David Goldsmith Photo

David Goldsmith

  • Coaching Pioneer & Executive Director of 7 Paths Forward

David Goldsmith Biography

As Executive Director for 7 Paths Forward, David is responsible for building an organization that supports the development of great coaches worldwide.

This includes workshops, community development and helping organizations source great coaches.

As a pioneer in the coaching industry, he worked closely with Thomas Leonard and served as the first president of Coach U. During that time, he and Thomas founded the International Coach Federation.

He later went on to lead CoachInc.com through its expansion. He then organized the first coaching conferences that highlighted research about the profession.

He and Ruth Ann Harnisch co-founded the Foundation of Coaching which later became the Institute of Coaching at Harvard furthering the profession’s commitment to research. The Foundation provided journalism, community, research and resources to the profession.

As coaching spread around the globe he trained the first Japanese coaches working closely with Coach 21 and Coach A to help establish coaching in Japan.

He wrote the “Dear Coach” column for the Sunday London Times and has been featured in radio and television interviews about the coaching profession.

He is one of the first to attain the Master Certified Coach and Board-Certified Coach credentials.

As a coach for over 25 years, he primarily works with executives, professionals and entrepreneurs. Often known as the coaches “coach,” he has worked with many of the leaders in the industry.”

Mr. Goldsmith is a graduate of Cornell University and is a member of the International Coach Federation. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his wife Marie Motroni.

David Goldsmith Photo

David Goldsmith

  • Coaching Pioneer & Executive Director of 7 Paths Forward

Panel Discussion: Best Practices For Working With Organizational Coaching Programs: Supporting The Evolving Needs Of Leaders And Organizations

Session length: 45 minutes

2019-05-29T13:00:00-04:00 Wednesday, May 29th 13:00 EDT

Here’s a unique opportunity to hear from leaders of executive coaching and leadership development programs from four innovative, leading edge organizations, all of whom are practicing executive coaches themselves.

They will share their perspectives on the current state of executive coaching, what they look for in hiring executive coaches, and what external coaches can do to add greater value to leaders and their organizations. From an insider perspective, panelists will discuss the best ways an external coach can become a trusted strategic partner rather than just a transactional service provider.

What are the values, mindsets, and behaviors they see in their best coaches? What behaviors might raise a red flag? Where do they see coaches needing to grow in order to support their leaders most effectively on the most difficult and on the most critical emerging leadership challenges they face?

Key Learning Takeaways

  1. Understand the current state of executive coaching.
  2. Learn what leaders of executive coaching and leadership development programs look for when hiring executive coaches for their teams
  3. Discover how to become a trusted strategic partner
David Goldsmith Photo

David Goldsmith

  • Coaching Pioneer & Executive Director of 7 Paths Forward

The Robots REALLY are Coming. Why Being a Great Coach is More Important Than Ever!

Session length: 45 minutes

2019-05-30T13:00:00-04:00 Thursday, May 30th 13:00 EDT

The robots are coming and they are aiming for your job and your clients’ job.  It’s clear today that with the huge advances in voice recognition, emotionally relatable artificial intelligence and data mining, a decent robot coach will be ready very soon.

The good news is programming a robot to be a great coach is difficult, so you have a little time to prepare. If you want a thriving career in the age of robots, you can’t just be good, you must become great.

The increasing number of good human coaches is already creating price erosion.  Imagine what happens when robots are available to organizations at scale.    A robot that is 50-70% as good as you, with infinite patience and 24/7 availability at a fraction of the cost is a great value proposition for organizations.

In this webinar we’ll share our latest research on how robots are changing our industry and share with you the paths available to you to stay ahead of the robots and provide great value to your clients.

Key Learning Takeaways

  1. Your job as a coach is at risk.  There is a lot of money being spent on programming a robot to provide coaching.   Ordinary coaching will commoditized.
  2. You can take action now that will provide better value for your clients and position you to stay ahead of the robots.
  3. There are several paths to greatness.   With practice and focus you can thrive as a coach.
David Goldsmith Photo

David Goldsmith

  • Coaching Pioneer & Executive Director of 7 Paths Forward

The Coaching Robots are Here! Now What do You do?

Session length: 90 minutes

2019-12-05T09:00:00-05:00 Thursday, December 5th 9:00 EDT

The Coaching Robots have arrived and are doing good work.   They aren’t everywhere yet and you still have some time! If you want to keep your job and continue to thrive there are some very specific steps you must take now in order to continue making the impact you want.

Most of the robots are programmed to handle very specific areas of coaching and in those areas they are doing good work.  It’s easy to dismiss these early stage players when in fact they are literally the foundation for the next generation of robots who will be smarter, more empathetic and better learners.    This growth will happen faster than you expect and will drive down pricing in ways that are hard to see today.

We will explore in depth the seven things you can do today to stay well ahead of the robots and keep your coaching practice many steps ahead of the robots.

Key Learning Takeaways

  1. Coaching Robots are here.  It’s not a dream or a fantasy.
  2. To make the impact you want you need to stay several steps ahead of the robots.
  3. There are seven things that every coach can do today to equip themselves to effectively compete and win against the robots.
David Goldsmith Photo

David Goldsmith

  • Coaching Pioneer & Executive Director of 7 Paths Forward

Stay Ahead of the Robots by Using Lessons Learned from Coaching Startup Founders

Session length: 90 minutes

2019-12-05T17:00:00-05:00 Thursday, December 5th 17:00 EDT

Not all coaching can be replaced by robots. Join a discussion with coaches Marcy Swenson and David Goldsmith as they talk live about the lessons learned from coaching startup founders and entrepreneurs. Startup founders must grow themselves extremely quickly to keep pace with their businesses, and coaches for this population must understand the important patterns in founder growth as well as the unusual physics of the startup ecosystem. There will be ample time for questions. These lessons are important to building your capability to provide coaching that robots can’t touch.

Key Learning Takeaways

  1. Not all coaching can be replaced by robots.
  2. There are natural laws, patterns and physics that if understood and recognized can greatly accelerate your coaching.
  3. Working with startup founders provides great lessons and insights into coaching that robots can’t do.