Let Me Introduce Myself
Hi, I’m Juan Esteban and I’m here to help you. How do I know I can help you? Simple, I recall my first “coaching” experience was at the age of 12. That’s right 12 yrs old! That’s about that time I realized my school mates were constantly asking for my opinion or guidance on stuff. Well, we all have an opinion, no? Without much thought, I’d typically just give them the answer to the question I was being asked. Some of them would return a month or so later and ask the same question...it was at that point that I said, “didn’t you ask me that a while back?”, and they’d say, “yeah,”. “Well, did you do what I told you to do?” was my question. And of course the answer was almost always “no”, to which I snapped, “well why did you ask me then?”
Many years later that memory came back in a sudden flash while sitting through my first formal coach training in Vancouver. It was one of those “aha” moments we all get when as if in a cartoon, a light bulb went off over my head. That moment I understood the true meaning of coaching and why although I was already blessed with a natural ability, I was in need of some training as well as realignment of my own beliefs and processes.
I realized at that very moment this is my life calling and mission. People have always been drawn to me for this reason. You see, after over 20 years of “management” experience, I was left unfulfilled. Lots of successes and little regrets. Managers are not inherently coaches. But properly trained managers can make excellent coaches. Still I had a burning desire to guide and help people that would come to me, but each day I grew more frustrated by this. It’s as if people came to hear the true about themselves but then would react to my guidance in a totally unexpected way, negative way.
As I continued to learn and study coaching, I found it was the missing link I had been searching for...the tool that would allow me to continue to help people in need. People like you, without “telling” them what to do! Boy, was I excited...I didn’t want to strike the wrong chord with anyone by policing them. The trust and faith they placed in my ability was very important, but I needed another way to communicate with them. A way so powerful that in fact I didn’t tell them what to do at all. I understood now, they were’nt asking me to tell them...they were asking me to help arrive at the best conclusion for and by themselves. The very power of arriving at your own answers translates to deep understanding and solutions because in essence, only YOU know what’s best for YOU. This becomes the basis for profound changes in your life.
You see coaching, as with sports coaches, is not meant to tell but rather enhance the performance of what is already there. Like the U.S. Army ad campaign, “Be all you can be.” Actually I’ve changed that to read, “Be all you can be, by being all of who you already are.”
Juan Esteban
Empowerment Coach
Erickson Institute
ICF Member
