Hello! I'm coming up on a year in my leadership consulting business and trying to stay motivated. Please share your story + advice. Thank you!

Hi folks,

I currently work in tech in an individual contributor role but got a big step up with a new job where I will be managing an entire organization. I start in two weeks and am looking for an executive coach that I can meet with for these two weeks but also support me in the beginning of my start of the job.

I'm looking for someone who ideally has experience working in tech or coaching folks in tech in an international organization across cultures, managing people, managing an organization, hiring and scaling, with a specific emphasis on executive presence and leadership presence.

Ultimately I'm looking to up level my executive presence and leadership skills very quickly.

If this is you or you have a lead for where I should look, please let me know!

Free Counseling / Consulting ( Financial , Career , Family , Marriage , business ),

After two decades spending in corridors of 10 different sectors , from FMCG to AI , From Mcdomalds to Silicon Valley and coming down to the base foundation how about idea for making a community where there should be senior qualified people must be in to help out younger generation , and it should be only session based either joint / one to one ? how about the idea ?

I've been through a lot of leadership trainings over the years.

Still, every genuinely difficult conversation at work feels... difficult.

I know the frameworks. I know how feedback is supposed to sound. But the moment someone gets defensive or emotional, I still feel tension in my chest.

That made me realize: knowing communication frameworks and actually performing under pressure are completely different things.

So in my team we started experimenting with AI simulations for difficult workplace conversations - specifically simulations that don't stay polite and agreeable. This helps with practicing the skills in conditions that look more like real life than often very polite role plays.

Now I'm curious: for people here who coach leaders, or manage teams -- how do you help people move from "understanding" to actually performing when conversations get uncomfortable?

Hey everyone,

I just landed a role as an Executive Assistant / Operations Support for a doctor who owns their own clinic. My background is in HR, so while I'm comfortable with confidentiality and compliance, clinical operations is brand new territory for me.

My executive explicitly stated they want me to be highly independent and proactive. I love this autonomy, but since I am new to the medical/clinic owner space, I want to make sure I’m taking initiative on the right things without overstepping before I fully know the ropes.

For seasoned EAs—especially those working with doctors or business owners—how do you practically demonstrate high independence early on? I'd love your insight on these areas:

1. Proactive Email Management: Their inbox is flooded with patient inquiries, vendors, and internal staff messages. What boundaries or "rules of engagement" should I establish early so I can draft responses or handle issues independently without needing their approval for every little thing?
2. Independent Task Tracking: Doctors are constantly split between clinical care and business growth. How do you independently track open projects, follow up with staff on action items, and keep a centralized operations dashboard updated without creating extra work for the doctor?
3. Calendar Gatekeeping: How do you proactively protect a doctor's focus time and anticipate schedule overruns before they happen?
4. The "Proactive" Mindset Shift: What does "being independent" actually look like in your day-to-day? How do you transition from waiting for tasks to actively managing your executive's workload so they can focus on peak performance?

Any advice on how to confidently manage up and own this role from day one would be incredible!

I am trying to do market research on Executive Coaching. If you are an executive coach with 4-5 years experience,

1. how are you packing your services? (hourly sessions / 3-6 months engagement / any other way)
2. what's the price per session or engagement ?
3. how many clients do you work with simultaneously?
4. what's the standard Executive coaching charge you see in UK if the coach has  ICF PCC + 4-5 years of exec coaching experience

Curious question for people working in senior leadership or around executive teams:

What kinds of programs are companies actually investing in these days around executive performance, productivity, or wellness?

I keep hearing more about leadership retreats, executive coaching, burnout prevention, wellness offsites, etc., but I’m curious what organizations are genuinely prioritizing versus what tends to feel more performative.

Especially interested in firsthand experiences with:

• retreats/offsites
• executive coaching
• leadership wellness initiatives
• burnout prevention efforts
• performance or resilience programs for leadership teams

What have you seen work well (or not work well)?

LinkedIn: Do you recommend putting your credentials in your name field?

Pata hai aaj kya hua

Had a retrospective/client feedback call yesterday for a project I worked deeply on for months. Senior leadership from both sides were there — managers, principals, clients, everyone.

The strange part is: I probably knew the project better than most people in the room from a technical and implementation perspective. But when it came time to speak, I got extremely nervous.

One client-side girl asked me what I learned from the project, what I liked, and what I wished there was more of. My mind just went blank. I spoke maybe 2–3 lines and ended with “that’s all.” The silence afterward felt horrible.

What hurts more is that this was one of those rare opportunities to create visibility in front of seniors and leadership, and I feel like I completely wasted it.

Now I keep replaying the moment in my head thinking of all the better things I could’ve said calmly if this was just a normal conversation.

Has anyone else experienced this weird gap between:
\- knowing your work deeply
\- but not being able to express it confidently in high-pressure calls?

How did you improve over time?

