With the economy in deep freeze, motivational firms that claim they have the power to inject new vim into lifeless workers are attracting the attention of executives yearning to recapture lost corporate brio.
Kenichi Ishimaru, director of business and planning at Tokyo-based Coach Twenty One Co., helps dispirited managers with sports coaching techniques developed in the United States.
Unlike consultants who offer advice on management, business coaches assist clients in working out solutions to their problems by repeatedly posing them basic questions to change congealed thinking patterns.