Interview with Jean-Francois Cousin, Speaker, Author, Master Certified Coach (ICF) and Chair of the Global Board 2019, International Coach Federation.
I caught up with Jean-Francois in his current hometown of Bangkok, Thailand.
How did you get started in Coaching? Around 13 years ago I started coaching and based myself in Bangkok where I had been working for 6 years as a country manager for Lafarge. I embraced coaching for two reasons. The first was that over my career in management, the moments I had enjoyed the most always involved helping my people grow.
Seeing them find new areas of growth and blossom was very rewarding. The second reason was that I had climbed several steps in the company’s hierarchy and to go higher would involve ‘politics’ and having my days filled with conference calls, far from people and the field. So, I felt it was time to move on and focus on that which made my heart sing.
Was Coaching always your intention? Up until 2006, I did not know much about coaching. When I started reflecting on what to do next, being an engineer-, I researched all aspects of personal development practices and found that the effectiveness of coaching was already proven, and I found it attractive for many different reasons. So, I started my coach education and completed it in 12 months.
