The Story

When East meets West… when Lao Tzu wrote down the 81 verses of the Tao Te Ching 2,500 years ago in ancient China, he may not have realised the impact its philosophy would have millenniums later in the West and the newly-emerging profession of life-coaching.

When Julia from Taiwan met Nick from England on a coaching course, they didn’t realise at first that they had a common interest in the work of Lao Tzu. This joint interest soon became a course project. As we explored a few verses of the Tao, we began to see how Lao Tzu’s teachings could be related to personal development and coaching principles.

On this blog we intend to continue this work by exploring one verse of the Tao Te Ching each week. We invite you to join us on our journey and add your own thoughts to deepen our learning. How do you interpret Lao Tzu’s message? And how does it speak to you as a coach?

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Verse 60

Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish.
You spoil it with too much poking.

Center your country in the Tao
and evil will have no power.
Not that it isn't there,
but you'll be able to step out of its way.

Give evil nothing to oppose
and it will disappear by itself.

[For Personal Development]
  • Less is more. You “overcook the fish” when you are trying too hard.
  • Center your team in what’s truly important to the people, and things will come together by themselves.
  • As a leader you don’t have to do more than that.When people have integrity, crises may still happen but are no longer threats.
[For Coaching]
  • Great coaching is effortless.
  • As coaches, we invite our clients to center themselves in their values and life purpose.
  • Feel the fear and do it anyway: when people live out of integrity, the fear may still exist but it is grounded and harmless.
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