"I'm not going to be a good student for you"

One of my coaching clients said this to me in our first session.

He's been working with me over the past few months to prepare for an IPO and he sat in our first session, arms crossed and defensive, saying:

"Kate, I don't present well if I don't believe in it".

"I'm skeptical".

"I'm not going to be untruthful. I'm just not going to be a good student for you."

Record scratch: just how did we get here, again?

A lot of people think that communications coaching is designed to move you away from your own self and what's truthful - by dissembling or 'spinning'.

That can be true of some PR, but communications coaching is actually about getting much closer to what's true - both in fact, and in your own sense of self.

Are you naturally loud with a lot of energy? Great!

Quiet, introspective, serious? Wonderful!

Thoughtful, shy, sweet? Excellent!

A good communications coach can help you lean more into whatever your mode so you can find a space where you're showing up like yourself, and not as a weird, inauthentic stranger.

As for my client?

He turned out to be a brilliant student.

He listens, he's paying attention to his logical structure, and he's learned how to become more impactful and powerful when he speaks.

I think he might even be enjoying himself :)