Edward Batista

Bio

I'm an executive coach and a Lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. At the GSB I teach courses aimed at helping MBA students better manage themselves and further develop their leadership and interpersonal skills.

I currently teach The Art of Self-Coaching (OB527), a course that I designed and launched in 2015. The course aims to help professionals and aspiring leaders be more intentional in managing their continued growth and development. From 2017 to 2020 I taught The Art of Self-Coaching in Fall, Winter, and Spring Quarters, but starting in 2021 my other responsibilities will obligate me to teach just once a year in Spring Quarter.

In 2016 and 2017 I also taught Interpersonal Dynamics (OB374), the school's most popular elective and known to most students as Touchy Feely. I spent a decade as a T-group facilitator in Touchy Feely, and the course had a profound influence on my life and work. When I accepted the GSB's invitation to add a third section of Self-Coaching in 2017, I decided to resign from the Touchy Feely faculty, as my other commitments precluded me from teaching more than one class per Quarter.

From 2007 to 2016 at the GSB I provided individual coaching and led teams in the Arbuckle Leadership Fellows Program and taught sections of Leadership Labs, both of which I helped to launch in 2007, and facilitated T-groups in Touchy Feely.

As an executive coach I work with senior leaders who are facing a challenge or would like to be more effective or fulfilled in their roles. Most of my clients are technology company CEOs, and I've worked with leaders in fields from accounting to investing to the law. Issues I often address with clients include managing relationships with key employees and others, improving exec team dynamics, transitioning from technical expert to leader, evolving company culture, and better self-care.

My work as a coach began after a 15-year career in management, during which I took two years off to attend the GSB and helped launch three new organizations. I write about coaching and professional development at www.edbatista.com. I'm a co-author of the HBR Guides to Coaching Employees and Delivering Effective Feedback, and I'm currently writing a book on self-coaching for HBR Press.

I'm married to Amy Wright, and we lived in San Francisco from 1990 to 2020, when we relocated to a farm 40 miles north of the city. In addition to my MBA from Stanford, I earned a BA in History, magna cum laude, from Brown University.

Academic Appointments

• Lecturer, Graduate School of Business

Professional Education

• MBA, Stanford Graduate School of Business (2000)