Coaching and the Societal Unconscious: New Perspectives on Organizational Coaching and the Questions to be Addressed by Leaders

V Foley, W Bergquist International Journal of Coaching in Organizations 2009

The authors offer two case studies that illustrate the powerful role played by deeply-embedded societal values that are often religions in origin. Foley and Bergquist have used the social analyses offered by Max Weber about the Protestant ethic and capitalism to create a link between the personal conscious (business practices) and personal unconscious (religious perspectives, beliefs and values). The authors provide coaches with a different context and perspective from which one can coach leaders through highly complex issues and dilemmas that cross the boundaries of conscious and unconscious life.