In the passage, successful businessmen and poor parents both [br] [originaltext

High-powered businessmen and struggling parents from deprived areas may not have much in common at first glance. (18) But parents at primary schools in run-down areas are being offered the same sort of life coaching that performance management experts sell to businessmen wanting to improve their interpersonal skills. The founder of the programme, Octavius Black, believes that essentially people are all very much the same whether they are high-powered workers in the city or parents at home with children. They are much more similar to each other than either would ever imagine. (19)So he set up Parent Gym, funded by a charitable arm of Mind Gym, to help tackle what many consider to be the world’s most important job—being a parent. The programme aims to give parents skills and ideas so they are confident about the way they care for their children. The parenting techniques covered in the sessions are fairly traditional, such as sending children to sit on a "naughty step" and the importance of regular routines. (20) But they are delivered with an emphasis on motivation and self-confidence more often found in the corporate world.