I didn’t start out to be a “life coach.” I’d always longed to do some good in the world, but basically, I was just trying to create a meaningful, authentic life for myself. I was startled when people began asking me to teach them the methods I’d devised to cope with my own personal and professional challenges.

I see life coaching as something that arose from a gap in the culture where things began changing so quickly that traditional institutions couldn’t keep up. People didn...