Jack Gordon
PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN, HOSPICE FOUNDATION OF AMERICA

When and how did you first become aware of Life Coaching?
I first became aware of Life Coaching when I got a letter from the Brande Foundation offering to furnish me with a Life Coach. When I eventually accepted the offer, I found out what a Life Coach was or at least what my Life Coach is.

When did you become a Brande Foundation Life Coaching client?
Well, I have had a Life Coach since June or July of 1999.

What prompted you to use Life Coaching?
People are never so good at anything that they can’t be better. That’s a basic fundamental belief of mine. Hospice is a small organization dealing with a huge problem. We care for people at the end of their lives. This requires different perceptions on the part of the medical community and the people themselves. I thought that maybe there are things that are missing in what we offer. I thought that maybe being able to talk to somebody once a week or so about our problems could help me solve them.

In what ways has Life Coaching been useful to you in your personal life?
Usually you can think of new answers if you step back and look at the questions a little differently. And that’s what’s been helpful to me in this relationship.

Have your personal relationships been affected, and if so, how?
Well I guess to some extent they have. I use my time better, and I think I relate to people around me in a little better way. I’m a little more aware of those things.

Professionally, how has Life Coaching affected your performance and productivity?
Well, I’ve been able to talk about some of the kinds of things that take up time and that don’t seem to be very productive. By talking about them, I’ve figured out some ways to give myself more time to do what I do best and ways to delegate more to others. I’ve also learned how to let certain things go. Sometimes I realize that I just don’t have to do them.

The coach/client relationship in Life Coaching sometimes involves very open, candid and honest communication about very sensitive subjects. How comfortable are you with divulging confidential information to your coach?
Oh yeah, that doesn’t particularly bother me, I’ve never met him in person because we’ve only talked on the telephone. It’s certainly not psychotherapy and it’s not really counseling, but we talk about the kind of things you might discuss with a close family member or a friend. And my coach can be pretty dispassionate about it. I don’t feel any constraint in talking to him because I don’t know if I’ll ever see him. It’s sort of a neutral relationship and lends itself very well to the kind of anonymity that permits a very open discussion.

Is there any one experience or change in your life that stands out and that you feel is directly attributed to Life Coaching?
I have made some basic changes in the structure of the Foundation. All of that got started because of these conversations.

If I were a close friend of yours contemplating Life Coaching, what would you say to me to convince me of its merits?
Well, a couple of things. One is that you really have nothing to lose but an hour a week on the telephone and most people can afford that. And another is that most people can profit considerably by an opportunity to examine what they’re doing from a more objective point of view. It’s probably not a good idea to sit down with one of your colleagues and say, “I’m having lots of problems in managing this board of directors.” You just can’t talk to them about that sort of thing. So the idea of having a neutral, sympathetic ear and having somebody who has a pretty good sense of interpersonal relations is very helpful. I think it’s a very thoughtful program. I didn’t think much of it at the beginning, but I now think that the idea of selecting non-profit leaders who spend a lot of money affecting social change and giving them an opportunity to talk about both the details and the bigger picture of steering their organizations is very thoughtful.