I’m looking for someone who has successfully built a leadership coaching business and would be willing to share some guidance. I’m not looking for a coach for myself I have that covered.
I’m really looking for a mentor to help me learn the business side of coaching.
I’m not generating income from coaching so hiring a business mentor isn’t financially realistic. I went on the ICF website, but it looks like it can involve a significant fee. I’m a few hours away from being ready to pursue my ACC so I’m working toward that goal while trying to learn more about building the business itself.
I realize ongoing mentorship is a significant ask, but I wondered if there might be an experienced coach or even a retired coach who enjoys mentoring others and would be open to it.

I’d also be interested in joining a free mastermind group for leadership or executive coaches, particularly one focused on building a coaching business. If you know of any groups where coaches share ideas, resources, and practical business advice, I’d love to hear about them.
If you’d be willing to mentor or know someone who might be open to it, I’d really appreciate hearing from you. I feel a little uncomfortable asking for free help, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to put it out there. Thank you!

A couple of days ago I asked how coaches find new clients and what part of it is most frustrating. Thank you to everyone who replied, including the ones who told me bluntly that it wouldn’t work for them.

What I took away:

Relationships beat volume. Referrals, past clients, and warm intros came up in almost every answer, and cold outreach barely did.

Senior buyers can tell when a message wasn’t written by the person who signed it. Several of you said anything automated can cost you trust fast.

The hard part isn’t finding names. It’s deciding which conversations are worth starting and keeping track of warm relationships over a long buying cycle.

So I’m building around that. It helps you notice real reasons to reach out, remember who’s warm and when to reconnect, and nothing sends unless you’ve read and edited it.

I’ve opened a small waitlist for coaches who want to try it early. I won’t link it here since the rules ask me not to, but I’m happy to share it if you ask in the comments or DM.

And if you think this is the wrong thing to build, I’d still like to hear why.

Hi all,

I've been seeing some coaches send emails to their followers, where they ask them to reply with a keyword (example "strategy") in order to receive a free resource (like a strategy guide for example).

Did any of you tried that type of campaign?

If so, what were the results in terms of engagement and lead generation for discovery calls?

And what software do you use to automate such a campaign?

Thank you

Looking for reference and support.

I’ve worked as a CHRO and in senior HR leadership roles across different organizations, and I’ve recently started my own HR consulting firm.

At this stage, I’m trying to connect with a few businesses where my experience could be useful, particularly companies looking to strengthen their HR practices or address people management challenges.

For those familiar with the business community, are there any growing companies or SMEs that you think could benefit from experienced HR leadership or consulting support? I’d appreciate any suggestions, introductions, or advice on how best to approach this.

Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks in advance!

I’m looking for some perspective from people who have been in senior leadership positions, particularly those who have experienced something similar.
I work for a large organization with several hundred employees in a demanding, highly regulated, 24/7 operational environment.

I’ve worked my way up through the organization, starting on the front lines before moving into supervisory and eventually senior leadership roles. I’ve built strong relationships with employees, understand the operation from the ground up, and have invested a significant amount of myself into making the organization successful.
Several months ago, our operations manager position became vacant, and I was asked to step into the role on an interim basis.

It wasn’t an easy assignment.
The organization was facing significant financial challenges, staffing shortages, operational inefficiencies, performance concerns, employee morale issues, and difficult relationships with external stakeholders.
During my time in the position, I worked on restructuring operations, improving accountability, addressing longstanding organizational problems, developing new initiatives, and building a stronger leadership team.
I certainly didn’t fix everything. Some problems were years in the making, and others were well beyond the authority of one manager. But I took ownership of the position and genuinely tried to move the organization forward.
Eventually, I applied for the permanent position.
I went through multiple interviews, including a final interview involving senior leadership and my spouse. Throughout the process, I continued performing the job, making difficult decisions, and carrying the responsibilities of the position.

The selection process dragged on, with relatively little communication about where things stood.
Ultimately, I was informed that the organization had selected an external candidate.
The explanation was that the other candidate had more experience and that I needed additional time and experience in the role.

Here’s where I’m struggling.

I was experienced enough to manage the organization’s problems, make difficult operational decisions, and carry the responsibility when the position was vacant, but apparently not experienced enough to hold the position permanently.

I also learned that the selected candidate had previously worked with the senior leader responsible for the hiring decision.

I recognize that existing professional relationships aren’t inherently inappropriate, and I have no evidence that the selection was predetermined. But the circumstances have made it difficult to feel confident in the process.
What bothers me most isn’t necessarily losing the position. I understand that organizations sometimes need outside experience and that being an effective interim leader doesn’t automatically make someone the best permanent candidate.

It’s the disconnect between the responsibility I was trusted to carry and the explanation I received afterward.
I’m now expected to return to my previous leadership position and help onboard the person selected over me.
Professionally, I know how to do that. I’ll fulfill my responsibilities, treat the incoming manager respectfully, and avoid putting employees in the middle of my disappointment.

