National Executive Coaching Day is a holiday observed annually on the 1st of May. This day celebrates executive coaches and all that they do. What are executive coaches? They are individuals who specialize in developing executives to optimize their leadership performance and potential and help them manage the increased stress they will face in their new positions.

Of course, there are different levels of executive coaching, as not all executives require the same level of guidance. Some executive coaches work with novice executives, while others collaborate with some of the highest-performing executives on the planet.

The History of National Executive Coaching Day

Throughout history, there have been professionals to mentor and educate. During the Middle Ages, these professionals coached nobles, merchants, and other members of the ruling class. This continued as the world transformed from an agrarian society into an industrial one.

This is when executive coaching really began to take off as a profession. The term “executive coach” wouldn’t become popular until the 1970s, however. Up until that point, it was known as executive counseling.

It was primarily based on the work of business consultant Thomas J. Leonard, who is considered by many to be one of the pioneers of this field. The popularity of this holiday really took off during the 1990s as more and more corporations began to invest in coaching programs for their top executives.

These corporations quickly saw the benefits of executive coaching. Since the beginning of the 21st century, executive coaching has been cemented as an established profession. There are now thousands of coaches working with executives and corporate leaders all over the world.

As the field has expanded, several different sub-branches of this holiday have begun to emerge. These include leadership coaching, coaching for specific job roles and/or industries, and executive team coaching. Currently, we’re unaware of when National Executive Coaching Day was invented.

We believe that it must have been invented sometime during the early 2000s when executive coaching began to really come into its own, but we have been unable to independently verify if that’s the case or not. If anyone knows when this holiday was invented, feel free to drop us a line, and we’ll update this section in the future.

Observing National Executive Coaching Day

This holiday is observed by anyone who has ever hired the services of an executive coach. For these individuals, it’s a day to give thanks for the invaluable lessons they learned through their mentoring sessions. This is also a good day to spread the word about this profession and encourage other people to observe this holiday. This can be done on social media using the hashtag #NationalExecutiveCoachingDay.