Would you hire a life coach who hadn’t really lived?

I was fascinated to read a piece in the New York Times recently about the new trend in the US for younger life coaches – some as young as 20.

My initial reaction to this was probably similar to yours, ie fairly dismissive. How on earth can someone barely out of their teens be able to work effectively in a profession that requires maturity and a degree of self-awareness?

Then I pulled myself up and reflected on my ageism. Just because I have “had a life” – at 55, I’d like to think I’m able to give some help and guidance to other women because I’ve experienced many of life’s ups and downs – doesn’t mean that a much younger coach couldn’t do the same. Just in a different way – one that doesn’t rely on racking up life experience.

The article quotes an established coach by the name of Hugo Cory, who is 44 and charges Park Avenue prices. “I see only positive in these younger coaches,” he says. “If they are not meant to be a coach then they will not have many clients.”

Which is true. No matter what age you are, if you are not authentic, you will not attract many clients. Mr Cory also makes the point that the generations born after the 1970s were raised to have more emotional sensitivity and empathy.

Janet Harvey, the incoming president of the International Coach Federation, says there is nothing wrong with having a young life coach. “They are only charged with helping clients to hear themselves and to hold themselves accountable to articulated goals,” she adds.

I would agree with this, to a point. Coaches are there to give clients the space to find their own solutions, and then hold them accountable for taking actions towards those solutions. However, they are also there to be present, to hold the space so that the client can bring themselves into the moment.

I know I would not have been able to maintain such presence at the age of 20. That is not to say it is impossible – after all, we are constantly evolving as a species and younger generations may not have to go through tough life experiences and years of personal development work in order to grow up and wake up.

It’s not just clients that choose coaches, though. Most coaches select the clients they want to work with – or rather, when the coach is ready, the client appears. Both client and coach are being coached, if you will.

As a human potential coach, I trust that, with a little input from me, the universe will bring me in contact with exactly the right clients – those who will most benefit from the way I am in the world as well as the techniques and tools I have learnt.

As for a 20-year-old coach – the jury’s out. I’d love to meet one, though.