A preview of this full-text is provided by American Psychological Association.
Content available from Consulting Psychology Journal
This content is subject to copyright. Terms and conditions apply.
EXECUTIVE COACHING AND
LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENT: PAST,
PRESENT, AND FUTURE
Len Sperry
FL Atlantic University
Executive coaching has come of age both inside and outside the field of consulting
psychology, and has become one of its most significant developments in the past decade.
This article briefly describes this phenomenon. It also suggests that executive coaching can
continue to be a defining force in consulting psychology in the coming decade, as well as its
corollary, leadership assessment, provided the field is proactive in promoting both.
Keywords: executive coaching, leadership assessment, leader behavior, leadership,
executive consultation
If someone had told me in 1972 that the future of psychological consultation was in executive
coaching, I would have not have taken that prognostication very seriously. Actually, 1972 was the
year that I began to offer psychological consultation services to corporate clients. In those first few
years, the focus of my consultation efforts was on executive assessments, leadership development
workshops, and executive consultation. Since then, I have worked with countless organizations and
executives, and have also taught graduate courses, including a doctoral seminar on executive
leadership. I have also published nine books and three special issues on leadership and organiza-
tional issues. However, it was not until 2004 that I published a book specifically on executive
coaching (Sperry, 2004). That book grew out of my coaching of executives and the many conference
presentations and weeklong workshops on executive coaching that I developed and presented. It
seems that from 1998 onward, the demand for practicing, teaching, and writing about executive
coaching has increased dramatically.
In my estimation, executive coaching is the most significant development within the field of
consulting psychology over the past decade. I base this conclusion on four observations. First, the
Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research (CPJ) has published three special issues on
executive coaching in the past 9 years (issue 4 in 2004; issue 1 in 2005; and issue 1 in 2008).
Parenthetically, CPJ published its first special issue on executive coaching in 1996. No other topic
has been the focus of as many CPJ special issues. Second, several other notable articles on executive
coaching have also appeared in CPJ during this time frame. Third, over the past few years the
midwinter meetings of the Society of Consulting Psychology (SCP) have provided training for
psychologists in executive coaching. Fourth, beyond the kin of SCP and the American Psychological
Association (APA), several organizations have emerged in the past decade to “certify” coaches to
work in corporate settings. These include the International Coach Federation (ICF; 2013) that offers
three levels of certification based on the assessment of candidates on 11 core competencies. In short,
Len Sperry, Department of Mental Health Counseling, FL Atlantic University.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Len Sperry, Professor of Mental Health
Counseling, FL Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL 33431. E-mail: lsperry@fau.edu
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research © 2014 American Psychological Association
2013, Vol. 65, No. 4, 284–288 1065-9293/14/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0035453
284
