Johdon coaching on henkilokohtainen johdon kehittamisen menetelma, jossa coach auttaa coachattavaa itse loytamaan omaa kehittymistaan ja toimintaansa koskevia ratkaisuja. Johdon coaching on lisaantynyt maailmalla ja Suomessa voimakkaasti viimeisten vuosien aikana. Kasvaneesta suosiosta huolimatta johdon coachingia on tutkittu vahan Suomessa. Tassa tutkimuksessa tutkittiin, miten johdon coaching maaritellaan ja miten se eroaa sita lahella olevista menetelmista, seka mitka ovat johdon coachingiin liittyvat taustateoriat ja miten johdon coachingia toteutetaan. Tutkimus pohjautuu sosiaaliseen konstruktionismiin. Tama vaitoskirja koostuu kahdesta osasta. Tyossa on kasiteanalyyttinen ja aikaisempaa teoreettista kirjallisuutta analysoiva osuus seka laadulliseen tutkimukseen pohjautuva empiirinen osuus. Tutkimuksen empiirisen osan aineisto tuotettiin teemahaastattelemalla 29:aa johdon coachingia toteuttanutta henkilda. Tutkimuksen tuloksista tulee esille johdon coachingin prosessimainen, tavoitteellinen ja systemaattinen luonne. Johdon coaching voidaan erottaa sita lahella olevista kasitteista, kuten terapia, koulutus, liikkeenjohdon konsultointi, mentorointi ja tyonohjaus, joskin rajanvedot eri kasitteiden valilla ovat epamaaraisia. Johdon coachingissa hyodynnetaan useita taustateorioita. Tyypillisesti eri taustateorioita yhdistetaan toisiinsa. Johdon coachingia voidaan toteuttaa eri lahtokohdista kasin ja eri tavoin, mutta tyypillisin toteutustapa on kuitenkin coachin ja coachattavan valinen keskustelu. Executive coaching is a personal management development method, in which the coach helps the coachee to find solutions for development and improvement for activities. Even though popularity of executive coaching has increased strongly during the last years, the phenomenon has been little researched in Finland. The purpose of this research was to study the definition of executive coaching. Also, the aim was to determine its relationship to other cognate methods, define it's theoretical framework and the various ways of its implementatation. The present dissertation is divided into two sections. The first section includes analysis of concepts and analysis of previous theoretical literature while the second section comprises empirical qualitative research with a social constructivist approach. The data were produced by interviewing 29 persons that have implemented executive coaching. Based on the analysis of previous literature and the stories of the interviewees it can be said that executive coaching is a process, a goal oriented and systematic method. Executive coaching can be differentiated from proximate methods, for example therapy, training, management consulting, mentoring, and supervision but boundaries between proximate methods are nonspesific. Stories of interviewees revealed that different background theories are used in executive coaching. It can be said that different theories are typically combined with each other. The most typical way of implementing executive coaching is a discussion between the coach and the coachee.