A recent article by one of my favourite New Yorker writers, Atul Gawande, talked about the benefits of having a professional coach. The article essentially says that no matter how senior or experienced you are in your job you can benefit from a coach, even one who might be less experienced than you. After a few months of stumbling along in my new role of business development - a nebulous term that can mean anything from driving sales via distribution agreements, building marketing relationships or arranging for technology licensing - I decided I needed a coach as I didn't have a sales or marketing background.