Public Policy 190: Jim Thompson (10/19/2004)

Jim Thompson, the founder and executive director of the Positive Coaching Alliance, spoke at the Social Entrepreneurship lecture. He was a Stanford GSB alum who was running the Public Management Program (also at the GSB) when his experiences with coaching for his son's sports teams led him to write a book on the topic. He disliked the "win-at-all-costs" nature that had seeped into the youth sports organizations; instead, he advocated "Double Goal Coaching": Winning is the first goal, but learning life lessons and developing character is the most important goal. They've taught 2,000 workshops, but the BHAG ("Big Hairy Audacious Goal") is to reach 1,000,000 coaches, 25% of the 4M that exist today, over the next 10 years. He talked briefly about their methods (adding regional offices in NY, LA, Florida, Chicago; starting a certification program; reaching parents and public schools) as well as some of the theory behind it (social network theory, where Mavens are people who command attention by virtue of their authority, and Connectors are included in different networks of people.

He answered questions and closed noting that coaches that adhered to the PCA model had a higher winning percentage than those that used the "win at all costs" model.