Empower World: The Coaching and Leadership Podcast

What if the need to know, plan and control is getting in the way of your most powerful coaching? In this episode, Andra Marosi - executive and team coach and supervisor shares her experience with the challenge of working within increasingly complex and unpredictable human systems. Discover how letting go of certainty, cultivating trust and responding courageously to what is emerging can create the "magic in the middle" where coaches and leaders can work with greater presence, authenticity, flexibility and impact.

Every coach has probably been there at some point in their coaching practice. The client wanders, the session drifts and perhaps neither the coach or partner is quite sure why that happened or how to manage those uncomfortable conversations. Jeanine Bailey and Marie Quigley focus on those times in a coaching session when a client loses their way and the coach can perhaps see it happening, but not sure how to manage it. Here's the uncomfortable truth: when a client is confused or quietly anxious, it can lie with the coach's ability to hold the process. Practical, honest and occasionally a little confronting - in the very best way.

For every $1 an organisation invests in employee wellbeing, the return is almost $5. Yet most organisations are still trying to fix one of the most costly challenges in the modern workplace with simple initiatives like a yoga class and a bowl of free fruit - which are healthy initiatives, but not enough. Nicola Spencer-Perera - a professional coach, burnout specialist and founder of Reset Wellness spent 27 years in fast-paced global corporate communications before burnout changed everything. In this podcast, she shares the signs your team is quietly going under, why wellbeing initiatives fail without genuine leadership buy-in, and what does works. If you lead people or simply want to take better care of yourself in a world that glorifies being busy - this conversation is for you.

Most coaches hear their client's words. Very few hear what those words are actually doing. In this episode, Jeanine Bailey is joined by Lyssa deHart MCC - author of Light Up: The Science of Coaching with Metaphors - where Lyssa reveals why metaphors are not decoration in a coaching conversation but idea containers - each one lighting up the brain and revealing the landscape of a client's inner world in a way no other language can. And here is what stands out: a metaphor is a shared experience. When a coach truly hears one, two people can inhabit the same moment of understanding simultaneously. That is connection at its deepest - and it is available in every coaching conversation, if you know how to listen for it.

The sponsor relationship is one of the most underestimated dynamics in professional coaching. Get it wrong and even the most skilled coaching can unravel before a single session begins. In this episode, we get honest about what really happens when organisations, HR teams, line managers and families enter the coaching equation. Not every coaching opportunity is the right one for a coach. Knowing the difference is what separates a confident coach from a compromised one. And - the more prepared the coach is - factoring in the many layers of a coaching assignment - the more opportunity for a successful engagement.

What if the biggest obstacle to your most powerful coaching sessions is not your skills, but your beliefs? In this Podcast episode, Jeanine Bailey and Marie Quigley explore what it truly means to believe that your clients are Naturally Creative, Resourceful and Whole, and why so many coaches abandon this principle the moment things get uncomfortable. Through real mentoring room stories and hard-won wisdom, they unpack what happens when coaches hold the space versus when they rescue, and why trusting your client completely changes everything.

What if your anxiety is not a life sentence, but a message your body is desperately trying to send you? Somatic coach and nervous system educator Hind Taychouri was told to take pills forever - and she said no. In this Podcast episode 257, she shares why stress gets trapped in the body, and how - little by little - we can learn to ride the wave of discomfort rather than be swept away by it. Trauma is a fact of life. But it doesn't have to lead the way.

What if your well-meaning habits are getting in the way of your client's growth? In this honest conversation, Jeanine Bailey MCC and Marie Quigley MCC explore the unconscious coaching pattern of cheerleading - the over-championing, the enthusiastic "that's wonderful," the nodding and yes-yes-yessing that feels supportive but can cut your client's thinking. Research shows that staying silent allows clients to go deeper, and that is precisely where the most powerful insights live. If you have ever caught yourself saying "that's amazing" and wondered whether you were really serving the person in front of you, this conversation is for you.

What does headshot photography have to do with coaching? More than you'd think. Executive coach and photographer Andy Robbins joins Co-Founder of Empower World Marie Quigley to explore the surprising parallels between capturing someone's true presence through a lens and unlocking it in a coaching conversation - from reading micro-expressions, to building trust with a resistant client, to why AI can replicate a headshot but never replace a genuine human connection. A must-listen for any coach ready to see their craft through a completely different pair of eyes.

Monia Pyraki, a professional coach, left a corporate career when she knew something was missing in her life, created a successful coaching practice, then moved to Switzerland with six-month-old twins, and had to start over in a new country, a new culture, with no community around her. By blending her coaching skills with her background in events and wellness, she built a new successful practice working with the likes of Google, Estée Lauder, Lululemon - to name a few. If you're wondering what's possible when you trust the skills you've built and stay true to who you are - this conversation will show you.

