What a 2500-year-old philosopher can teach us about coaching today

If you think coaching is a modern invention, you might be surprised to learn that one of the best “coaches” who ever lived spent his days wandering the streets of Athens wearing a simple robe and asking inconvenient questions. Ever heard of the Socratic Method? If so, you might already be connecting the dots.

Socrates wasn’t a life coach. He wasn’t a consultant, a mentor, or a teacher in the traditional sense. He was something much more interesting: a master of conversation who believed that real wisdom doesn’t come from being told — it comes from discovering. And this is where the story becomes surprisingly modern.

Let's set aside the history, the toga, and the marble statues. What we’re left with is a way of interacting that looks remarkably like the foundation of contemporary coaching. In fact, if Socrates lived in 2025, I think he’d probably be hosting a podcast called “The Unexamined Life", where he would be facilitating wildly popular coaching demos, and writing articles about deep listening, inner wisdom, and human potential.

Because long before coaching became a profession, Socrates practiced the art of helping people think better. And at its core, Socratic conversation was coaching before coaching had a name.

Socrates believed something radical, and so do Coaches

Socrates’ core belief was simple but revolutionary: The answers are already within you. He didn’t see himself as a giver of knowledge. He saw himself as someone who helped people uncover what they already knew but hadn’t yet articulated.

This perspective, almost 2500 years old, is uncannily close to one of modern coaching’s central principles: people are naturally creative, resourceful, and whole. Long before coaching frameworks, competencies, or certifications existed, Socrates trusted that every person had the capacity for insight — not ready on the surface, but reachable through thoughtful questioning. The job of the question-asker is simply to help reveal it. That belief alone puts Socrates firmly in the lineage of modern coaches.

The Socratic Method was basically the first known coaching framework

Although it sounds philosophical, the Socratic Method is really practical. Here's what Socrates actually did when he talked with people in the marketplace:

Step 1: Clarify the belief

• “What do you mean by that?”

Step 2: Examine assumptions

• “What leads you to believe this is true?”

Step 3: Look for contradictions

• “Does this idea still hold if we look at it from another angle?”

Step 4: Create insight

• “What if the opposite were true?”

Step 5: Move toward alignment

• “So what follows from this new understanding?”

If this looks familiar, it is no wonder. Whether you use ROSA, GROW, or another coaching model (or have outgrown any model), the underlying movement is the same: question → reflection → awareness → choice → action. The Socratic method might be 2500 years old, but the core mechanics haven’t aged a day.

Socrates refused to give advice — and he knew exactly why

Here’s something every coach will appreciate: Socrates avoided giving advice, not because he lacked opinions (he had plenty), but because he understood something essential about human psychology: People don’t grow from being told. They grow from discovering.

He knew that when he imposed an answer, he robbed the other person of the chance to think. When he asked a question, he handed others the tools to liberate their own mind.

And this is what coaching protects fiercely: autonomy, ownership, responsibility, inner agency.

Socrates intuitively understood that advice creates dependency — and as studies suggest, is rejected most of the time. Inquiry, on the other hand, creates empowerment. In today’s overloaded, noisy world, this insight might be more relevant than ever.

Socrates practiced the earliest form of deep listening

Contrary to the image of him endlessly debating in the agora, Socrates was also an exceptional listener. He listened beyond words — to assumptions, patterns, hesitations, and contradictions. He paid attention not just to what people said, but to what their thinking was doing.

This is the essence of modern coaching: listening not for information, but for meaning. Coaches today would recognize it instantly:

• listening on multiple levels

• sensing what’s spoken and unspoken

• noticing emotional cues

• tracking shifts in energy and perspective.

Socratic listening wasn’t passive, but a form of active presence. He wasn’t waiting for his turn to reply, but instead staying with the other person’s thinking long enough for something deeper to surface. And that depth and patience, as we know, is what gives reflective conversation its transformative power.

Why Socrates still matters in 2025

We live in a world full of information, advice, and opinions. Answers come fast, sometimes faster than we can even form the questions. And yet many people still feel stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure of what they truly want.

This is why Socrates feels surprisingly relevant in 2025. He created space for reflection and slowed conversations down so clarity could emerge. He believed that understanding grows when people examine their own thinking, not when they absorb someone else’s conclusions.

Modern coaching does exactly the same. It doesn’t give people more information — it offers them room to think. In a noisy world, that might be one of the most valuable experiences we can give each other!

What coaches (and leaders, and humans) can learn from him today

Here are a few Socratic principles worth applying to modern coaching — and to everyday life:

1. Curiosity over certainty. Start with “I wonder”, not “I know”.

2. Ask questions that open, instead of corner. Real inquiry expands the conversation rather than narrows it down.

3. Challenge assumptions gently. Not to expose someone’s flaws, but to help them see more clearly.

4. Make thinking visible. People understand themselves better once they articulate their thoughts out loud.

5. Trust inner wisdom. Insight grows when people realise they already hold the seeds of their own answers.

These principles are ancient, but they are also timeless. We don’t outgrow them, but the more the world around us evolves, the more we should return to them.

Why this philosophy lives strongly at WCO (and why we are big fans!)

At the World Coaching Organization, we believe coaching is a fundamental human skill, something everyone should have access to. Not just leaders, professionals, or people in transition. Everyone.

This echoes Socrates’ own approach. He didn’t lecture kings behind closed doors. He spoke with anyone who was willing to engage: artisans, soldiers, merchants, students, ordinary citizens navigating ordinary lives. He democratized wisdom long before the word “coaching” existed.

Our mission continues that lineage: to bring high-quality coaching skills to everyday life, in a way that is accessible, practical, energizing, and deeply human. To help people think better, connect better, and live with more clarity and intention.

Because once you learn to listen, question, and reflect more deeply… everything changes.

Written by Pauliina Hallama, Re-founder and Chief Coaching Officer at World Coaching Organization, with the support and expertise of her philosopher husband.

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If you’re curious about learning how to ask better questions, listen more deeply, challenge assumptions, and unlock potential in yourself or others — this is exactly what our International Coaching Certification course is designed for.

Read more about the ICC here