Episode #31: Myles Downey – There Is Genius In Everyone

Myles Downey has been playing tennis all his life. But now, at the age of 62, he is relearning to play the game in a way that’s aligned with his identity and his unique take on genius.

A global authority on performance, coaching and leadership, and the author of classic coaching tomes such as Effective Modern Coaching, Myles says tennis has been instrumental in shaping his view of people and how they learn.

In our fascinating conversation, he describes the transformative experience of reading Timothy Gallwey's The Inner Game of Tennis, and how that led him on a path towards demonstrating the principles of coaching to more people than anyone else ever has.

Having been at the forefront of business coaching for over three decades, Myles explains why Leader Performance is now his major focus, and how he developed the Enabling Genius model and put together a project team to look at the area of genius, which he wrote about in his book Enabling Genius – A Mindset for Success in the 21st Century.

In this episode, we talk about:

The vital shift from instruction to focusing on each individual's ability to learn for themselves

What Myles thinks are the two most useful coaching questions

Why coaches must look beyond the individual goals of each client  

The Boost Leadership mobile learning platform that Myles has helped to develop

Moving from 'command and control' to 'align and enable' and the battle between love and will

In a world hung up on control and codification, Myles is a compelling advocate for the power of self-expression, creativity and innovation, and his passion is impossible to ignore.

For more information about Myles, visit http://mylesdowney.com/, or email him at [email protected].

For information about Robbie’s wider work and writing, visit www.robbieswalecoaching.com.

Music by My Good Man William: listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4KmeQUcTbeE31uFynHQLQg

To support the Coach's Journey, visit www.patreon.com/thecoachsjourney and to join the Coach's Journey Community visit www.thecoachsjourney.com/community

Things and people we mentioned (that you might be interested in):

- Myles giving a full coaching session on the JMJ YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDCKgvuHZKQ

- The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey https://theinnergame.com/inner-game-books/the-inner-game-of-tennis/

- The Alexander Partnership https://www.thealexanderpartnership.com/about-us/

- Enabling Genius, and Effective Modern Coaching by Myles Downey http://mylesdowney.com/writing/

- George Kelly and his Personal Construct Theory https://www.verywellmind.com/george-kelly-biography-2795498

- Roberto Assagioli https://psychosynthesistrust.org.uk/7-remarkable-facts-about-roberto-assagioli/

- Ken Wilber https://integrallife.com/who-is-ken-wilber/

- Werner Erhard http://www.wernererhard.com/

- Waking Up The Workplace podcast http://www.wakinguptheworkplace.com/

- Alan Fine https://theinnergame.com/alan-fine-developing-the-grow-model/

- Sir John Whitmore https://www.performanceconsultants.com/sir-john-whitmore

- McKinsey https://www.mckinsey.com/

- The School of Coaching https://www.theschoolofcoaching.com/

- Ken Wilber's pre/trans fallacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Wilber#Pre/trans_fallacy

- Heather Dawson https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-dawson-79b09169/

- Praesta coaching https://www.praesta.co.uk/

- The European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) https://www.emccglobal.org/

- The International Coaching Federation (ICF) https://coachingfederation.org/

- Eddie Jones https://www.englandrugby.com/england/senior-men/squad/eddie-jones

- ActionCOACH https://www.actioncoach.com/

- Boost Leadership http://playboostnow.com/

- George Kelly Shaper Of: Personal Meaning, by Trevor Butt https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/9780230008410

- Inner Tennis: Playing the Game, by Timothy Gallwey https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Inner_Tennis.html?id=G3G1AAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y

- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's TED talk on flow https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_flow_the_secret_to_happiness?language=en