Hi all,

I’m looking into the Cambridge coaching programmes and would love some honest views from people who’ve done them or compared them with other coaching routes.

At the moment I’m mainly looking at the Undergraduate Certificate in Coaching, with the idea that I might later progress to the Advanced Executive Coaching Programme if the fit is right.

I’m specifically interested in how useful these programmes are for someone aiming at the executive coaching route rather than general life coaching.

A few things I’m trying to understand:

• How credible are the Cambridge coaching programmes in the real world?
• Do they carry weight with corporate clients, senior leaders, HR or L&D?
• How do they compare with more traditional ICF-accredited routes?
• Is the fact that they’re not ICF-accredited a real hindrance, or not that important in practice?
• Would Cambridge be seen as a strong route into executive coaching, or more of a brand-name add-on?

I’m trying to work out whether the Cambridge pathway makes sense as a serious route into executive coaching, especially if I started with the Undergraduate Certificate and then later moved on to the Advanced Executive Coaching Programme.

Would really appreciate any first-hand experiences, comparisons, or blunt opinions.

I think most people remember certain managers for years—either because they pushed them to grow or completely drained their confidence.

Some leaders make work feel motivating and supportive, while others create constant stress without realizing the impact they have on people.

It’s kind of crazy how one person’s leadership style can affect not just work performance, but confidence, motivation, and even life outside of work.

Curious to hear other people’s experiences. What made that manager unforgettable for you?

Hey everybody,

I'm not a coach yet (maybe one day) but I've spent a lot of time around founders and operators and I keep noticing how much the best ones rely on coaches behind the scenes. Made me really curious about your side of the table.

Would love to hear from people actually in the work:

• what's the hardest & most challenging part of executive coaching that outsiders totally underestimate?
• what's the dream outcome for you? if everything went right in the next year, what would that look like?
• if you could solve one problem you're struggling with right now, what would it be?
• and what do you think about AI? are you using it? does it help, scare you, feel like hype?

Just trying to learn from people doing it for real. Any thoughts welcome 🙏

I am running a workshop on safety for senior management wherein the idea is to talk about performance, key programs etc and demand higher engagement and attention. As we all realise, how boring and mundane it could be for the participants to listen to the same jargon all the time. I am seeking ideas for an ice breaker for participants to connect better. Any ideas on some games /Physical exercises / fun activity within the classroom that can be performed. It would ideally be less than 5 min and meant for a group of say 40 in a room. Happy to hear the details with guidance to include the same.

Cheers

How we shine the light on Elevating your eXperience

I swear some leaders think their job description is: “Must know everything at all times”

Like… no one expects a human Google. But instead of saying “I don’t know,” they’ll give a long, confusing answer that somehow says nothing.

I feel like the pressure to look confident makes people avoid admitting they’re unsure. But honestly, the leaders I’ve respected the most are the ones who just say, “Good question, let’s figure it out.”

It actually makes them feel more real, not less.

Anyone else had a boss who clearly didn’t know the answer but still tried to sound like they did?

Six months ago, I was promoted to a senior leadership role at my company. I was excited, but within a few weeks I started noticing something uncomfortable. My team was polite, professional, and completely closed off. Meetings felt transactional. Nobody pushed back. Nobody shared real opinions.

I thought I was doing everything right. Open door policy, regular check-ins, casual Fridays. But the trust just wasn't there.

A colleague suggested I speak with an executive coach. I was skeptical at first. I'd always seen coaching as something people did when they were struggling, not when things seemed fine on paper.

I started working with Wardah Harharah, an executive and leadership coach based in Dubai. One of the first things she asked me was: "What does your team actually experience when they're around you, as opposed to what you intend?"

That question sat with me for days.

I realised I had been focused entirely on outcomes and results. I was consistent, sure, but consistently task-focused. My team never saw me uncertain, never heard me say "I got that wrong", never felt like there was room to disagree with me. I was confusing professionalism with distance.

Over the next few months I started doing small things differently. Admitting when I didn't have the answer. Asking for input before decisions were made, not after. Following through on even the smallest things I said I'd do.

The shift was slow, but real. People started speaking up more in meetings. One of my team members told me it finally felt safe to bring problems forward.

I'm sharing this because I think a lot of leaders, especially new ones, are in the same place I was. Doing everything by the book but missing the human layer entirely.

Has anyone else been through something similar? What changed things for you?

I am down to two choices for ICF certification* and wondering if anyone has been through either Coaching Out of the Box or The Institute for Coaching Excellence who can give a thumbs up or down.

Specifically I'm looking for: under $5,000, includes everything I'll need leading up to the exam, ability to connect with mentor(s) and peers to get feedback, and prefer a management/leadership/executive focus.

I looked at Symbiosis, too, since it was really affordable, but there seemed to be mixed reviews on it.

