I've been struggling to devise a distinction between management consulting and business coaching.

Some of the apparent differences that come to mind are these:

(1) Consultants tend to fly great distances on planes, while coaches are often locals who take the bus, hitchhike, or walk.

(2) Consultants have MBA's or a Ph.D. while coaches might have squeaked their way through high school.

(3) Coaches come cheap. Consultants cost bigger bucks.

(4) Consultants dress better and are generally better looking.

(5) Consultants are fifty times more likely to have season tickets to the chamber orchestra.

Well, as you can imagine, these differences aren't very impressive.

But I happened upon a quote, quite a famous one from Ralph Waldo Emerson, that great American philosopher and man of letters, that seems to separate the wheat from the proverbial chaff.

Do you recall that Emerson said it is man's fondest wish to find someone who will make us do what we can?

That's a coach, plain and simple.

Coaches get us to take action on what we already know we should be doing. We don't need the skills, because we have them. We're up to the task.

What we need is motivation, discipline, and accountability, and coaches provide these things.

Consultants, on the other hand, generally get us to do what we DON'T know to how to do. In fact, they tell us WHAT to do, and HOW to do it.

Consultants are experts, whereas coaches could be your neighbor, Bill, a good listener, but not a wunderkind. He's just a great guy who cares about you, and someone who keeps you honest.

I'm going to test Emerson's definition with the Consulting class that I teach at UCLA and see what they think.

Why, not? Who can go wrong in quoting Waldo?