By: Maria Rossi

Dr. Corrie Block is no stranger to shaking up the business world. As a globally recognized executive coach, business strategist, and thought leader in performance neuroscience, he has spent decades helping top-tier executives achieve peak leadership performance. Now, with his latest book, Chief Executive Coach, he’s taking a hard stance on the flaws within the executive coaching industry—calling for a complete recalibration of how business leaders approach coaching.

“The executive coaching industry is broken,” Block asserts. “Too much of it is based on the non-advisory coaching model—where coaches ask endless open-ended questions but fail to provide real strategic value. That’s great for life coaching, but it doesn’t work at the highest levels of business.”

The Wake-Up Call for Business Leaders

Unlike his previous books, which explore leadership performance (Spartan CEO), workplace meaning (Business is Personal), and company culture (Love@Work), Chief Executive Coach delivers a direct challenge to executives: If you think you’re elite at what you do but don’t have a high-performance coach, you’re underperforming and don’t even realize it.

“Think about elite athletes—Olympians don’t wait until they’re struggling to get a coach,” Block explains. “They work with one continuously because they know high performance is about constant recalibration. CEOs, investors, industry disruptors—it’s the same game, just a different field.”

This idea—that executive coaching should be a non-negotiable for top business leaders—is one of the book’s most striking takeaways. Block urges executives to rethink coaching not as a luxury but as an essential leadership tool.

Breaking Through the Ego Barrier

One of the biggest obstacles to coaching, Block points out, is ego. Many executives see coaching as remedial—something for struggling leaders rather than top performers. But in reality, the best in the world rely on coaches to sharpen their decision-making, enhance leadership impact, and optimize their mental models.

“The problem isn’t that executives don’t need coaching—it’s that many of them have never worked with a truly world-class coach,” he says. “Too many coaches borrow techniques from life coaching and apply them in a business context where they don’t belong. That’s why I wrote Chief Executive Coach—to differentiate real executive coaching from the noise.”

The book challenges leaders to ask themselves a tough question: If you’re making billion-dollar decisions daily, why wouldn’t you have a world-class coach in your corner?

The Biggest Mistake Leaders Make

According to Block, one of the most common pitfalls executives face is trying to improve leadership behavior without first improving their thinking. Leadership training often focuses on tactics—better time management, delegation, communication—but without optimizing cognitive processing and decision-making, these improvements rarely lead to transformational change.

“If you’re overloaded, don’t just fix your time management—ask yourself why you’re overloaded in the first place,” Block advises. “What flawed assumptions are driving your decision-making? Are you optimizing for productivity or for impact?”

Chief Executive Coach pushes leaders to go beyond surface-level improvements and instead focus on long-term mental agility and decision recalibration.

The Fine Line Between Trust and Authority

Another key lesson from the book is understanding the Authenticity Paradox. While trust and vulnerability are essential leadership qualities, over-disclosing insecurities to employees or boards can erode confidence in leadership.

“Authenticity is valuable, but CEOs need to practice strategic vulnerability,” Block explains. “A great executive coach provides a protected space for leaders to process challenges—so they don’t have to do it in a way that undermines their authority.”

By guiding executives to strike the right balance between openness and leadership presence, Chief Executive Coach offers practical strategies for maintaining credibility while fostering trust within teams.

A New Standard for Executive Coaching

Ultimately, Block’s book is a call to action—not just for executives, but for the coaching industry itself. He argues that executive coaching should be treated with the same rigor as coaching in elite sports, emphasizing performance metrics, strategic insight, and results-driven coaching methods.

“Executives don’t just need a sounding board—they need someone who will challenge their thinking, push them past blind spots, and elevate their decision-making,” he says. “If you’re in leadership and you don’t have a coach who does that, you’re leaving potential on the table.”

With Chief Executive Coach, Block aims to redefine what executive coaching should be—an elite, high-performance discipline designed to transform not just business outcomes, but the leaders behind them.

Final Thought: Are You Ready to Lead at the Highest Level?

Block leaves executives with a compelling challenge: “Are you willing to risk a cup of coffee to explore how I can help you?”

For leaders ready to take their performance to the next level, Chief Executive Coach isn’t just a book—it’s a game-changer.

Published by Joseph T.