What does a coach do?

“What does a coach do?” asked a friend yesterday.

I was reminded of this parable that Eckhart Tolle once narrated:

A beggar had been sitting in a place for many decades. One day he saw a stranger and asked him for some money. The stranger said he had nothing to give but asked him what he was sitting on. The beggar replied that it was just an old box that he had been using as his seat for as long as he could remember. The stranger asked him if he had ever looked inside the box. The beggar said nothing would be there. When the stranger asked him to look into the box again, he took the effort to open the lid and found that it was filled with gold.

A coach is like this stranger. (S)he may have nothing to give. But (s)he is helping the coachee to look within. (S)he is helping the coachee discover hidden treasures. Discover true potential.

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash