Coaches on Zoom Drinking Coffee

A conversation with author, teacher, and coaching industry rockstar Michael Bungay Stanier. Michael is known for writing The Coaching Habit, which has sold over a million copies, as well as the unconventional but accessible approach that has earned him high profile fans like Brene Brown and Marshall Goldsmith.
In this episode, Michael talks about how coaches can lean into curiosity to navigate uncertain times. He shares his “advice monsters” model, which is used to identify and address the ways in which a coach’s ego can show up in their practice.
Michael also shares guidance on how coaches can tame their need to add too much value to their sessions, causing information overload, and instead strive for simplicity on the other side of complexity.
It’s clear that Michael has had many previous lives, and he talks us through them in this episode. He almost became a solicitor before discovering coaching, then when he created his coaching practice he felt called to dismantle it and pursue another path. He is the founder of Box of Crayons, a training company, but he has chosen to step down as CEO.
During this candid chat with Coaching.com CEO Alex Pascal, Michael explains how both courage and lack of courage have informed his bold career decisions. He also shares how his “big purpose” and his “big business purpose” inform how and where he directs his energy.
Listen in to find out how he thinks coaches should embrace ambiguity and stop oversaturing sessions by adopting a “teach the least to have the most impact” approach.

A powerful conversation with Susan Brady, CEO of Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership and author of Arrive and Thrive: 7 Impactful Practices for Women Navigating Leadership.
In conversation with Coaching.com CEO Alex Pascal, Susan outlines the career journey that brought her to write her most recent book. She also shares her perspective on mastering your inner critic, including why men and women engage differently with theirs.
It’s not just problematic narratives in our own minds that make us feel smaller and not good enough; the world also reinforces these beliefs. Susan’s work is concerned with how we arrive back to a compassionate center, both for ourselves and other people. During this episode, she explains the importance of understanding who your best self is in order to be able to return to this person swiftly.
As an experienced expert in women’s leadership, Susan has many informed opinions on the most effective methods of increasing workplace diversity. One of the issues she identifies with Alex is that men may have justified concerns about stepping in to right the wrongs that they’ve observed.
Susan has ideas about how to avoid blaming and shaming and using compassion and empathy as the fuel for change. She also clarifies why she believes it’s crucial to pursue diversity across dimensions, beyond the well-intentioned but ultimately inadequate concept of allyship.
To unlock strategies for exercising empathy and reconnecting with your inherent worthiness, listen to the full episode!

A deep-dive into coaching in the healthcare space with Mo Kasti, founder of CTI Leadership and author of Physician Leadership: The Rx for Healthcare Transformation (2015) and Beyond Physician Engagement: A Roadmap to Partner with Physicians to Be All In (2018).
What does it take to be a doctor ? Prior to 2005, Mo explains that passing exams and achieving a great GPA was the only real criteria. However, he understands that success in the healthcare industry requires so much more than that.
In this conversation, he explains to Coaching.com CEO Alex Pascal why it matters whether a doctor can listen actively, collaborate with others, and communicate effectively. He also shares why he believes that STEM should include art to become STEAM.
Mo Kasti knows that when it comes to the “expert culture” of the healthcare industry, soft skills can be the hardest ones to teach. However, neglecting them is not an option - in this context, they can literally save lives. That’s why his work aims to combine clinical skill with emotional intelligence to ensure the best possible patient experience.
Coaching may have arrived late to the healthcare industry, but as Mo explains, it has the potential to transform it. Find out about Mo’s progress so far in his mission to put humanity back into healthcare and hear more about his plans for the future integration of coaching into this industry by listening to the full episode.

A candid conversation with Janet M. Harvey, CEO of InviteCHANGE, bestselling author, and former president of the ICF. In this episode, Janet shares personal insights from her journey in the coaching industry, including the challenges she faced as a fearless leader preoccupied with pursuing “the creative burst.”
Janet’s passion lies in helping create healthier organizations where people feel confident to step into their gifts. Here, she explains to Coaching.com CEO Alex Pascal why she believes this is more important than ever and how her project inviteCHANGE has been designed to achieve that objective.
Another topic Janet addresses is the need for coaches to work on themselves so they can successfully work with clients. She explains what “ethical maturity” means to her practice and applies lessons from her own training as a private pilot to the topic of coaching development. If you’ve ever wondered how to respond in a coaching emergency, she has tips for you!
Janet believes that pre-pandemic, many companies lacked “love and soul.” During this discussion, she explains why certain companies are struggling to retain their workforce after the catalyst of COVID-19. She also reflects on the need to create our own myths to replace those that no longer fit our changing world.
Listen in to learn more about the limits of coaching and the need to actively invite - not just passively accept - change.

In this episode of Coaches on Zoom Drinking Coffee, Coaching.com CEO Alex Pascal sits down with Laura Gassner Otting, executive coach, media personality, and the author of Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve Your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life.

You may already recognize Laura as a repeat TED-talker, but through this conversation, you’ll get to know her at a much deeper level. She takes time to talk about her pre-coaching career and her early experiences of the coaching industry as a client. Laura first encountered coaching as she sold her mission-first business, and she tells Alex how a coach helped her stay honest and accountable to her values throughout the process.
Together, Laura and Alex also tackle the age-old question of “how hands-on should a leader really be?” They discuss the differences between leadership and management as well as the unique skill sets required to succeed in each. Using the metaphor of composers vs conductors, Laura shares how she learned that the person who created the vision isn’t always the person who should execute it.

Laura’s book Limitless is about finding your own path in the face of external expectations, and in this episode, she connects its message to the “Great Resignation” and other post-pandemic phenomena. She also shares her writing process and the real-life experiences that lie behind the book’s philosophy.

Need a little energy and inspiration? Since Laura’s focus is on getting her clients and readers “unstuck,” you may find this episode blows the cobwebs away. Listen in now to learn what drives Laura Gassner Otting’s success - and why she doesn’t believe that success equals happiness.

Resources:

Laura Gassner Otting - https://www.lauragassnerotting.com/
Socials
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heylgo/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/heylgo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heylgo/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heylgo/
Books:
Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve your Own Path, and Live Your Best LifeThe Mission Driven Handbook: A Resource for Moving from Profit to PurposeChange Your Career: Transitioning to the Nonprofit Sector