Leadership is lonely, and most leaders are too busy to admit it. Team coaches and supervisors, Larissa Thurlow and Traci Manalani, who create spaces for leaders from different organisations - not to learn content or receive advice - but simply to pause, reflect, and be heard without anyone expecting anything from them, offer a different perspective about leadership. When leaders slow down together, something shifts for them. They become clearer, calmer, more purposeful, and measurably better at their work. If you are a coach or leader or someone who suspects that doing more is not actually the answer, this conversation supports the idea that pausing improves our ability to be more effective and purposeful.

In this latest podcast episode, we interview Wendy-Ann Smith - a coaching psychologist and founder of Ethics Forum International and the Coaching Ethics Forum - as to why ethical maturity is no longer optional. From the growing influence of AI in coaching to the wisdom of Indigenous and global spiritual perspectives, this conversation invites us to rethink what it truly means to do good work in the world.

In this episode of the Empower World Coaching and Leadership Podcast, we explore the often-overlooked power of volunteering in the coaching profession through a rich conversation with MCC coach, mentor, supervisor and educator Zsofia Juhasz. We reflect on how volunteering can open doors to community, confidence, learning, visibility and meaningful contribution, especially for coaches seeking connection, growth and purpose. We share how giving back is not only in service of the profession and those we support, but can also deepen our own development, strengthen our reputation, expand our networks and create unexpected opportunities.

In this episode we explore how coaches and leaders can present with more confidence, clarity and impact with special guest Colin Boyd. Colin is a public speaking authority and coach to highly successful entrepreneurs and coaches with the purpose to support their brand which attracts people in a way that is authentic and heart centred. We cover the mindset behind authentic selling, how to avoid overwhelming your audience, and why storytelling and structure are essential for presentations that truly connect and attract the people you want to work with.

Many coaches want to add value from the very first minute. They dive straight into coaching because they care, because they want results, because they want to be useful. Yet the real power often lies in slowing down. In this episode, we explore why the discovery session - which includes contracting, setting expectations, building psychological safety, clarifying roles - is not a formality but the foundation for courageous, transformational work. We unpack the subtle shift that turns good coaching into powerful partnership. The most impactful thing we can do in our coaching programmes is preparing the foundation for powerful and empowering conversations.

In this episode of the Empower World podcast, therapist and executive coach Karen Ledger explores why coaches must continually do their own inner work. Grounded in person-centred principles and the influence of Carl Rogers, she emphasises that genuine relationship - built on congruence, empathy and self-awareness - matters more than any model. She also stresses that ongoing reflection through mentoring and supervision enables coaches to support clients with integrity, courage and care.

Coaching and leadership aren't 'simple' anymore. Many leaders and teams are wrestling with uncertainty, pressure, and imposter syndrome, while coaches find yesterday's models don't stretch far enough (especially with AI now replicating process coaching). In this episode, coaching pioneer David Clutterbuck shares why the future is coach maturity: moving from doing coaching to being a coach. Deep impact and effectiveness comes from coach maturity: the ability to work systemically, and create the conditions where individuals, teams, and whole systems can think for themselves and understand the wider implications. The differentiator in an increasingly AI world becomes presence, wisdom and the courage to hold what cannot be neatly solved.

As AI and digital platforms reshape coaching, the key question becomes: what still makes human coaching irreplaceable? Jonathan Passmore highlights that while AI can do things well, such as summarising and reflecting on what has been shared and asking questions, it cannot replicate lived experience, identity, humour or emotional attunement. The future is not human versus AI, but human with AI. When coaches consciously amplify their humanity and use AI as complementary support, coaching becomes more accessible, flexible and impactful without losing its soul.

In this rich and deeply human conversation, Christy Byerly, MCC and coach educator, mentor and thought leader explores what it really means to bring brave, powerful love into coaching and leadership. Love is not sentimentality, but an active, grounded practice which requires clear boundaries, honest contracting and the courage to invite dissent. Christy shares vivid stories from her work, parenting, teaching and leadership experiences, illustrating how connection without structure collapses, and structure without connection disconnects. And how love with structure creates the foundation for empowering conversations.

Ian Day, Expert in Coaching and Leadership Development, highlights the crucial shift leaders and coaches must make to thrive in a VUCA world. As co-author of Challenging Coaching, he emphasises that true leadership effectiveness comes from blending support with courageous challenge, all grounded in unconditional positive regard. In a landscape of volatility and need for adaptability, leaders can no longer play the lone rainmaker. Instead, they must embrace core coaching behaviours: asking real questions, listening deeply, and modelling vulnerability. His provocation is simple and powerful: "Who am I being as a leader?"