Richard Boyatzis, H.R. Horvitz Professor of Family Business, Professor of Organizational Behavior and Distinguished University Professor at Case Western Reserve University, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by Coaching at Work, a leading UK-based publication dedicated to sharing information on coaching globally, for his contributions to leadership coaching.
The award winners were announced at Coaching at Work’s annual conference, held virtually for the first time in November.
“Richard Boyatzis’ many pioneering contributions to leadership coaching have included decades of research into emotional intelligence and what makes for effective coaching, including, unusually for coaching research, dozens of longitudinal studies as well as hormonal and neuroimaging studies,” said Liz Hall, editor of Coaching at Work who presented the awards at the conference.
Boyatzis has contributed to coaching research since 1967 and has authored and co-authored highly influential books including Primal Leadership, Resonant Leadership, and most recently, Helping People Change.
His work highlights the combined effect of vision based coaching and resonant relationships with clients that results in dramatically more effective coaching experiences.
“His work also highlights the importance of renewal experiences, of techniques to reverse the effects of stress and revive themselves, neurologically, hormonally and emotionally,” Hall said. “These renewal experiences help a person become more cognitive, perceptually and emotionally open, innovate and learn, and motivate others to learn, develop and innovate- which is the ultimate purpose of coaching. A very well-deserved award!”
“I am touched,” Boyatzis said. “To be recognized by one’s peers is truly the greatest honor. But the award is not really just for me. It is a testament to the work of a group of faculty and doctoral students at CWRU, especially Professors Melvin Smith and Ellen Van Oosten.”
Boyatzis is actively pursuing the next frontier of coaching research with Weatherhead colleagues Ellen Van Oosten, Melvin Smith and Tony Jack as well as former doctoral students Angela Passarelli, Scott Taylor and Kylie Rochford and numerous current doctoral students through the Coaching Research Lab (CRL). The CRL is a scholar-practitioner collaborative Boyatzis co-founded in 2014.