52: The Meaning of Life (Coaching) with Nick Bolton

In this podcast, Nick and Simon go on an intriguing journey that
explores coaching from different perspectives. Nick shares his
experiences of what is called ‘life coaching’ and reflects on how
this differs, and shares common ground with, executive coaching
and other forms of helping relationships such as counselling and
psychotherapy.  

Nick believes that coaching is a new configuration, built on the
shoulders of giants i.e. it draws from the well of knowledge and
practices from psychology, psychotherapy and more. Yet he also
claims that coaching delivers its support to others in a new way,
and also that it has created a new and different client
group.  Contemporary society demands a lot emotionally and
psychologically and navigating our way through ‘life coaching’
has emerged because it can be beneficial in this domain. Those
who are attracted to life coaching aren’t typically experiencing
their lives as dysfunctional or suffering in a way that might
attract them to psychotherapy or counselling. This opens up a new
space to explore and leads to new conversations, methods and
insights.  In this fascinating podcast, what it means to be
human emerges to be at the centre of Nick's work. 



Nick Bolton is the founder and CEO of Animas
Centre for Coaching and the International Centre for Coaching
Supervision. With a particular interest in the role of coaching
in helping individuals navigate existential issues and the
complexities of 21st-century life, Nick combines a
solution-focused approach with a deeper inquiry into the client’s
worldview which contributes to, though isn’t exclusively
responsible for, the conditions or dilemmas they are facing. Nick
is an avid lifelong learner and recognises that anything he says
today merely reflects his limited thinking in the moment. He
considers that a wise disclaimer for any foolishness he says
along the way!