If this were the case, there would be very few coaches in management positions. Coaching and mentoring expect many things from their stable of coaches, but being perfect isn't one of them. That's a big relief! The beauty of coaching in managerial roles is its extraordinary adaptability.

Thus, you can take the finest characteristics of your personality and mold them into a leadership model that works for you in getting the best possible performance results from your team. Essentially, good coaching is about influencing employees to achieve great things. And, believe it or not, you can be an influential and positive leader of people without being the warmest and fuzziest personality.

Character traits can be fine-tuned, too. If you're continually fair, candid, and communicative with your employees, a support system automatically exists in the workplace. This is a map for success. An assertive but scrupulously consistent approach to managing trumps personality quirks every time.

Of course, it certainly helps to be thick-skinned, empathetic, and understanding by nature. But all sorts of personality types can thrive in coaching roles if they embrace coaching's core methodology rather than its mythology. After all, coaching in the corporate sphere is demanding. You've always got to deliver the goods by sweetening that all-important bottom line.