Introduction: A Psychodynamic Approach to Leadership Development
Coaching is not a new phenomenon, despite the recent interest it has generated. Throughout most of human history, the vast majority of people lived out their lives in small communities, with their work and personal life experiences constricted and interwoven. Every passage in human experience was guided by elders. Babies were born, grew up (and sometimes died) watched over from their first breath by a circle of grandmothers, aunts, cousins, and sisters. The destiny of a child, male or female, was predetermined by ancestry and birth order. Religious obligations set the rhythm of daily life and measured the seasons. Nobility protected and exploited the peasants on their lands. Even queens were not exempt; in 1712 the poet Alexander Pope wrote of Queen Anne, "[she] dost sometimes counsel take, and sometimes tea."