Practical Wisdom Coaching

Shane McLoughlin is an Associate Professor at the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, University of Birmingham. He teaches primarily on the Centre’s flagship MA in Character Education, with over a decade of experience teaching across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Psychology and Education. His research focuses on character education, practical wisdom, and flourishing.

"This smart, impressive book seamlessly integrates the enduring insights of classical antiquity with the vast literature of contemporary behavioral science to inform modalities of coaching in ways that are philosophically sound, empirically well-attested, and utterly convincing. Dr. McLoughlin’s learned, erudite take on practical wisdom coaching will be of inestimable value to leaders, therapists, teachers, and anyone who serves as a mentor. This is superb applied ethics with many examples and suggestions for coaching practice. But there’s more! The scholarship on display is a marvel of field-expanding, cogent, and accessible analysis of virtue, character, and practical wisdom that will influence scholarship in moral psychology for years to come. This distinctive, lively, and informative book is destined to be a classic in the coaching literature."Daniel Lapsley, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of Psychology, University of Notre Dame"Shane McLoughlin masterfully combines the hallowed and the hortatory, bringing together the ancient concept of practical wisdom and the modern practice of coaching to encourage balanced functioning as an antidote to the unbridled extremism of our times."Robert McGrath, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Fairleigh Dickinson University; Senior Science Advisor, VIA Institute on Character“If coaching is an applied developmental endeavour, then its wisdom must be lived and situated, not detached; it must arise from context and character in equal measure. This is where Shane McLoughlin’s book steps in. With Aristotle as our coach, we journey through a provocative and thoughtful book that engages the reader throughout and invites us to rethink our own practice. I am confident this important text will serve practitioners well as a catalyst for reflection, community-of-practice exploration and a valuable north star to guide our CPD.”David Tee, Ph.D., Editor, The Coaching Psychologist; Head of Research, AIcoach.chat“This book is groundbreaking in more ways than one. It combines insights from psychology, philosophy, education, and even biology and relates them to the task and profession of coaching. It gives the discourse on coaching the theoretical grounding in a virtue-based paradigm that it so urgently needs, and it forges new connections between old literatures in ways that continued to astonish me as I read through the book. Lurking in the background is the authoritative and guiding – but always corrigible – voice of the old master Aristotle who makes sure that the advice given is practicable and philosophically coherent. A real treat.”Kristján Kristjánsson, Ph.D., Editor, Journal of Moral Education; Author of Phronesis: Retrieving practical wisdom in psychology, philosophy, and education“I wish every adolescent and adult had a responsive mentor to offer lessons in practical intelligence. Because this isn’t true, the next best thing is a portal of wisdom that people can access anytime, like this book.”Todd B. Kashdan, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, George Mason University; Author of The Upside of Your Dark Side and The Art of Insubordination

• Preface Section 1: The Ground Beneath Our Feet 1. The Philosopher And The Conqueror 2. The CIVIC Model For Flourishing – Because Some Goals Are Stupid and/or Evil Section 2: The Four Pillars Of Practical Wisdom Coaching 3. Character Friendship – Bringing Out The Best In Ourselves And Others 4. The Golden Mean Between Virtue And Vice 5. Practical Wisdom (Phronesis) – What It Is, How To Measure It and What It Predicts 6. Tragic Flaws – How Imperfect People Can Still Be Good Section 3: Praxis 7. Practical Applications 8. Beyond The Known World