Empower World: The Coaching and Leadership Podcast

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

In this podcast, Sunni Smith reveals how profound transformation happens through simple human presence: not techniques, not effortful doing. This episode highlights challenges coaches and leaders face today: so busy doing means we miss the deeper human connection that unlocks insight, creativity, and trust. The solution: create connections which can bring people back to who they choose to be by seeing the person beyond labels, roles, and identities. Sunni shares vivid stories demonstrating that when a coach or leader truly sees another person, something shifts, resistance softens, insight emerges, innovation becomes possible, and relationships transform.

What happens when you take a team out of the boardroom and into the woods Coach and ex-corporate leader Paul Jefferies shares how coaching in nature restores attention, lowers defenses, and sparks fresh thinking. He provides practical ways to work outdoors: constellations, reflective walks, and nature-based metaphors. The results: deeper connection, clearer purpose, better outcomes.

From Solo Practice to Systemic Impact: Eve Turner on Ethics, Community & Climate-Conscious Coaching. Many coaches feel a tension: Where does my responsibility end—am I here only for the client's goals, or do I also hold the wider system, ethics, and our shared future? Eve Turner, coach, coach supervisor, author, researcher (and a community builder) shares that a values and ethics-led, systemic practice sits at the heart of her practice and why collaboration matters (Climate Coaching Alliance, Global Supervisors Network, Sustainability Coaching Coalition). If you've wondered how to contribute without imposing an agenda, this conversation offers a clear path: work with community, stand on ethical ground, coach the whole system, and support clients make decisions that serve self, others, and future generations.

The Emotional Fitness Formula, created by Joe Pane, with decades of coaching, training and leadership, shares the five practical principles that support people navigate challenge with clarity in this podcast. He explains how it's possible for all of us to achieve emotional flexibility - to ultimately understand about who we are and what we can choose to do in support of self. and the people we lead in times of challenge and opportunity. If you're ready for an understanding of the principles of emotional fitness, language and real-world examples you can use immediately.

What if you could discover how to connect with anyone - no guesswork, no assumptions? In this podcast episode, we explore with Joe Pane, professional coach, how Extended DISC goes beyond personality tests to reveal the "map" of human behaviour, supporting coaches and leaders to speak the language of their clients', build trust faster, and create lasting change.

How can coaching become a catalyst for real, sustainable change: for individuals, organisations, and our planet? Alan Taylor, an executive coach and sustainability advocate explores with Empower World how coaching can go beyond personal insight to ignite meaningful action in the world around us by sharing powerful reflections on integrating sustainability into leadership and coaching. This includes the role of systems thinking and reconnecting with what really matters. Whether you're a coach, leader, or changemaker, this episode offers fresh perspectives on how to hold space for deep transformation - not just for the coachee, but for the wider system they impact.

The way we see ourselves can be the key to unlocking our greatest potential. In this thought-provoking episode, special guest Dasha Dare - photographer turned self-image coach - shares how visibility, vulnerability, and the art of seeing beyond appearances can be transformative. Dasha shares how years behind the lens taught her to witness the unseen greatness in others - that they don't see in themselves - as well as understand and get curious about all of the different and potentially uncomfortable parts of self that perhaps ordinarily get 'pushed' aside. A compelling listen for coaches and leaders who are curious about different ways to support their clients.

As coaches and leaders who coach, we're trained to hold space in support of others, but what happens when we don't create space for ourselves to do the deeper work and take care of self In this episode with ICF MCC coach and EMCC ESIA coach supervisor Inga Bielinska, we dive into the importance of self care as a leader and coach, which can be often over be overlooked by those in high-responsibility roles. This is a conversation about the intersection of self-care, leadership, and real coaching mastery.