth. Companies that are willing to dedicate the time and attention to creating this kind of environment will not only retain talent, but they will higher performance.
What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the coaching industry today, and how might we overcome it?
I mentioned this previously, but we have an increasing number of people calling themselves coaches without really learning the skills and principles. Not only does this have potentially negative effects on client impacts (the most important consideration), but potentially waters down the community of trained coaches that follow coaching standards. As always, it’s important to do your homework when selecting a coach. There are many well-respected training and credentialing organizations. One should always ask about where I coach received their certification.
On the business side, this proliferation certainly increases competition. Coaches that aren’t working with technology to expand reach and access will likely fall behind. So, coaches should be investing in their own business models to ensure they aren’t being pushed out in a crowded marketplace.
Like anything, consumer education and practitioner training are key. I know that I was operating as an informal coach for years before I received my certification. Having since gone through the process, I almost wish I could go back and change the language I was using with my client. Yes, I am a coach. But the professional world of coaching means something very specific. I think for those of us who are credentialed, it’s about continuing to educate our clients, share our messages, and, most importantly, deliver high quality coaching.
What is one long-term goal you have for your coaching practice, and how are you working towards it?
I’ve been challenging some of the widely held beliefs around change. Particularly around organizational change management. I’m not trying to poke at anyone. There’s certainly good work happening. But I’m trying to give people an understanding that one, change requires individuals to change and two, that there’s no easy button. It takes time. And coaches play a huge role. Coming from the world of big consulting, we’d fallen into a bit of a false sense of security that we could do some training, give people the “what’s in it for me” (a well-known change technique), and some support materials and call it good. The results have been less than stellar across the board.
So, I’m working with my clients to really understand what it takes to change and how coaches can help them be successful. It requires some rethinking of the traditional approaches. For my business, I deploy coaching principles and techniques across everything I do. It’s because I know that each person’s change journey will be very specific to their experience. What works for you might not work for me. Particularly as we get older, we need hands-on experience. We need to generate repetitions in new behavior patterns. We need to make mistakes. We need feedback. Coaches are an essential resource for supporting those experiences, and others. So, my goal is to bring the world of organizational management closer to the coaching community and improve the effectiveness of change for individuals, teams, and organizations.
How can our readers continue to follow your work?
I’m a Top Voice on LinkedIn and very active on other social platforms. Can also find more about my background on my website — www.michaeljlopez.coach.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-j-lopez9/
Instagram: https://www. .com/michaeljlopez9/
X: https://twitter.com/MichaelJLopez9
FB: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelJosephLopez9
Thank you for offering such valuable insights into the future of coaching. We look forward to seeing your work continue to reach new heights, and we wish you continued success.
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein, a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of experience as the Founder and CEO of multiple companies. He launched Choice Recovery, Inc., a healthcare collection agency, while going to The Ohio State University, His team earned national recognition, twice being ranked as the #1 business to work for in Central Ohio. In 2018, Chad launched [re]start, a career development platform connecting thousands of individuals in collections with meaningful employment opportunities, He sold Choice Recovery on his 25th anniversary and in 2023, sold the majority interest in [re]start so he can focus his transition to Built to Lead as an Executive Leadership Coach. Learn more at www.chadsilverstein.com
Michael J Lopez On The Top 5 Trends Shaping the Future of Coaching was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.