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| Source: The Coach Partnership. Start with Who. |
While his previous book Fit to Lead focused on challenging received wisdom regarding the role of the body in leadership, Start With Who challenges conventional thinking in the worlds of performance and coaching. Here, Marsden focuses the critical but often overlooked role of identity and context.
According to Marsden, most people focus first on establishing “SMART goals” and “starting with why”, but you will only release your full potential after you have first identified and worked with your beliefs about who you are today and who you can become in the future.
Marsden said, “It’s really a synthesis of the three biggest influences that I’ve had in my life. Firstly, the work of the existential philosophers that I studied at (Oxford) University, in particular Albert Camus. As soon as I came across it, it just intrinsically made sense to me.
"Secondly, the marketing education regarding brand identity that I received while working at Unilever and thirdly, the life and lyrics of Bob Dylan. So much of his work revolves around identity and authenticity. Indeed, his quotation from 1965, 'All I can do is be me, whoever that is' really encapsulates the whole essence of the book."
“Your concept of who you are and who you can be, plays a fundamental role in what you are able to produce, and yet it goes by, relatively unexamined in everyday life,” Marsden added.
The writing of the book was also a personal journey of self-discovery for Marsden. “Since school days, I have been interested in these philosophical questions about life and the ideas began to come together when I entered the world of personal development and coaching in 2000," he said.
"One of the central themes of this book is identity, how we view ourselves and our own capacity to grow and develop. It is such an overriding part of us that we lose sight of it. It is hiding in plain sight and its invisibility is what gives it its power over us. You can’t change something that you don't realise is there - we don’t see it as something we can change because we don’t see it at all.”
In the book, Marsden provides plenty of case studies, including examples from his own personal life and professional experience. These examples serve to fully and clearly illustrate the importance of “starting with who” if you are to achieve your personal and professional goals and transform your capacity to produce results.
Start With Who will be available from March 2022 at www.thecoachpartnership.com/shop, on Amazon and at bookstores. The e-book retails from S$9.99, softback at S$35, and hardback at S$70. All proceeds from the hardback sales will go to the Giraffe Conservation Society.