Start With Who challenges conventional thinking in the worlds of leadership, performance, and coaching. Focusing on the critical but often overlooked role of identity and context the author Marcus Marsden argues that while most people would first focus on establishing “SMART goals” and “starting with why” this is not the correct approach.
Marcus is Managing Partner of The Coach Partnership (TCP), a Singapore-based company that offers groundbreaking work in professional and personal development working with the ontological coaching approach for over 20 years. He argues you will only release your full potential after you have first identified and worked with your beliefs about who you are today and who you can become in the future. These beliefs operate as an invisible shroud draped over all your aspirations.
“One of the central themes of Start With Who is to identify how we view ourselves and our own capacity to grow and develop. It is such an overriding part of us that we lose sight of it. It is hiding in plain sight and its invisibility is what gives it its power over us. You can’t change something that you don't realise is there - we don’t see it as something we can change because we don’t see it at all.”
In the book, Marcus provides plenty of case studies, including examples from his own personal and professional experience. Whether you are a professional looking to improve your career, an individual wishing to unlock your hidden potential, or a parent wanting to coach your kids to become more responsible and productive, the approach outlined in Start With Who has a lot to offer.
