Around 4% of the 55,000 + coaches certified with the International Coaching Federation hold the revered status of Master Certified Coach. Why so few? I'm about to find out. Competency No. 5, the podcast, explores how we maintain presence when we coach, lead, and live our lives. We interview coaches and others whose very livelihood depends upon staying calm and present with those they serve. We also chronicle my attempts (as a self-retired professor and global business reporter from New Zeala ...
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Meet Ben Dooley, my new MCC Mentor Coach. Joy (and struggles) with certifying as an ICF master certified coach
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Warning: This episode's super ad hoc. This week, I met my new mentor coach, Ben Dooley. He's a former actor (among other things) and now runs his own coaching training academy and helps coaches certify in empowering ways. (I felt so inspired connecting with him via our Discovery session, I had to hit record.) In our conversation, we hear from Ben o…
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“I have the best job in the world!” Oliver Singh on hotel ownership and the calm that comes from vacation
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Four in ten Americans don’t take their full paid time off (around 46%) of full-time workers according to the Pew Research Center. But that’s a real shame says Oliver Singh, manager and part-owner of the Ocean Mile hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Fl., who really gets to see the benefits of holidaying when interacting with his guests. In our lovely convers…
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"I'm Puerto Rican. I celebrate everything." Anita Rodriguez Cordero on celebrating as we coach
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With so much mayhem, worry, and turmoil, more clients struggle to find much to celebrate or to declare a true win. But coaches like my show guest this week, Coach Anita Rodriguez Cordero, set that intention each session to ask her coachees what they want to celebrate. Coach Anita takes this intention far beyond the International Coaching Federation…
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Why I’ve returned to journaling (and hope to never let it go again)
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I’m recently back to journaling most days after a good nine-month hiatus. I’ve missed it so much. For me, journaling feels like emptying my bucket of all that’s within. As I get older, I’ve noticed its importance for my mental and physical health. My journal’s a forum for not explaining things, unless I want to and a place to unlock enormous ideas …
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“Maintaining presence starts with checking in on myself” Live Coaching & Musings with Coach Sophia Casey
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My guest this week is my friend and MCC mentor coach Sophia Casey who trains coaches like me to strive to become our very best version of ourselves and with that, our most present. We chat about all the barriers getting in our way, including wanting to perform, or solve, even direct our coachees towards profound epiphanies and results. (None of whi…
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What high school freshmen can teach us about not stressing out
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Guess who my podcast guest is this week? It's Jackson James McCullough, my 14-year-old son who I consider a hugely calming influence on me and my life. (I've long wanted to interview this wise young man and he finally said 'yes.' ) Join us on our adhoc interview and woodland walk in our leafy state of Wisconsin, just days after Jackson finished his…
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“Nature’s the one thing that brings us together” Jacqueline Crivello on birding, nature, and truth
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I’m one of millions of people globally who not only love bird watching, I love to do so from my garden. What a treat to interview Jacqueline Crivello, an award winning photographer, author, bird feeding store owner, a birder, entrepreneur and even an inventor of a bird feeder for hummingbirds. (The latter comes inspired from her very first bird fee…
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How do I train to become a coach? One coach’s journey
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More coachees are asking me each week how to become an International Coaching Federation (ICF) certified coach and how I became a coach, specifically the decisions before me and the training itself. (I’m delighted they ask, because coaching’s a truly delightful field.) I’ve found a fantastic home in this new industry, now coaching full-time for an …
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The challenges and joy of certifying as an ICF coach. Two coaches’ musings
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Certifying with the International Coaching Federation, the world’s largest nonprofit for professional coaches, challenges many coaches because it’s no easy feat. We must speak only 10% of the time, drive clarity, insights, and accountability too. Submitting a recorded coaching call to ICF evaluators for review often erodes our presence with our coa…
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How do we stay calm amidst heated emotions? Musings from Coach Karen du Four des Champs
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Solar eclipse. Mercury retrograde. New moon. Job layoffs. Overwork. No surprise many of us are losing it at home and at work. But if you’re a mental fitness practitioner with a goal to stay calm and peaceful no matter what, some ways exist to find the ease and flow and stabilize the mood and feeling in yourself and those around you. In our delightf…
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“Kindness is my legacy from adversity” Magdalena Kranz on luxury fashion and feeling happier with less
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My interview with Chicago-based fashion consultant and stylist, Magdalena Kranz, kicks off a series of ad hoc interviews across my two podcasts. (I also host the Sage Sayers on Apple podcasts). I love that dear Magdalena takes us from her turbulent past in Poland before migrating to the U.S. We hear that she arrived in Chicago as a teen with little…
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“I’m loving this new creative space.” Coach Malvika Joshi on the joy of entrepreneurship.
