This is an interview conducted by Carol Kauffman and Tatina Bachkirova with David Peterson PhD who, at the time was Senior Vice President at Personnel Decisions International, been the leader of PDI’s executive coaching services since 1990. A pioneer and thought leader in the field of executive coaching, David has authored many articles and best-selling books on coaching, leadership development, and executive effectiveness. Based in San Francisco, he provides coaching to CEOs and other top executives in companies such as Target, Hewlett Packard, Genentech, and Shell, as well as consulting to organizations to help them design state-ofthe- art coaching programs.