Honesty is still the best policy.

As I have mentioned in a previous article, Dave Buck inherited Coachville from the late Thomas Leonard. Although Dave is a knowledgeable guy, actually a really neat guy, he has struggled taking over Coachville from Thomas. I am sure this has weighed on Dave's mind in more ways than just money.

Thomas passed away on February 11th, 2003. Dave realized he had huge shoes to fill. Like all CEO's of large companies, it is their decision as to the path the company or organization will take. Dave was facing a tough task at best, he needed to take Coachville through probate, settle with Thomas's family, determine who will stay and who will go.

I remember speaking to Dave in May 2003, he was trying to manage this growing organization. He felt like he could just continue on the same course Thomas was on. I spoke with Dave again in June 2003, he was already feeling the stress and strain of running Coachville.

When I was in Boston in the fall of 2003, I remember speaking with Dave about Coachville. At that point I realized Dave had lost control of Coachville. He had built up a large staff and had hired several managers. Dave might have had more insight into the organization at that time, but I had the hard knocks experience in the business world to realize Dave was traveling through life without a map. Is it ironic or what, this is what we teach in coaching. Always have a plan.

In 2004, as fellow coaches, we all kept our eyes on Coachville and Dave. Staff turned over, managers came and went. There was talk about a coach buying into Coachville. This did not materialize. There was talk about Susan Austin coming back into the coaching world. Remember, Susan was Thomas's assistant and Dave made a financial settlement with her to keep her out of the coaching arena for a year.

By the summer of 2005, coaches were talking. Coachville was trying to become ICF certified, which conflicted with the IAC. The live events all but stopped. New programs came and went. All the hyped up business builder programs like the 0-60 program were all but forgotten. What was happening at Coachville.

Personally, I felt that as a fellow coach, it was better to just sit back and wait. I did not want to hurt Coachville, I did not want to double guess Dave Buck and most of all, I did not want to offer him any more advice.

The only advice I gave Dave when the organization started to spin out of control was, " pick one person to listen to and stick with him or her." Dave would listen to one coach, make those changes, then when they did not work, talk to another coach, and make those changes. He was skipping around all over the board.

Truth really is the best policy, so in the fall of 2005, Dave Buck sent out a letter to all coaches in the world. It was like a "State of Coachville." He talked about the hits and losses. Unfortunately, there seems to be many losses at Coachville. For this, I commend Dave for his honesty and openness.

From a business point of view, it is sad, I wish things had been different for Coachville. From a personal point of view and a industry point of view, it is disturbing. Prior to Thomas's passing, Coachville was positioned to be the leader of the coaching world. Coachville had the power to expose the ICF, Coachville had the power to bring Life Coaching mainstream. Unfortunately, under Dave's control, this did not happen.

As a Life Coach, I only hope Dave will live up to Thomas's commitment of 1,000 hours of classes. This means teaching interesting and informative new material, not infomercials, disguised as new classes.

If you are a Life Coach and would like to help grow the US Life Coach Association, the only real grass roots coaching organization, please contact me personally at 1-800-841-8776 or e mail at Jeff@MasterLifeCoach.com