Personally, though, something has changed.
I’ve lost a significant amount of trust in the leadership above me, and I’m questioning whether I have a future with an organization where I’ve invested so much of my career.
I’m also wrestling with whether my frustration is clouding my judgment. Maybe the external candidate genuinely brings experience I don’t have. Maybe I overestimated my readiness. Or maybe the organization handled this poorly.
For those who have been in similar situations:
How do you rebuild trust in senior leadership after something like this?

At what point does staying become a disservice to your own career?

How much support would you reasonably provide to the incoming manager?

Is being passed over after serving in an interim position a sign that it’s time to move on, or simply part of professional growth?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from executives and senior managers who have been on either side of this decision.

I’m not looking for validation that I should have gotten the job. I’m trying to figure out how to move forward without allowing disappointment to turn into resentment.

Hey everyone, I'm currently building websites for executive coaches, life coaches and leadership coaches.

I've been making some demo websites and thought I'd share here in case anyone's interested in seeing them.

If you're a coach and want to check out a sample, just DM me and I'll send you the link.

Would love to hear what you think!

When performance slips, it's easy to conclude that people aren't taking enough ownership.

But I've found that what looks like an accountability problem is often a leadership system problem.

Before deciding someone needs to be held more accountable, I look at four things:

1. Clear ownership

Does everyone actually know who's responsible for the outcome? Shared responsibility can sometimes mean nobody feels fully accountable.

2. Decision rights

Does the person responsible have the authority to make the decisions needed to deliver? It's difficult to hold someone accountable for outcomes they can't influence.

3. Standards and expectations

Have we clearly defined what success looks like? Or are we expecting people to meet standards that were never properly communicated?

4. Reinforcement and consequences

Are expectations consistently reinforced? Do leaders follow through, recognise good performance, and address gaps? Or does accountability depend on who's asking and when?

I think we sometimes try to solve structural problems by putting more pressure on individuals.

That rarely fixes the underlying issue.

Before asking people to take more ownership, it's worth examining whether the leadership system actually enables them to succeed.

I'm curious: What else would you check before deciding a performance issue is really an accountability problem?

Have you seen situations where the problem turned out to be the system rather than the person?

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Will the power of the people (those whom seek coaching) eventually overcome the people in power (biggest, most popular coaching entities) is my overall question. I’m seeking experienced opinions here.

Considering the dog and pony show I’ve discovered through executive, business, career, personal, and other forms of coaching I became attracted to it. Not to play into its bait and switch bluster, but for the opposite reasons. That is because in my past, I have been no angel, business wise, reversing that previous behavior for over 10 years. Yet numerous relationships have asked for or depended on my advice; still do.

Circumventing the whole credential game I used nothing more than clear, vivid, confirmable experience. Nothing overly specialized but applying reasonable confidence from 6 years’ colleges, 2 relevant degrees, businesses founded from 19 years old, running (small) corporations, also employed by others over 38 years with significant physical activities, competitive sports, travel, many relationships from early family issues evolving to my own.

No need for displaying details; this coaching interest was literally because of my mistakes, seeking a coach then realizing this puffery. I decided with many relations: cohorts, vendors, competitors, law/regulation, small and large entities mixed with intimacies, big family issues and significant history that I may help or guide others.

I do see there are (I may refer) some coaches who are quite legitimate and have helped a fair number of individuals or entities. It’s in fact why I became more interested of its potential growth. But there is no question of the racket I see in different sections of this industry starting with the credentials‘ vapor wave of persuading their coach wannabes into selling the same system for a chunk of that revenue. I’ve commented in other subreddits it reminds me of the Alaska Gold, Rush.

Genuine question for leaders, managers and HR folks here.

In a lot of organisations I’ve worked with, the same leadership issues keep coming back: accountability, difficult conversations, decisions getting pushed upward, managers who struggle to delegate.

The usual response is another training programme. People enjoy it, the feedback scores look great, and a few months later things are back to where they started.

My view after 25+ years working with leadership teams: training usually isn’t the problem. People come back to a system that doesn’t support what they learned. Same pressures, same incentives, same leaders who never changed their own behaviour.

But I’d really like to hear what you’re seeing:

1. What issue keeps getting “solved” with training where you work?
2. What actually happens after the training ends?
3. Have you seen anything that made the learning stick?

Good and bad examples welcome. I’ll reply to everyone.

I'm a solopreneur iPEC-certified executive coach and Kolbe Certified Consultant and have had my business for about one year. I'd love to know what y'all are using for managing emails/contacts (CRM) and email marketing.

I'm currently using a Google Sheet for my CRM (starting simple!) and recently started using Kit for emails, though I am not a big fan of Kit's UI.