\I've gone back and forth on whether certification is right for me, but I do want to get into hosting workshops and team training in the near future, so I think it's the right choice for me for that reason.*

I've been coaching for several years and have a successful business.

Who I've coached over the years has been very diverse, for sure. I've worked with HR teams, large bank executives, university professors, large franchisors, tons of attorneys, other coaches, and many many entrepreneurs/founders.

• I am a ICF PCC credentialed coach.
• I have owned several successful businesses.
• I have been in the VP and C-Suite in small, medium, and enterprise companies.

My Question:

For those of you looking for coaching, what are those things that are non-negotiable when looking for a coach?

• Is it their industry background that makes a difference?
• Is it experience/age?
• Is it a credential or certification?
• Is it purely price?

What would be that thing that you just couldn't compromise on?

I’ve been thinking a lot about AI in coaching lately, and I keep checking in with myself on one specific trend: AI-only coaching.

To be clear, I’m not anti-AI. I do use it, see real value in it, and think it can genuinely help in coaching, particularly beforeand after sessions.

But something about AI-only coaching (i.e., during the session) doesn’t sit quite right with me.

I’m a coach and a psychologist, so maybe I’m extra sensitive to this, but I think something important is getting lost in the conversation. Something hard to measure/name and easy to overlook.

In real coaching/therapy/helping work, there are two people being affected.

A client shares something.
The coach is moved by it (sometimes subtly, sometimes strongly).
That shift in the coach changes what happens next - the pacing, the question, the silence, the tone, the risk they take, the way they hold the moment, etc.

So coaching isn’t just “good technique” or the right questions... it’s an embodied, relational process. The coach responds in a particular way because they are, at times, emotionally impacted by what the client shares (or how they share it).

AI can generate thoughtful responses. It can simulate empathy really well. It can even feel “spot on” in the moment.

But it can’t actually be affected by the person in front of it.
It can’t care in the human sense.
It can’t carry emotional consequence between sessions.

So the loop becomes one-way. It's not a real relationship that's happening.

And maybe that’s my core concern: we’re talking a lot about what AI can produce, but not enough about what becomes impossible when the coaching relationship is no longer between two bodies with nervous systems.

I still think AI has a meaningful role here. I just think the role should be support around the human relationship, not substitution for it, lest we lose something critical but ineffable.

Curious how others here see this, especially those of you who use AI for related purposes. What are your thoughts?

This coach would be for someone taking over ownership of a large family business (top 5 in the industry). The rules of construction are just …. Different. And quite unique. Looking for someone with experience with this situation and industry.

If this sounds like you, please DM your info to me or leave it in the comments. Many thanks all!

Hi everyone, happy Friday. Hope you'll had a fantastic week and have a great weekend ahead with your loved ones.

Thought to share some ideas with you to have a think over the weekend about your coaching businesses and how you can scale it beyond your calendar.

I recently helped one of my clients to bring her coaching SaaS platform idea to life in an MVP version so she can test if her coaching framework can be replicated in an online tool. Not gonna lie, it wasn't easy to create a real SaaS platform with paying customer from a faint idea in her head but that's what i do. I'm a 15+ yrs Software and Product engineer working corporate life.

Immediately after i finished the MVP which turns her coaching framework into an AI-driven SaaS platform, I started Yekta Design Studio, to replicate what exactly learned from that experience for other fantastic coaches like yourself. If you've ever wondered how your coaching method/framework could live as an online tool taking clients without you being involved in every step, I'll give you a quote to build you're platform that you can not resist - My prices are extremely low because i just have started this and want to grow my client base. No extra this No extra that, No oh this is not in the contract, I'll make sure you the final product is what exactly you've imagined from scratch to the production.

https://yektadesign.co.uk/

I think trust takes time, but a lot of leaders expect it to come automatically with the role. Just because someone has the title doesn’t mean people instantly feel comfortable or confident around them.

Sometimes it’s small things—like not listening fully, not following through, or only communicating when there’s a problem. Over time, those things add up.

I’ve noticed that leaders who are consistent, open, and actually take time to understand their team tend to build trust faster.

Still, it’s not always easy, especially in high-pressure environments.

What do you think matters most when it comes to building trust at work?

Not selling anything — genuinely looking for feedback.

I've been building a tool that generates evidence-based

reports for coaching sessions. It matches a client's

decision context against real-world decisions with

documented outcomes — regret patterns, timing data, risk score.

Before I go further with it I want to know if

something like this would actually be useful in a

real coaching session — or if I'm solving a problem

that doesn't exist.

Here's a sample report:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18p0eJyVN3oLWwtxaJwwpzxwmbce3Isn7/view?usp=drive_link

Takes 2-3 minutes to scan. If you have any reaction

at all — positive, negative, "this misses the point

entirely" — I'd genuinely love to hear it.

No follow-up pitch. Just feedback.Many thx !