UPDATE: See my Art of Self-Coaching archive for all current course materials, including slides, class readings, and additional resources.
Here's a condensed set of slides from the ninth and final session on Endings in The Art of Self-Coaching, a new course I taught at the Stanford Graduate School of Business this Spring, and the readings for this session are shown below. If you'd like to learn more about the topics being covered, here's my syllabus, and additional resources are at the bottom of this page.
CLASS 9: ENDINGS
- William Bridges on Transitions
- Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes (William Bridges)
- Chapter 4 (excerpt), pages 77-92, "Transitions in the Work Life"
- Pursuing the Good Life: 100 Reflections on Positive Psychology (Christopher Peterson)
- Chapter 88, pages 289-290, "Days Are Long—Life Is Short"
- Chapter 89, pages 291-294, "I Resolve to Take Benjamin Franklin Seriously"
- OPTIONAL: Transitions (Bridges)
- Chapter 5 (excerpt), pages 107-123: "Endings"
- For further reading: Chapter 6, pages 133-155: “The Neutral Zone”
- OPTIONAL: A Checklist for Someone About to Take on a Tougher Job
Here are some posts of mine that I referenced or made use of in class, as well another resource that has informed my approach to today's topic:
- William James on Habit
- Psychology: Briefer Course (William James)
- Happy Workaholics Need Boundaries
- Learning to Say "No" is Part of Success
- The Art of Saying a Professional Goodbye
Thank You!
Teaching The Art of Self-Coaching has been a great experience–certainly one of the most rewarding things I've done at Stanford in my 8 1/2 years there.
I'm deeply indebted to my 36 students–I couldn't have asked for a more engaged, committed group of learners–and I'm truly appreciative of the fact that they chose to take a chance on this new course (and me) in their final Quarter at the GSB.
Many thanks to my Faculty Assistant Nonna Kocharyan and I-LEAD Associate Director Mindy Hollar and Program Administrator Nancy Dam, all of whom provided invaluable support–the course wouldn't have happened without them.
I'm also very grateful to my fellow Instructors and colleagues on the GSB's coaching staff–Andrea Corney, Chris McCanna, Collins Dobbs, Hugh Keelan, John Cronkite, Ricki Frankel, and Yifat Sharabi-Levine–a team of consummate professionals. Finally, thanks to Senior Associate Dean Lara Tiedens and Prof. Carole Robin, who, five years ago, invited me to join her (and Andrea, Ricki and our colleague Lisa Schwallie) in designing Taking Stock and Moving Forward, a course that was a "spiritual predecessor" to The Art of Self-Coaching and one that certainly influenced my approach to experiential learning.
Additional Resources
- Self-Coaching: A set of blog posts I wrote in 2012 on various aspects of the process of self-coaching, which formed the basis of my book proposal to Harvard.
- Self-Coaching: An Overview: A single post summarizing the framework above.
Note that this Summer I'm taking a leave from Stanford to focus on my writing on this topic, and I expect to be sharing additional posts both here and on HBR.org shortly.