Marshall Goldsmith might be the only person you ever meet with a "10 Million Mile" frequent flyer club card from American Airlines.

Goldsmith is an executive coach, the kind of guy an executive might call when having trouble reaching goals at work. Goldsmith navigates between CEOs (he says he's coached over 120, including three of the current Fortune 10 chief execs), and teaching seminars and classes.

He's written more than 30 management books, including "What Got You Here Won't Get You There," as well as pioneering new evaluation techniques like 360-degree feedback. Goldsmith's Buddhist-inspired philosophy shines through when he gives advice, counseling clients to focus on changing only what they can and let go of the past.

Next month, Goldsmith has a seminar in Charlotte. The Observer recently sat down with Goldsmith while he was in town on a business trip to talk about his message for executives and workers in these tough economic times. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Q. How do you work with your clients?

You must get confidential feedback from everyone around you. Then, I interview the important people around you. You and your manager then determine, here's your feedback, here's things you're doing well, here's things you need to do better. If you get better at this stuff, as judged by these people, I get paid. You don't get better, it's free.

Q. How do you measure the improvement?

My success-failure measure is you get better at these behaviors, and you're perceived as a more effective overall leader or team member as judged by the important people around you. I do a simple survey. The key to the process is first you have to get the feedback. You have to talk to people about what you learned and apologize for all your sins.

Q. What are some recurring themes you see in problems top execs have?

The major themes are largely ego-related. For the great achiever, it's all about me. It's really hard for a brilliant, hard-working, dedicated achiever to not always focus on their own achievement.

Q. Do you focus on changing your clients' attitudes or actions?

I focus more on their behavior, because ultimately I don't think most people have bad intentions. They have bad delivery.

Q. Has the financial crisis changed what clients want coaching for when they hire you?

For me, it doesn't so much matter what people want. I have a narrow area of expertise. I do not give advice outside that. My whole area of expertise is helping successful leaders achieve positive long-term changes in their behavior.

Q. How does Buddhism factor into your work?

First, I am a Buddhist. One of the essentials of what I teach is "feedforward." Feedforward is a very Buddhist concept. I've done this with tens of thousands of people. There are two rules: Rule number one, let go of the past. That's a very big thing about Buddhism. The second is very Buddhist, too: You can't judge or criticize ideas.

Q. How do you help those around your clients change their own behavior?

I coach the people around (the client) to help them. Number one, let go of the past, because you dredge up the past, you demoralize people. Number two, be positive and supportive, not cynical or sarcastic. Now, Charlotte, N.C., is not the world's capital of sarcasm. You deal with a bunch of Brits, telling them not to be cynical or sarcastic, it's a little more of a challenge.

Q. What can employees, not just managers, do to improve at work?

Employee engagement: There are two flight attendants, one positive, motivated, upbeat, one bitter, negative, angry and cynical. Same plane, same uniform, same company, same pay, same everything. What's the difference? The real key to employee engagement is the employee, not the company. The real loser is not the company. The real loser is the flight attendant.

Q. In this era of worker uncertainty, how does employee engagement help?

Let me give you a few basic questions: How happy are you today? Every day, start evaluating. And did I do my best to increase my own happiness? If you'd rather be miserable, just knock yourself out. Second question: Was my day meaningful and did I do my best to increase meaning for myself today? Number three, how engaged was I? You can do your best to enjoy the process of what you're doing, you can do your best to increase meaning. So what if nobody in the company cares? It's still your life.

Q. What else do you suggest?

You can't change what you can't change. Make peace. OK, say your boss is a jerk. Fine. And let's say you can't leave, you need the money. OK, how are you going to make the best out of it?

I went to Africa in 1984. I have a picture in my library. It's a picture of me, and I'm next to a woman measuring the arms of these little children. Not enough food. Your arm is too big, you're not that hungry, go over there. Arm is too little, you're going to die anyway, go over there. Arm is in the middle, you get food. What do we have to whine about over here? Nobody's measuring your arm. How bad is it?

Q. How do you apply your techniques to yourself?

I ask my wife, how can I be a better husband? I ask my kids, how can I be a better father? My wife's biggest critique of me is, you don't pick up after yourself enough. Always for years, same critique. I put it on my little daily question list. I'm often failing.

Q. How have the problems people face changed since you've been doing this?

Short-term, of course, there has been this financial crisis. Even more than that is globalization. Basically, if you look at 1979, a lot of people worked 40 hours a week and took five weeks of real vacations. Today this seems like another planet. Those same people, I say, now I bet you work 60 hours a week. They say no, 70. They take no weeks of real vacation. That 40-hour-a-week, coast through and make a middle class life thing, it's over.

Q. What do you tell people to help deal with this?

I think the key is, you're probably going to work all the time anyway, learn to enjoy it. See, for me, I work all the time. I'm not going to retire. Retire and what? Play crappy golf with old men at the country club, while eating chicken sandwiches discussing gall bladder surgery? It's bad enough if it's your own, but listening to someone else babble about their gallbladder - oh, please.