Russell Brand on mentoring & coaching

During the recent holiday weekend, I sat in a field and listened to Russell Brand talk about mentoring and coaching. Was this the same Russell Brand of old – hedonistic firebrand with frequent gossip column entries? No. He still spoke incredibly fast and eloquent in his inimitable poetic style. But now he speaks as one who has learned a great deal about himself from those who have supported and mentored him in recent years. Now that he is managing his many addictions, he wants to help others learn from his experiences.

Greenbelt Festival

Russell is now an author of two bestselling, self-help books and a podcaster to the wise voices of our day – Tony Robbins (internationally-renown coach) and Brené Brown (of TED Talk and Netflix fame). And his talk was inspiring. The best quote was: “We need community because we are all mental, just not on the same day". What a great way of phrasing this truth!

Russell is a testimony to the power of a changed life through the support of ‘community’ including mentoring and coaching. His encouragement for us to have ‘community’ supporting us in our busy lives speaks volumes. Even more than he can speak for one hour sitting in a field!

Whoever we are and whatever challenges we face at home or at work, we all need ‘community’ to support us. This could be family, friends, colleagues, ex-colleagues … whoever it takes. Sometimes it needs a mentor or coach who is experienced in this type of support and totally independent of our situation. If we want something to change in our life we have to take action.

You could read one of Russell’s books (Recovery: Freedom from Our Addictions; Mentors: How to Help and be Helped) or listen to one of his podcasts (Tony Robbins; Brené Brown).