Recent explosions in the range of ‘people-development’ disciplines are necessitating a post hoc task of classification. Whilst inductive and historical methods can be used to trace the distinctions between coaching, counselling, mentoring, therapy etc, they misrepresent crucial aspects of each. Here a conceptual model, ‘personal ecology’, is offered which accounts for this industry diversity in more fundamental patterns of human relating. The model looks at three core components of human relating, empathy, logic and control, and how these interact to give eight fundamental categories of ‘people development’. This model suggests a more dynamic and fluid approach to inter-disciplinary relations, as well as a means by which practitioners can understand how and why they move from the approaches of discipline to another.