Coaching found Julie Starr without her looking for it, and she started to practice coaching before she knew what it was.

As a project manager of large-scale change initiatives in big organisations, Julie was someone who people naturally turned to with problems ­– often complex, personal matters that required care and attention to their inner world.

Julie acquired skills to enhance her ability to perform this role; tools like neuro-linguistic programming helped her to navigate one-to-one work, and also prepared her for the future that awaited her.

At a time when coaching qualifications had yet to be developed, Julie began writing a book that would help people understand the one-to-one work she was doing. That book is The Coaching Manual and it is now in its fifth edition, having garnered critical acclaim from the likes of Sir John Whitmore, widely regarded as the founder of the coaching industry.

Julie, now an executive coach, mentor, writer and speaker, has since written two more best-selling books on coaching as well as two works of fiction, all of which are inspired by her belief in the interdependency of people, and by her passionate enquiry into the nature of reality.

 In this episode, we also talk about:

Not allowing models and frameworks to become limiting factors in our work as coaches

The power of non-attachment and the importance of working joyfully

Staying true to ourselves, and resisting the temptation to climb a ladder that is against somebody else’s wall

How to charge what you would be delighted with but not amazed by

How to pursue the pathways that make sense to you in a turbulent, disorienting world

We also discuss the biggest challenge we face as coaches: the inner and outer work we have to do to get ourselves out of the way in conversations.

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

- Neuro-linguistic programming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming

- Tony Robbins https://www.tonyrobbins.com/

- Richard Bandler and John Grinder https://www.pocketbook.co.uk/blog/2017/08/01/john-grinder-and-richard-bandler-nlp-neuro-linguistic-programming/

- Milton Erickson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_H._Erickson

- Effective Coaching by Myles Downey https://pocketwisdom.blog/2022/08/10/effective-coaching-by-myles-downey/

- Coaching for Performance by Sir John Whitmore https://www.performanceconsultants.com/coaching-for-performance-book

- Co-active Coaching https://coactive.com/about/what-is-coactive

- The GROW model https://www.performanceconsultants.com/grow-model

- Tim Gallwey https://www.performanceconsultants.com/tim-gallwey

- Writing coach Marcia Yudkin https://www.yudkin.com/index.htm

- Eloise Cook https://reedsy.com/eloise-cook

- Kim Morgan on The Coach’s Journey Podcast https://www.thecoachsjourney.com/podcast/episode-25-kim-morgan

- The Institute of Self-Actualisation https://isaexperience.wordpress.com/

- Landmark Forum https://www.landmarkworldwide.com/the-landmark-forum

- The Journey https://home.thejourney.com/

- Joe Dispenza https://drjoedispenza.com/

- Julie’s first non-fiction book, From Magic to Memphis https://starrcoaching.co.uk/introducing-julies-debut-novel-magic-to-memphis/

- Truth Keeper, book one, by Julie Starr https://www.linkedin.com/posts/juliestarrcoach_truth-keeper-book-one-julie-starr-activity-7076863795129655296-cjpg/