Principle: Not Every Education Has a Logo
I was talking with my friend Cody Royle recently. He’s a former international head coach, author of three books, and one of the more serious thinkers working in performance right now.
We were talking about professional development — specifically, where coaches should focus their time and money when it comes to levelling up.
He mentioned Seth Godin’s alt MBA. Which he did while he was a head coach.
On paper, that looks strange. You’re running a national programme. You’re managing a roster, a staff, a results environment. And you’re doing a creative writing MBA run by an internet marketer.
But his reasons were simple: curiosity, creative challenge, finishing a book. It paid off, including finding an editor he’s worked with across all three books, and a new network of thinkers from completely different fields.
None of that was on the syllabus.
Which raises a question the industry doesn’t ask enough: what actually counts as professional development for a coach?
Perspective: The Credential Trap
We’ve been trained to think about professional development in a narrow way.
A certification. An accreditation. A university course with a recognisable name on it. Something with a score and a badge at the end.
Those things have value. I’m not dismissing them. But coaching is, at its core, a study of humans. Behaviour. Change. Motivation. Pressure. Decision-making. Trust.
Any education that deepens your understanding of those things is coaching education.
A peer leadership group of six people wrestling with real organisational problems. A book you’re writing about something you don’t fully understand yet. An industry entirely different from sport. A creative challenge that forces you to think differently.
All of it counts.
The question isn’t “is this an accredited coaching course?” The question is: “does this make me sharper at understanding and developing people?”
If the answer is yes, it belongs in your development plan.
Story: Cody’s Best Answer
At one point, I asked Cody what he thought the single best professional development opportunity was for a performance coach.
I expected a book. A programme. Maybe a mentor he’d worked with.
He said: parenting.
“Hands down, without a doubt. There is absolutely nothing that teaches you more about behaviour, behaviour change, skill development, and skill acquisition than watching your own child develop.”
I’ve got three kids. I knew exactly what he meant.
Decision-making under pressure happens every morning before 8am. Making a clear, shared decision with another key decision-maker (your partner) while three children are screaming for different things simultaneously: that’s a skill set no seminar touches.
The best development often doesn’t arrive in the form you’re looking for. It comes disguised as life.
Question
Think back over the last 12 months of professional development — time, money, or both.
How much of it sharpened your understanding of people, not just your technical practice?
Closing Thought
The credential validates a narrow slice. Everything else is your responsibility. Coaching is a study of humans. That means life itself is curriculum. The question is whether you’re treating it that way.
Until next week,
Caleb Cousens