Tyler Lyman, a new Good Work subscriber, wrote us on Monday asking if we had plans any time soon to explore the relationship between startup founder and executive coach. I hadn’t decided what to write about for this week’s Good Work yet and thought tackling the subject would be a breeze-my co-founder, Josh, and I happened to be headed in to see our coach the next day.

Inspired, I dashed off my thoughts on how working with our amazing coach, Christina Harbridge, has been one of the most valuable professional experiences in my life, when Josh pointed out that most people-even those who can afford it-don’t ever get a therapist, let alone a professional executive coach.

“Are coaches like having a butler or a gardener-things certain rich people have but only because they have a mansion or a big estate?” he asked.

While not quite like having a butler or a gardener, Josh was of course right in pointing out that access to executive coaching is a privilege. In that moment, he also acted as a great coach to me, showing me a blindspot but not making me feel ashamed of it. The best coaches, whether they’re a paid executive coach, a parent, or just a friend who listens earnestly over a few pints, perform the same function. Put one way, “A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.They’re there to help you be successful, and to do this they tactfully help you become aware of behavior that’s impeding your goals.

While coaches can be valuable regardless of your position in a company, they can be immensely valuable to CEOs, as the nature of their role leaves them without a manager to mentor them. If you’re calling the shots on whether you or someone on your team gets a coach, think about it as an investment, not a one-time cost.

Growth necessitates a trail of trials-you must always be starting over, learning new things, and true mastery requires the wisdom of knowing that nothing can ever be truly mastered. In addition to acting as a mirror for you to see who you are and the path to becoming the person you need to grow into, coaches can help soften and shorten the cycles of repeatedly being bad at things.