“To Have or to Be? That is the question. Who knows if Hamlet, in our times, would have asked himself this question too!“
It may seem unusual to combine Hamlet’s famous question with Fromm’s, and yet this connection has a lot to do with Coaching.
For me, the answer is as valuable as the question itself, because it holds the reason why I do what I do and why I continue to do it with such passion.
On other occasions, I’ve already talked to you about the Logical Levels, a model developed by Robert Dilts based on the studies of anthropologist Gregory Bateson, and about how the role of a Coach changes depending on the level on which they are working.
In short, the logical levels are the different “heights” at which we can experience life, face challenges, and manage change. Every situation can be read on multiple planes. Even Einstein was aware of this, as shown by his famous quote: “No problem can be solved on the level at which it was created.”
According to Dilts, the lower levels are:
- Capabilities
- Behavior
- Environment
While the higher levels are:
- Spirit/Purpose
- Identity
- Beliefs/Values
The scale, from the bottom up, is:
6. Spirit
5. Identity
4. Beliefs/Values
3. Capabilities
2. Behavior
- Environment
Here’s what each level represents:
- Environment → the context, answers Where? and When?
- Behavior → actions, answers What?
- Capabilities → skills and abilities, answers How?
- Beliefs/Values → what motivates you, answers Why?
- Identity → who you are (or believe yourself to be), answers Who?
- Spirit → the larger system you belong to, answers For whom? or For what else?
Now you may be wondering: “Yes, but what do these have to do with me?”
Let’s take a practical example using the first 5 levels:
Your child gets a bad grade in math. The reason could be…
- He stayed up late the night before and went to school tired → Environment
- He didn’t study → Behavior
- He didn’t understand the topic → Capabilities
- He believes the teacher has it in for him → Beliefs
- He thinks he is stupid → Identity
This is why understanding the logical levels can be so useful.
So why do I talk about this so often, even here where I’ve brought together Hamlet and Fromm with their “To Have or to Be”?
“Because in my life I have experienced the power of coaching, the ability to create transformation, by working on the higher levels: on being itself.”
For me, truly discovering who I was and giving voice to that part I had set aside to follow habits and choices that were not entirely mine was a crucial step. Only then could I do what I wanted to do and have what I wanted to have.
In Eastern philosophy, the sequence Being – Doing – Having is the norm. We, in the West, often think the opposite: we believe that Having enables us to Do, and that Doing defines our Being.
So I leave you with the same question that Jim Rohn, a renowned trainer and entrepreneur, used to ask:
What kind of person do you need to become to achieve what you want to achieve?
Emanuela Mazza
Founder and Educational Director of Academia
