Conversations with Greg Buckley

Recently, Greg Buckley asked us a question. Are we agnostic?

To be clear, he meant it in the context of the different ideologies out there (e.g. coaching organizations). Do we align ourselves with a particular organization, or do we stay independent of any one of them? It is a good question, and it gets at something we noticed when we stepped into the industry. And the deeper we have gotten into things, the more evident it becomes.

You will still see it today. Shop owners who subscribe to one coaching methodology, one framework, one organization, with full compliance. And to take it a step further, any idea that deviates from that doctrine gets ignored. Not weighed, not tested. Just dismissed because it came from somewhere else.

Here is the problem with that, from where we sit. If you close your mind to something simply because it is different, that is ultimately to the detriment of your own growth.

Now, there is a fair argument on the other side. If you have a coach, you should listen to the coach. You are paying them for exactly that. We agree.

But be honest for a second. How many of you reading this right now have worked with a coaching organization and, at some point, realized it was time to go with a different one? Or maybe you are split between two organizations, and you are not sure which one is the best fit for you. Sometimes you have to think for yourself. Is this methodology still the right fit for me at this stage? Is this organization going to grow with me? And is it keeping my mind open, or slowly closing it?

Because beyond what can start to feel like indoctrination into one very specific way of thinking, there is a second cost. It breeds unnecessary division. One group decides they are better than another group, when really both are just trying to reach a similar goal in different ways.

Cubes, slices, or wedges, you are still eating the watermelon.

If you want the watermelon, it does not matter whether you cut it into cubes or squares or slices. You still get the watermelon. The format is up to you. So why split hairs over small differences, when instead we could use those differences to complement one another and grow together?

That is where we land. Agnostic, on purpose. Not because every idea is equal, but because staying open is how you keep getting better, and how this industry stops working against itself.

This was one of many topics we got into on episode 27 of Shop Soup. Enjoy.