4 Times Celebrity Coaching Showed Us the Value of Hiring a Business Coach
Celebrities and billionaires—they're just like us!
Well, no, not really. We don't all have the ability to quarantine on a private island or throw our money at a luxury yacht on the Adriatic.
But there is one thing that proves these celebrities and self-made multi-millionaires and billionaires are mortals just like the rest of us—and that's coaching.
We've gathered a list of high-profile people who have enlisted the help of business coaches to achieve greater wealth, success, and fame.
Proving that no matter who you are and how high you've climbed above the rest of us, everyone needs guidance from a coach to truly achieve all of your dreams and accelerate your personal and professional growth.
Yes, many more celebrities and famous entrepreneurs have hired coaches. Still, the ones we choose for this list are interesting because the relationship between the coach and coachee was one we can all learn from to see how valuable coaching can be for anybody.
Steve Jobs
Coach: John Mattonne
[Executive Coaching]
We all know that Steve Jobs is arguably one of the most innovative and successful businessmen in history, and has secured his legacy as such.
Through his wit and creativity, Jobs was able to build the global powerhouse Apple has become. But, like everyone, Steve Jobs needed help from sources outside of himself.
It was near the end of his life that Steve Jobs enlisted the help of [now] world-renowned executive coach John Mattonne as Jobs tried to secure his legacy and find direction to lead the people around him and become a leader that is connected to his inner-core and touch the minds and hearts of those around him.
In an article written by John Mattonne in 2018, Mattonne explains how Steve Jobs enlisted his help when Mattonne wasn’t well known. Still, Jobs was so struck by his book “Success Yourself,” which at the time wasn't successful but decided to take a chance and do the intense” inner work” to become that leader he always strived to be.
John Mattonne believes that a lot of CEOs, no matter how successful, lack essential leadership tools. In that 2018 article, he writes that leaders:
“have never connected with their inner-core--their 'soul' (self-concept, character, values, thinking patterns, emotions) to discover the massive gifts and gaps that hide deep within and when they discover these hidden gems, and we work together to help them translate these discoveries into driving greatness in their outer-core (leadership skills that drive operating success), they become forever changed and better as leaders.”
What is incredible about this is that Steve Jobs was already uber-successful in terms of money, achievements, and status, but he recognized that he was not perfect and that growth and learning never stops.
Jobs knew he still had faults and obstacles that prevented him from becoming the best leader he could be—even towards the end of his life.
2. Bill Gates
Coach: Bill Campbell
[Executive and Business Coaching]
Coach Bill Campbell was a crucial behind-the-scenes player in Silicon Valley and was regarded as the top executive and business coach for the Silicon Valley tech elite for decades.
Bill Gates is just one of many tech elites he coached, like Erick Schmidt (former Google CEO), Mark Zuckerberg, Jonathan Rosenberg, and many more. His executive teachings have become the stuff of legend that still lingers around Silicon Valley.
You know those teachings were priceless because Bill Gates—a man worth $124 Billion, who built the largest software business from the ground up, and is known for his self-confidence and aggressive business approach—was a client for years.
Perhaps what drew Gates to Campbell's tactics was Campbell's ability to separate the CEO from the organization to get down to the essence of what you are, where you're headed, and exactly what you're building.
It's not just about the numbers and daily tasks that almost become robotic; it's about taking a step back and determining how you contribute to your organization and what you're building.
Everyone who worked with Campbell remarked on how he helped his clients become leaders by showing you how people around you perceive you.
In the biography about Campbell, "Trillion Dollar Coach," he says: "A coach can help you see yourself as other people see you. A coach can help you see when your actions are not in line with your personal goals and vision.”
If someone like Gates, who is so incredibly successful, needed a coach to show him certain blind spots and push him more, how much more can we all gain from the insight that coaches give us?
3. Bill Clinton
Coach: Tony Robbins
[Business Coaching and Celebrity Life Coach]
Tony Robbins is a world-famous life and business coach who has coached many famous world leaders and celebrities, including Serena Williams, Oprah Winfrey, Princess Diana, Leonardo Dicaprio, and Nelson Mandela.
Bill Clinton is one of his most high-profile clients Robbins has coached. In fact, they began their work together while Clinton was in office.
Clinton solicited Robbin's coaching services in 1993. After a rough first year as president, his approval rating had been steadily dropping, and he had no one stand up to him and tell him things without a sugar coating.
As the leader of the free world at the time, Clinton needed help to get back on track, know how to make better decisions, lead with conviction, and get his approval rating back up.
Eventually, Robbins helped him throughout his impeachment scandal and helped him win back the public's approval. Maybe he wasn't the only factor that propelled Clinton forward to overcome the impeachment, but he sure did help.
Clinton has been very outspoken about his positive experience with the coaching he received from Robbins.
This is what Clinton said about Robbins in a speech in 2007:
"He has a great gift. He has not only the gift to inspire, but he really, from my point of view, teaches the most important lesson that every individual has to learn about living day-to-day, which is that you have choices in every circumstance. And you have to make up your mind how you will respond to whatever it is that happens, as well as how you will make new things happen.”
Clinton was and is objectively a smart man with an enigmatic personality and a knack for the domestic economy.
But even the most powerful man in the free world needed guidance from a coach to keep his head above water by pushing him and asking tough questions that get down to the root of the problem to make those decisive decisions that impacted the world.
4. Metallica
Coach: Phil Towle
[Performance Coaching]
You don't have to be a heavy metal fan to know the band Metallica; they are rock legends formally inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, have several Grammys, and have sold 125 million albums worldwide.
But you might have to know a little bit more about the band to know they have had their ups and downs. Their worst down was documented in the 2004 documentary titled “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster.”
Basically, Jason Newstead, the band’s bassist for the past 20 years, quits and leaves the band in pieces trying to recoup and find a new bassist to write a new come-back record.
This is when things get rough for the band who was overflowing with 20 years worth of anger, resentment, and a tornado of personalities and issues.
The band needed an intervention—badly. This is where performance-enhancing coach, Phil Towle, comes into the picture.
As the band fell apart, Phil Towle stepped in and essentially put them back together; in fact, Ulrich, the band’s drummer, credits Towle with saving the band as well as his marriage.
In an interview for the Los Angeles Times, Towle describes the coaching techniques he used for the band. His goal was for the band members to become functional teammates by unlocking their self-imposed obstacles, cracking open the hard exterior, and getting into their emotional, scared, and vulnerable insides where “moments of potential insight” could happen.
Whether it's specifically a performance enhancing coach such as Towle, a business coach, or an executive coach, hiring a coach can be extremely life-changing when rock bottom happens, no matter who you are.
Hitting rock bottom doesn't make you a failure; like it was for Metallica, it can be the turning point in your career and personal life.
What do all of these coaching experiences have in common?
In the simplest terms, what these successful individuals have in common is that no matter how high they climbed, how much money they made, or how big or small their problems became, they still strived to do better—to continue learning and improving.
They knew that to do so, guidance from a coach was the most efficient and rewarding way. They were open to being vulnerable and accepting that they can't do everything themselves.
It's just like Bill Gates said in one of his most famous Ted Talks: everyone needs a coach.
Bottom Line
You don't have to spend thousands of dollars per session to get valuable coaching, and you don't have to be a world leader or be in a famous band to need coaching.
Coaching is essential for everyone's personal and professional development and can be accessible for every budget—not just those with huge pockets.
If you're interested in seeing how coaching can be the turning point in your own life, head over to CoCaptain and check out the wide range of coaching types and price points, they offer.
What celebrity were you most surprised to see on this list? And what high-profile coach seems to interest you the most? Join our discussion below.
