At one time, having a personal coach was just for top-tier athletes, but no longer. Whether you prefer the term “mentor” or “life coach,” there’s growth potential for us all to consider.
June 08, 2025 •
Adobe Stock/razihusin
As I was recently reading select NFL team stories, one article intrigued me because it dealt with much more than your typical sports headlines, coaching or player moves, or even personnel highlights. The article, entitled “Kirk Cousins Raves About New Packers QBs Coach Sean Mannion,” can teach us all about
In the article, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins describes the need for being a lifelong learner and someone who wants to improve. More than that, he explains how a particular previous coach, Sean Mannion, helped him to improve. Mannion is the new quarterback coach for the Green Bay Packers, and Cousins heaped praise on him.
But before we get to the specifics, I want to highlight that the skills and passion to improve that Cousins describes apply to much more than football or sports. In fact, every professional needs to keep improving to achieve continued success in any career.
Put more bluntly, yes: This applies to you and me and public- and private-sector CxO leaders.
“’I think you always want to be learning and you always want to be getting sharper and you want to know what’s been going on,’ Cousins said. ‘Where is football going? If changes have to be made to my game, the way I play, the way reads are happening in order to be successful, then I want to know what those changes are.
“’If there are things that I just need to keep doing consistently and don’t have to change a thing, I want to know what those things are. So, I want someone to help kind of guide me to where does my quarterback play need to go? How does it need to change and how does it need to stay the same?
“’So, there’s innate traits that you’re born with, it’s genetic,’ Cousins said. ‘Sean has really high capacity mentally. That’s a trait that you either have or you don’t, and Sean has it in spades. That’s something you’re born with — that’s more the hardware. The software is the good coaches he was around.’
“’When you have a high-, high-level hardware and you get around really good software, you can download a lot because there’s all this untapped potential,’ Cousins said. “’That’s where I get excited about with Sean. When you get around the right coaches and knowing what he’s got to work with, it’s a great marriage right now in Green Bay for him to develop as a coach and to know what it could lead to.’”
DO YOU NEED A LIFE COACH?
Over the past decade, this blog has covered the value of being a mentor, having a mentor or both. I was one of the CISOs who helped to start the mentoring program for the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) more than a decade ago, and there is tremendous value in that low-cost program.
Luisa Zhou called The Ultimate List of Life Coaching Statistics in 2025:
- Coaching is a $4.56 billion global industry.
- There are 34,200 certified coaches in the U.S. (109,200 worldwide).
- 99 percent of individuals and companies who hire a coach are “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the experience.
- 80 percent of coaching clients say that they improved their self-esteem or self-confidence thanks to coaching.
- 73 percent of coaching clients say that coaching helps them improve their relationships, communication skills, interpersonal skills, work performance, work/life balance, and wellness.
- 51 percent of companies with a strong coaching culture have higher revenues than other companies in their industry.
- 68 percent of individuals who hired coaches were able to make back their investment.
- The median ROI is seven times the investment.
- Coaching can have a 221 percent ROI.
- Life coaches make between $100 to $150/hour.
The list of benefits and other related statistics is long, so I encourage you to visit the website. But needless to say, this hot trend offers plenty of potential and deserves the attention of public- and private-sector leaders.
This YouTube video offers many more details in the professional life coaching area:
FINAL THOUGHTS
One aspect of this life coach topic that is rarely discussed is the growing use of generative AI (GenAI) tools for giving advice and guidance to people (from all walks of life and income levels). I was recently shocked to learn that one of the top uses of ChatGPT and other GenAI tools was for counseling.
So how are these topics related?
So whether you want to improve in your overall health, professional leadership skills, work/life balance, cyber management traits, something else or all of the above, is there a life coach for you?
Daniel J. Lohrmann is an internationally recognized cybersecurity leader, technologist, keynote speaker and author.
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*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Lohrmann on Cybersecurity authored by Lohrmann on Cybersecurity. Read the original post at: https://www.govtech.com/blogs/lohrmann-on-cybersecurity/from-quarterbacks-to-cxos-why-we-all-need-a-coach
