IAC VOICE, Vol 1, Num 8, October 4, 2004

In This Issue

1. Message from the President: Somebodies and
Nobodies
2. Special Annoucement: Membership
Premium
3. Membership
Update
4. Subscribe/Unsubscribe Option (and
all that other end-of-newsletter stuff!)

By
Barbara Mark, PhD
President, International Association of Coaching

Somebodies and Nobodies

In the busy life of an avid reader it is a rare occasion that a
single book leaves a lasting impression as having said something
new and unique. Robert Fuller’s Somebodies and Nobodies:
Overcoming the Abuse of Rank is such a book.

In Somebodies and Nobodies, Fuller
takes a hard look at the role of a profound experience of discrimination
in our lives. He identifies rankism as an abuse of power that we
are all subject to and guilty of. "An unheralded, unnamed revolution
is unfolding in our midst. Everywhere, people are becoming less
willing to put up with disrespect. And like all revolutions, this
one is about the distribution of power." (Fuller, 2004, p.
101) As coaches we will find this book immeasurably valuable.

We seek in our own lives to diminish
the power of the inner critic and to strengthen our own sense of
dignity. We also support our clients in the same efforts. Understanding
the subtleties of rankism in our culture will go a long way to ferret
out situations in our lives that cause us to feel "less than"
and how to respond to them. We must be willing to see the situations
in which we cause others to feel "less than" and correct
our behavior. Indignity signals an abuse of power – or put the other
way round, the abuse of power is incompatible with the principle
of human dignity." (Fuller, 2004, p. 103)

I had the occasion to meet Robert at
a discussion group recently. The humble former president of Oberlin
College spoke freely about his own experiences of having been on
both sides of the abuse of rank and he is nimble in his ability
to help us each discover our own. He invites us to take responsibility
for how we express our relationship to rankism.

Because coaching is inherently humanistic
in its goals I believe that every coach will benefit from reading
this book and sharing it with clients.

Special Announcement

Robert
Fuller's book, Somebodies and Nobodies, is being
offered as a premium to our members as a result of the generosity
of your Board Treasurer, Ruth Ann Harnisch. Ruth
Ann has been a board member for less than a year and during her
tenure has not only offered great wit and wisdom, but enormous financial
support of the IAC. One of Ruth Ann's nonprofit projects, Thrillionaires,
is an IAC corporate sponsor. In addition, Ruth Ann has personally
underwritten many of the expenses of the IAC and to date is the
largest financial contributor to the IAC, surpassing Thomas's original
grant of $25,000 to get the IAC started. Ruth Ann is a social innovator
who likes to promote and create new ways of doing things in order
to make the world a better place, and she does that through her
professional coaching and philanthropy. You might have seen her
on Oprah, or the Today Show, or perhaps you heard her being interviewed
on the radio in your city. She's the president of the Harnisch Family
Foundation, and serves on the board of the Thomas J. Leonard Memorial
Foundation. The IAC owes a profound debt of gratitude to Ruth Ann
for her amazing financial and energetic generosity!

 A
message from the Membership Chair
By
Barbara Lemaire
Membership Chair, International Association of Coaching

Membership has its privileges – and
its price. Good news for you: the privileges are great and the price
is tiny!

The International Association of Coaching
is evolving. In 2003, Thomas Leonard and a few dedicated professionals
embarked upon a radical mission. The IAC’s Board of Governors
upholds the commitment to further the interests of coaching clients
worldwide by offering rigorous and objective coach testing and certification,
while maintaining what we think are the highest and most specific
ethical guidelines in the industry.

On the tightest of budgets, we’ve
created the certification process and the Professional Ethics Review
Committee. We are also creating a global accreditation process.

Hundreds – perhaps thousands
– of volunteer hours have been devoted to this radical mission
by coaches who care about the future of the profession. We can always
use your help – write us at info@certifiedcoach.org. The original
investment of $25,000 which the late Thomas Leonard made in the
founding of the IAC has long been exhausted. The membership structure
has been reorganized by the IAC Board of Governors to create self-sufficiency
and solvency.

In the new structure, every member
of the IAC is a financial partner in the work. A nominal $10 membership
fee will be instituted in 2005, and we have begun accepting prepaid
memberships immediately.

Please choose one of the following
membership options:

NOTE: In order to use the PayPal
option you must first open your own PayPal account – once it is set
up please select Send Money and enter info@certifiedcoach.org as the
email address.

Or, make your check payable to IAC
and mail to:

IAC
PO Box 150731
Nashville, TN 37215

We will make online payments
available on the IAC website soon!

And for those who wish to offer an
additional level of support to the IAC’s work, special categories
of membership are available. We already have our first $10,000 member
for 2005! Please contact me personally at blemaire@myexcel.com
to find out if a Supporting level of membership makes sense for
you.

All Supporting, Lifetime and 3-year
members who join before January 1, 2005 receive a free copy of Somebodies
and Nobodies, a groundbreaking book by Robert W. Fuller.
A limited number of 1-year members will also receive a copy of the
book as supplies last.

Your membership is important!

To find out what privileges your IAC
membership entitles you to please visit:

http://www.membership-benefits.com/Privileges.htm

Interested In Advertising
In The VOICE?
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organizations and those providing services to the coaching industry.
What better way to advertise your business to over 6,000 members
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You will receive an autoresponder message
with full details on advertising in the IAC Voice, including our
rates, publication deadlines, etc.

Interested
In Writing For The VOICE?
The IAC Voice accepts articles from IAC members. To submit an article
for consideration, please send it along with your name, contact
information and photo to voice@certifiedcoach.org.

Writers' Guidelines:

• Articles should not exceed 350
  words and should be written in standard journalistic style.
• The Voice reserves the right to
  accept or reject any article. When articles are
  accepted for publication, the editor determines publication date.
  
• The Voice also reserves the right
  to edit articles to fit the publication’s style. Articles
  edited for grammar and style will be run without consultation
  with the writer. Any articles edited where content is updated,
  altered or changed for any other reason be will be reviewed by
  the writer prior to publication.
• While the IAC Voice does not pay
  for articles, it does offer the writer the opportunity to include
  a short bio, a photo and contact information.
• When an article is submitted to
  the Voice, the writer grants IAC the right to publish the work
  in the IAC newsletter as well as on the web site and in other
  IAC communications. Prior to use, the writer will be notified
  and all contact information will be included at the time of publication.
  

For a complete deadline and publication
date guide for 2004, please contact IAC at voice@certifiedcoach.org.