Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with Debbie Cohen, an amazing human being who has had, and continues to have, a big impact on my life and the lives of others.

She brings a unique perspective to this podcast from her experiences integrating coaching deeply into her various roles in the corporate world as an HR leader and executive, including senior leadership roles at Time Warner, Razorfish, Mozilla, FirstLook, and Clever.

Her pioneering work at Mozilla, which revolved around principles of distributed decision making and delegated leadership, was featured in a business school case study at Berkeley Haas and, in 2013, won management case study of the year. The study showcases the innovative talent strategy she helped create which included a series of initiatives related to employee compensation, onboarding, and development.

Today, she is expanding on this mission to change the world of work by co-leading a movement to bring more humanity to the workplace through her organization (and forthcoming book) called Humanity Works. We dive deep into what this means and how bringing a coaching lens into organizations can truly shift the way people relate to each other AND improve productivity.

We also discuss a variety of topics including: why most of us act in ways that unconsciously protect our identities, how to maximize your client's opportunities to succeed, why asking for help is a gift, how to tell if a client is ready for powerful coaching, and how leadership is less about competencies and more about self-awareness.

Debbie is simply a force of nature, wrapped in a velvet glove, and we pack a LOT into this rich conversation. Please enjoy.

https://cases.haas.berkeley.edu/2013/05/mozilla/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbiecohen/

In this episode, I'm speaking with Kristen Esquivias, an executive coach, speaker, facilitator, yoga & mindfulness instructor, and the founder of Courageous Growth, LLC.

She did her undergrad and masters in statistics, with minors in psychology and math, and has 15 years of corporate retail experience in Analytics, Strategy and CRM.

She completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training in 2017 and you'll hear about how she incorporates the body-mind connection into coaching, AND how she's brought coaching into her yoga circles.

What I love about this conversation is that Kristen offers a fresh perspective as someone who has been coaching professionally for less than 2 years, and you can tell how much depth, wisdom, and sheer excitement she brings to this art and to her clients.

We talk about overcoming "newness", breaking free from the mold, the qualities she looks for in great clients, defining ourselves without labels, working IN as well as ON your business, making it up and befriending the messiness, the value of having your own coach, the nuances of 1:1 versus group coaching, and much more.

There's something really special about Kristen that I can't quite put my finger on, but I can feel it, and I left this conversation feeling really inspired and energized. I hope you do too.

https://www.kristenesquivias.com/

In this episode, I sit down with Anne Grete Mazziotta, the founder and president of North Star Coaching, where she coaches a variety of executives and emerging leaders around the globe. She is also a Senior Faculty member of the Co-Active Training Institute where she's been training coaches for over 23 years.

We cover a lot of ground - coaching as skilled communication, articulating things that people don't have language for, tenderness as the road to intimacy, championing - not fixing - people, surviving her worst nightmare, having compassion for ourselves and inviting out parts of us that we're otherwise too ashamed of, the value of NOT knowing, being present with intense emotions, monitoring the connection in real time between you and your client, and how a word of encouragement at the right time can make all the difference.

Pilar Rueda García Yakar is an executive and leadership coach and facilitator for over 15 years. She has a fascinating, diverse background. A computer science graduate, she started as a programmer and went on to become an engineering manager, product manager, and director of product marketing before transitioning into coaching and facilitating full time. For over a decade, she has been a Certification Faculty member at the coaches training institute holding the roles of Certification Pod Leader, supervisor, examiner.

In this episode, we talk about coaches as facilitators of dialogue and experience, holding yourself with compassion and curiosity, overcoming nervousness and the feeling of being tested, the value of referring clients to others, how to bring more goofy and playfulness into coaching, why conflict is important, and the value of having a support network.

A warm welcome to you and a little background on the WHY behind this project.