A better option for coaches

Sometimes it essential to have an opinion. Often you don’t need an opinion and that’s OK. If you are a professional coach you need to be able to coach people whose opinions and values differ from yours, so better you are open-minded.
There are many topics for which I don’t have an opinion. Often because I recognise I don’t have enough information to make one and I am not interested enough to find out. There are other topics, such as Gaza, where I have an opinion which seems to stand up, for which I know I only have selected ‘facts’.
This seems to contradict current life where everyone has an opinion on everything whether they know anything or not. And the ‘if you don’t agree with me then you are out’ is the next step .

So here is a list where I don’t know enough to have information to form an opinion

• Trans women using women’s toilets. Trans men using men’s toilets. I know several trans people who have had the bravery and the trauma of transitioning. It takes a lot of courage to transition. Most transition to become who they really are. Is it such an afront to non-trans people to see a trans person in a toilet and how would you know. And what other options do they have? There are not enough statistics to prove their presence is dangerous but there is a lot of hysteria.
• By removing all the immigrants there will be no people to do the jobs the indigenous people wont do – such as looking after old people and care in general.  And regarding immigrants as cheap labour.  Though it’s a disgrace on society that someone’s race determines how much they earn.  It will of course mean that the people who want looking after will have to pay a lot more than they are doing now and many people wont get the support they need.  And with the population imbalance there will not be enough taxes collected from younger people to support the aging population so retirement age will have to increase by a lot more.  However removing all the immigrants will allow the retention of traditional culture – whatever that was .  In the UK that will require returning to eating the traditional terrible English food. Not going to the Indian restaurant after a few pints, or having food delivered because there will be no-one to cook it or deliver it. It might mean more traditional Fish & Chip shops if anyone could afford to go to them.

• There is a case for banning all people over 65 from voting in elections as they are very-short term minded, thinking of only themselves and not the long term as they wont be there. Best example is Brexit – where many people had opinions based on no information. Whereas 16-17 years olds are at least voting for their future. There is also a good case for making all politicians and leaders retire at 65 too!

• LGB alliance (without the T) claim that they would not want trans-women in Lesbian groups because trans-women are men.   In many ways it’s the same argument about having non-whites in traditionally all white clubs and having women in men only clubs.  Why any of the excluded would want to join these narrow minded and bigoted groups I don’t know unless it’s to prove a point.  Women only groups are the same thing

• It is a fact, proven by McKinsey over and over again that diverse teams get better results. Teams which are ALL of cognitively, racially, culturally, generationally, neuro, gender and sexually diverse may take longer to get to conclusions but the results will be better. But those who don’t want to embrace this fact still believe that ‘people like us’ are the only ones we should listen to. Those who are not indigenous or went to the right school still have to be better qualified to do the same job for lower pay. But compare that to ‘would I travel in a plane with a black pilot’ because he was brought in under a quota which balanced his lack of opportunity and most likely better qualified .

What benefit to I have from this?

These few examples illustrate where I observe what is going on but don’t have the time or inclination to investigate further. I also don’t go to bars to join a group watching football to voice my opinions about footballers, where, though I may have less knowledge than the punters, I severely question the knowledge of those punters when they complain about the referee. But I am not expressing that opinion in front of them as I don’t have the knowledge to justify my opinion. It’s also boring.

And as a coach, having an open mind will enable you to cope better when your client has strong views about something you know about but can straddle the fence.

Smart Coaching & Training works with over 30 associates, in four continents speaking 14 languages. Most raised and working in a wide range of cultures and living in a different place than where they were born . See our associates here.

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Many of our associates live in a different country from which they were born. And so understand about Diversity – Read more here , David Rigby will be presenting at the Diversity and Innovation Conference in Malaga on November 21 alongside Fons Trompenaars . See more here

Written by David Rigby © 2025 Smart Coaching & Training Ltd

Why the over-60s are the wildest generation

This is from an article published by, presumably a youngster, at the Daily Telegraph.

“There was something extraordinary about the protest in Parliament Square in support of the terrorist group Palestine Action earlier this month: half of the people arrested were aged 60 or above. Almost 100 of them were in their 70s. As well as risking arrest, baby boomers are drinking more alcohol than any other age group and having more unsafe sex. What happened to knitting, gardening and Midsomer Murders, asks Melissa Twigg.”

I am not prepared to pay the highly biased Telegraph to read more.

There are people I know who have shifted from unsafe sex (without fear or pregnancy) to staying at home painting. Perhaps because they are no long up for it .
They can stick to their principles without losing their jobs – hence the protests and good for them.

Personally I don’t know anyone who does knitting, gardening or watches Midsomer Murders. Having sex and drinking a lot is much better exercise. Maybe I am not yet old enough,

Destruction of the naturist beaches

In the 1960s in Benidorm the local women protested to Franco that the local mayor wanted to allow women to wear bikinis in the beach but Franco allowed the bikinis. That is why there is a huge iron cross on the hills outside of Benidorm to remember what the local women tried to do, The women who fought for the right to wear bikinis were Boomers,

In Spain at least, youngsters, being the new puritans, are avidly destroying the fought for and registered Naturist Beaches by invading them and keeping their clothes on. It’s up to the boomers to keep up the tradition and remain naked.

Dirty Chai Latte and Matcha Tea

Being in Spain we have wine with meals and wine and beer and coffee in cafes. I was asked by a youngster why I drink wine and beer and it’s because it’s cheaper than most other drinks and drinks like Coke and Fanta are poison in a bottle. I hardly drink cocktails and spirits as Spanish measures are lethal.

There is a 45 year age difference between the youngest and oldest SCT associate. See what we say about generational diversity here.

This the last of the more trivial topics for the summer break. Back to the more serious topics next time.

Smart Coaching & Training works with over 30 associates, in four continents speaking 14 languages. Most raised and working in a wide range of cultures and living in a different place than where they were born . See our associates here.

Many of our associates learned how to speak via Toastmasters and Professional Speakers Association Read more

Written by David Rigby © 2025 Smart Coaching & Training Ltd