DO COACHES NEED A DEGREE?

Can a coach succeed with clients and succeed in business as a coach without a certificate? If you want a successful career as a professional coach, what is required? Do you need a university degree? Do you need coaching certificate? Or is competence in coaching sufficient?

Now that more than 170 Universities and Colleges are giving out degrees in coaching, that raises yet another question, “Is a person with a coaching degree more likely to succeed than someone without a college degree?” Regarding “success” there are two dimensions— succeeding with your client in enabling and empowering the client in having a transformative experience. Then there is succeeding in the profession by being able to sell the benefits of coaching? What about someone who has taken a certificate from a Coach Training program? What are the relative values? And, can a person learn coaching on his own without specific coach education or training?