Carolyn Reily, Sarah Alexander and Tom Dillon all studied coaching at the Centre for Lifelong Learning with Bob Thomson who established the Diploma in Coaching here. All three have set up successful coaching businesses working as executive and leadership coaches, supporting professionals and leaders with their professional and personal growth and development. Between them they have nearly 40 years of coaching experience. Carolyn has also taught coaching at the CLL since 2017.

Bob, Carolyn, Sarah and Tom

The desire of the three authors to write a book came from wanting to share the knowledge and experience gained from working with hundreds of leaders across a wide variety of sectors and cultures. Bob Thomson, now Professor at Warwick Business School is the editor for the series Business in Mind. He reached out to his network to see if anyone was interested in writing a book. All three authors enjoy writing, sharing their experiences and helping people develop and flourish. The process of writing required self-discipline from all three, along with learning, researching and collaborating with the series editor and the editorial staff at Critical Publishing.

All three books are relevant to all professionals looking to develop their leadership and people skills. The approach of the authors to professional and leadership development is grounded in a coaching approach from their background at CLL. All the books in the series are very relevant for CLL students studying coaching, career development or counselling. All three books contain examples, case studies, activities and opportunities for the reader to reflect.

The topics covered in the books --- resilience, positive psychology and empathic leadership -- are relevant to the coaching clients of the authors. Sarah discusses the importance of a balance between performance and wellbeing in the workplace. Carolyn focuses on the importance of empathy in leadership and the changes needed in to support workers in a hybrid world. Tom proposes a framework for developing personal and professional resilience.

The fact that three CLL coaching students have gone on to write books reflects on the quality of the teaching they received from Bob Thomson at CLL and the strength of the networks developed by students of CLL.

These books are available from Critical Publishing.