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Building your own venture can bring a whirlwind of creativity, problem solving, and joy from building something you love. Partner it with coaching and certifying as a coach and you’ve endless surges of energy and happiness. This becomes the life and outlook of Coach Malvika Joshi, a London-based coach who’s just launched her own coaching practice w…
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“Yoga helps us notice our feet have toes.” Yasna Garcia Da Rosa on certifying as a yoga instructor
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If you’ve practiced yoga, you know: This ancient practice stills our busy mind and grounds us in our bodies while building stamina and strength. Yasna García da Rosa ACC (Associate Certified Coach) por ICF knows this shift well, especially from taking her love for yoga all the way to the top by certifying ( this quarter) as an instructor. Yasna sha…
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The Lost Sunglasses. The stress of losing lovely things
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Losing my first Tom Ford sunglasses in New Zealand’s Pacific Ocean at Ohope Beach on New Year’s eve this year reminded me that the fear of falling back financially never really leaves us. That's the fodder for this week’s podcast episode. I’m narrating an essay I wrote soon after losing my lovely Tom Fords and one I continued finessing during a sno…
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More trust is vital for mastery of coaching
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In this week’s musings, reading from my musings on Medium, I’m sharing what I’ve learned from completing 2:10 of the required mentor sessions with my MCC mentor coach as I strive to certify as a Master Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation. The insights I’ve gathered so far have changed how I feel, think, and how I coach — all …
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Growing things gives us inner strength: Pamela Currall on finding peace in her garden
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Such a lovely way to launch season two for Competency No 5, my podcast focused on finding calm when we coach, lead, and live our lives. Meet Lady Pamela at the Sea, AKA Pamela Currall, a retired practice nurse in New Zealand. She’s also my dear Mum, and in our delightful interview (which takes place in her garden off of the Kapiti Coast) she shares…
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I find calm, confidence, and joy from playing flute: Emma Zhou
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Boston-based project manager Emma Zhou has long found joy, calm, and courage from playing flute. What began as a hobby in her undergraduate studies in China has now become part of her personal branding and a delightful activity she maintains alongside advanced analytics work. She performs often with local musicians and solo in the greater Boston ar…
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How Do Active Minds Learn to Meditate? Helio Fujita Knows
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If your mind wanders too much for you to effectively meditate, then this week’s interview might delight you. My guest is Helio Fujita, an HR executive based in Switzerland. And (among other things) he’s a student at a prestigious UC Berkeley school training the bright and gifted how to teach meditation, the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certificat…
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How Feeling Thanks Boosts My Presence and Business
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This week is Thanksgiving in America. I love that this country I’ve made home stays one of a few nations around the world devoting an entire holiday to giving thanks. (How lovely. And perhaps more countries can follow suit?) As a mental fitness practitioner and coach, I find that feeling thankful daily helps me feel more confident, calm, and center…
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Using Candor and Presence to Speak and Challenge the Truth
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We have my dear friend and peer coach Sathya Sethuraman back with us this week to discuss with me a curious dynamic that comes up for coaches when maintaining presence: The occasional but powerful need for radical candor. In this context we mean challenging our coachee on the words they lay down and asking open-ended, short, but powerful questions …
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Celebrating 5,250 Individual Coaching Hours: Lessons and Tactics
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This week, I’ve reached 5,250 individual coaching hours, which more than doubles the 2,500 individual hours the International Coaching Federation asks for coaches certifying as a Master Certified Coach. MCC certified coaches make up only 4% of global ICF coaches, because of all the other lengthy requirements they ask for, and because it’s so hard a…
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Riptide Adventures. A Tale of Trust and Presence
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Anyone who knows me well knows that Lake Michigan, the world’s fifth largest lake, is my happy place here in Wisconsin bringing me calm, clarity, gratitude, and creativity. One visit can bring powerful shifts in perspective and unlocks big ideas. A recent trip to a new access lake point, Two Rivers, brought an unexpected adventure: Getting caught i…
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Taming Our “Monkey Brain” When We Coach. An interview with Coach Sathya Sethuraman
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My guest this week is Sathya Sethuraman, a financial Services and insurance industry strategist and thought leader who's served for 20+ years as a trusted advisor to Fortune 100 global insurance and financial service firms. Sathya’ s also my friend and a coach. Sathya’ s realizing, as he applies to certify in more advanced ways with the Internation…
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“I Know that “”He”” is the Biggest Boss to Impress.” Jevon Koh on Finding Calm through Faith and Travel
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Many of us struggle with fear and uncertainty—the very opposite of presence—when speaking with powerful people. It’s 100% normal; and more pronounced in these intense times. And yet leaders like Jevon Koh, a business development and global digital partnerships director for a giant financial services firm, find that his Christian faith, his easy-goi…
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How Laughing At Work Can Bring Joy and Presence. An Interview with Amy Azuma
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UC Berkeley educator and program director Amy Azuma's long used humor to shift intense moods and energy. In her adult years, she's shifted from using humor as oppositional defiance to a tool for finding and creating presence, with herself and with others. In a delightful interview, Azuma shares how finding the funny in the serious can bring feeling…
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How I Center and Reset When Coaching At Scale
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With Gallup reporting most U.S. workers find 50-hour work weeks normal, no wonder many of us struggle maintaining presence as we work. If our typical flow becomes back-to-back meetings, presence (which I'm defining here as peace, calm, and present with ourselves and others) can feel impossible. As my coaching practice has grown, I've challenged how…
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“Silence Creates Space For You to Notice Things.” Musings from a Pilgrim and Executive, Helio Fujita
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Silence creates space for us to feel, meditate, connect with ourselves, and to think. So says Helio Fujita, an HR executive from Brazil who took a Buddhist pilgrimage over the spring to punctuate a 19-year-long, highly successful corporate career. There he found he could further grieve the loss of his father and gain clarity on what's next. Our int…
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Intervention through Presence. An Interview with Coach Whitney Stern
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My guest today is Coach Whitney Stern. She's a certifying executive coach based in Seattle, Wa., a business leader, and a yoga mindfulness instructor with a big purpose: To empower others to lead, communicate, and build strong teams with kindness, confidence, and empathy. As a certifying coach, Coach Whitney's undergone a learning curve with presen…
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Every new podcast needs some small clarifying words on what brings us here in the first place. In our introductory episode, learn what inspired Competency No. 5, guests we'll interview, what we'll learn, and why maintaining presence, when we coach, lead, and live our lives has never felt so vital. An essay on this very topic lives here via Medium, …
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