
Ep. 244 - The Coaching Leader: Navigating Complexity with Vulnerability and Challenge
From Empower World: The Coaching and Leadership Podcast by Jeanine Bailey & Marie Quigley
December 22, 2025 · 44 min
About this episode
Ian Day discusses the essential shift leaders must make to effectively navigate a VUCA world through vulnerability and challenge.
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?"
People in this episode
Hosts: Jeanine Bailey, Marie Quigley
Guest: Ian Day
Topics covered
- leadership
- coaching
- vulnerability
- complexity
- VUCA world
- support
- challenge
Keywords
- leadership
- coaching
- vulnerability
- complexity
- support
- challenge
- VUCA
- effective leadership
- deep listening
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Challenging Coaching
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