Ultimate Coach

The author opens with a note explaining that this book contains no endorsements urging readers to pick it up, since the only testimonial she values is the one a reader forms by reading it. She asks readers not to read the book as a story about Steve Hardison, but as a story about themselves and about the nature of being. Throughout, readers are encouraged to ask what kind of person they would need to be in order to love others more fully, parent more effectively, feel confident, find peace with themselves, and live as extraordinary a life as possible.

The book traces Hardison's path from a difficult childhood, including trauma that nearly broke him, to his rise as a sought-after coach. Readers get a close look at his personal history alongside an account of what working with him is like, offering something close to the experience of being one of his coaching clients without sitting in his office.

The book also recounts Hardison's encounters with a number of prominent figures in coaching and self-development, among them Devon Bandison, Steve Chandler, Karen Davis, Dusan Djukich, Werner Erhard, Jason Jaggard, Byron Katie, Stephen McGhee, Rich Litvin, John Patrick Morgan, Michael Neill, Michael Serwa and Iyanla Vanzant, along with others.

The book is not a self-help guide, and it is not a manual on how to coach. Hardison himself, the author notes, would say the book is about being, and ultimately about the reader.