Description

In this episode of "In the Interim…", Dr. Scott Berry talks with Dr. Alun Bedding, a professional certified coach and statistician who spent decades in pharmaceutical statistics, including as global head of statistical methods, collaboration, and outreach at Roche, before founding his own coaching and consulting practice. The conversation traces Alun's path from statistician to coach and unpacks what coaching is: a forward-facing partnership built on exploring a client's own thinking, not on advice, mentoring, or therapy. Alun and Scott draw a direct line between good coaching and good statistical consulting as both begin by questioning the stated goal rather than accepting the first request at face value, whether that request is "I want to be a better manager" or "I need a power calculation." The episode covers why coaching must be uncomfortable to produce real change, why self-coaching runs into the limits of blind spots and self-bias and where AI coaching tools genuinely help and where they fall short.

Key Highlights

• Coaching is a partnership exploring a client's own thinking, not advice or mentoring.
• The parallel between coaching and statistical consulting: determining the real goal behind a request.
• Why effective coaching must feel uncomfortable to produce genuine progress.
• The limits of self-coaching, and why blind spots require an outside challenger.
• How sports and performance coaching shifted from instruction to inquiry.
• Where AI coaching helps and where human presence and challenge remain irreplaceable.
• The difference between coaching and therapy: forward-facing versus backward-facing.

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