Dopamine-Driven Goal Setting: Motivating Change with Neuroscience
If you’ve ever set a big goal — like running a marathon, crushing a sales quota, or finally sticking to that new routine — you know motivation doesn’t always show up when you need it most. But here’s the good news: motivation isn’t magic, it’s chemistry. Specifically, it’s dopamine. Dopamine is often called the brain’s […]
Cognitive Reframing: Coaching Clients Through Perspective Shifts
When clients feel stuck, it’s rarely because they lack skill. More often, it’s because they’re locked into a way of seeing the situation that limits their choices. This is where the power of cognitive reframing comes in. Reframing isn’t about sugarcoating challenges or ignoring reality. It’s about helping clients reinterpret situations in ways that reduce […]
Integrating Mirror Neuron Insights: Fostering Empathy and Connection in Coaching
Integrating Mirror Neuron Insights: Fostering Empathy and Connection in Coaching It happened during a virtual session with a first-time executive client. She was describing a high-stakes meeting where she felt dismissed and unheard. As she recounted the moment, her voice softened, her eyes shifted down, and she paused mid-sentence. I didn’t interrupt. I just mirrored […]
The Science of Neuroplasticity: Designing Coaching Interventions That Stick
The Science of Neuroplasticity: Designing Coaching Interventions That Stick It’s the coaching dream: a client has a breakthrough in session—insight, clarity, energy—and you both leave feeling momentum. But a few weeks later, nothing’s changed. Old behaviors are back. The team is frustrated. The client is frustrated. And you’re left wondering: What happened? Chances are, it […]
NeuroLeadership Principles Every Coach Should Know
NeuroLeadership Principles Every Coach Should Know A VP of HR once said during a coaching debrief, “It’s not that our leaders don’t care. It’s that they don’t understand what’s happening in the brains of their people—or their own.” That statement stuck with me. Because for all the focus on leadership competencies, communication skills, and personality […]
Coaching for Self-Regulation: Techniques to Master Emotional Control
Coaching for Self-Regulation: Techniques to Master Emotional Control A regional sales leader sat across from me, arms crossed, voice tight. “I know I overreacted,” he admitted. “But in the moment, it just took over. I couldn’t stop myself.” He wasn’t talking about a blow-up. It was more subtle than that—an edge in his tone, a […]
The Power of Mental Models: Coaching Clients to See New Possibilities
The Power of Mental Models: Coaching Clients to See New Possibilities If you’ve coached long enough, you’ve seen it: a high-performing client, capable and respected, sitting across from you, stuck in a belief they’ve never questioned. “I’ve always been this way.”“This is just how I operate.”“That’s not really in my DNA.” In many cases, the […]
Your Coaching Climate: Let’s Improve It
Why Your Organization’s Growth Depends on the Conversations You Normalize Every leader wants better outcomes. Higher engagement. Better retention. Stronger performance. More innovation. But here’s a truth that often gets overlooked: outcomes are the trailing indicator of conversations. If the conversations happening in your organization are unclear, inconsistent, surface-level, or overly directive, then performance, trust, […]
Staying Out of the ICU: Intensive Conversations Unit
Why Avoiding Tough Conversations Puts Your Leadership—and Your People—at Risk Every coach, leader, and manager knows this moment. You see something going wrong. A performance slip. A brewing conflict. A teammate disengaging. Maybe it’s tension in a relationship, lack of follow-through, or a values misalignment. You sense it, but you hesitate. You tell yourself it’ll […]
Coaching in Uncertainty: How to Help Clients Navigate Change, Ambiguity, and Stress
If you coach leaders today, there is one common thread running through nearly every conversation: uncertainty. Restructuring, AI disruption, shifting economies, evolving customer demands, and the relentless pace of change have created an environment where ambiguity is not the exception—it’s the norm. This environment tests leaders in ways traditional management never prepared them for. As […]
