Editorial summary. This is our text summary of an article published by hr-executive. Charts, figures, and the author’s full voice are at the original — read it there .
Editorial verdict
Opinion piece with limited empirical grounding — the $16 billion industry figure is cited without a source, and the therapeutic coaching model promoted is presented as emerging best practice rather than evidence-based intervention; treat as perspective, not research.
Executive summary
This article addresses the evolving challenge of leadership development, arguing that traditional mentoring models designed for long-tenure corporate careers are insufficient for today's mobile workforce and entrepreneurial leaders. The author contends that executive coaching, while growing rapidly into an estimated $16 billion U.S. industry, often remains too focused on operational decision-making and business execution. The central argument is that a more psychologically informed, therapeutically grounded form of executive coaching represents a new frontier — one that engages executives with existential questions, emotional resilience, and formative psychological patterns. Key examples include founders who struggle with identity enmeshment with their companies, and co-founders experiencing interpersonal conflict rooted in shifting dynamics rather than strategic disagreement. The article draws implicitly on psychotherapeutic traditions, referencing the 'talking cure' and clinical psychotherapy as models. The conclusion frames this approach as potentially valuable for CHROs seeking to develop high-potential candidates or re-engage stalled senior managers, positioning therapeutic coaching as a complement to, rather than replacement for, conventional leadership development.
Key insights
- 1Traditional corporate mentoring models, exemplified by GE and P&G, were designed for long-tenure workforces and are poorly suited to today's mobile, entrepreneurial leadership landscape.
- 2Executive coaching has more than doubled since 2016 and is estimated at $16 billion in the U.S., yet the author argues it remains predominantly focused on business execution rather than deeper psychological development.
- 3A therapeutically informed coaching approach — drawing on clinical psychotherapy — is described as engaging leaders with existential questions, mortality awareness, emotional enmeshment with their companies, and non-work sources of meaning.
Practical takeaways
- CHROs exploring leadership development options may find psychologically informed coaching relevant for both high-potential candidates and senior managers who feel stuck or disengaged.
- Founders and scaling entrepreneurs who lack traditional corporate mentoring structures represent a distinct population for whom therapeutically grounded executive coaching is positioned as particularly applicable.
Source & Provenance
hr-executive
Peter Carnochan
June 23, 2026
Opinion/Commentary
United States
Original source metadata is preserved. AI analysis is generated separately.
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