‘Kicking the tyres’
It is an old saw that it can be ‘lonely at the top’, yet a client – an influential Board member – made just such a remark recently. When asked how a coaching assignment had contributed to his work, among other things he commented how helpful it had been to have someone with whom to ‘kick the tyres’, going on to say that many of the challenges he faced revolved around people issues and how sensitivities made it more difficult to hold those types of discussions with internal colleagues.