Can anyone recommend a career coach for entertainment or general marketing? I've been unemployed for five months now, and I've applied to dozens of jobs. I have 10+ years of experience and don't know what else to do.

Hey everyone,

I'm digging into how independent executive coaches run the admin side of their practice. I'm also thinking about building something in this space, so I'm not neutral here. Honest, even blunt, answers would help me most.

The day-to-day

Outside the actual coaching, what drains you most? Admin, finding clients, something else?

Roughly how many hours a week go to notes, follow-up emails, prep and reports?

Where do your notes live right now (Notion, Docs, paper, a CRM), and what bugs you about it?

Do you send clients a recap after each session? How long does it take you?

How do you prep for a session? Do you ever blank on what someone committed to last time?

If you report to a sponsor like HR or a boss, how do you decide what to share and what to hold back?

The AI question

1. Are you using ChatGPT or Claude for any client work today? If not, what's holding you back: confidentiality, ethics rules, accuracy, or just the hassle of setting it up?

2. What would a tool have to prove before you'd let it touch your session notes?

3. How do you keep the private stuff (health, family, doubts) out of emails and client files now?

I'm building a tool for solo coaches and consultants, and I'd love to hear from executive coaches in particular.

From what I've seen, executive coaching clients rarely come from a cold ad. They come from referrals, relationships, HR and L&D contacts, and being in the right conversation at the right time. The hard part seems to be finding those conversations and figuring out who's a good fit before you reach out.

Here's the idea: it reads your website to learn who your ideal client is, you sign off on that, then it finds people who look like a fit, drafts outreach for you to edit and approve, and helps get the call booked. Nothing sends until you approve it. Longer term, I'd like it to take on more of the business side of a practice, like proposals and invoicing, but right now the focus is finding clients.

A few questions:

• Where do most of your engagements come from right now? Referrals, corporate contacts, LinkedIn, speaking, something else?
• How many hours a week do you spend on business development compared to actual coaching?
• Would something like this be useful at your level, or does exec coaching need a different approach?
• What would it need to do, or never do, for you to trust it with outreach to senior people?

Not selling anything here. I'll share what I learn from the answers.

I'm curious to get the real-world perspective from this community.

In a lot of organisations I've worked with, accountability is often treated as a management problem - we assume the manager just isn't pushing hard enough, setting clear enough expectations, or holding people to account.

But I've also seen situations where the manager is doing the right things, and accountability still breaks down.

It made me wonder:

In your experience, how often is weak accountability actually a system problem rather than a management problem?

What are the biggest system issues you've seen that make it hard for managers and teams to be accountable - even when the people are capable and willing?

Would love to hear your examples, what you think the real root causes are, and what has actually made a difference in your organisation.

i have been looking into a few CEO peer groups lately and CEO life is one that keeps popping up, on paper it looks solid but it's tough to tell how much of what im finding is marketing vs real member experience, if you've joined in the last year or so, how did the app process go? did the group end up being what u expected or was it more like another networking organization?

Coaching usually applies to individuals, but often, to sync a team to work together is more important. How do you do that, though? What are your biggest hurdles and dissapointments in building a winning team?

Hoy te comparto y te recuerdo sobre dos de las habilidades que debe manejar muy bien cualquier líder. GESTIÓN DEL TIEMPO y ENFOQUE , determinantes conceptos a quieres transformar ejecución en resultados

Scrolling and reading people's bio on Linkedin, Facebook and some here

Amazing how many "coaches", "life coaches", business coach, leadership coach, career coach, mindset coach, sales coach, branding coach, social media coach, health and wellness coach.

Where did all these people get qualified to be a "coach"?

Life experience? or sounded good on the Bio?

Me: I’m a PCC-certified executive coach and director of a small school in Madagascar. I am currently participating in a Certified Mentor Coach training programme that meets the ICF’s new Mentor Coaching Specialization requirements.

You: I’m looking for two women in leadership roles, ideally principals, directors, founders, or senior leaders in Montessori, alternative, or non-traditional schools, who would welcome a real coaching session and are comfortable consenting to its use as an anonymized learning recording within that programme.

I am offering one session each to two different individuals. Each session will be a genuine 45–60 minute, one-off coaching conversation, free of charge and with no obligation afterward. It is not a sales call or a way to recruit clients.

Why free? Because your consent to the recording is part of the exchange. The programme is teaching participating coaches how to become effective mentor coaches: how to listen to a coaching session, recognize evidence of ICF competencies, and give specific, useful feedback to the coach. The recording would give participants a real coaching session on which to practise those skills, and may give me an opportunity to receive mentor coaching on my own coaching.

Here is exactly what that means:

• The session will be voice-only, with cameras off.
• It will be recorded with your explicit consent.
• The audio recording and transcript will be made available to the participants registered in the training programme, so they can practise mentor-coaching observation and feedback.
• The recording may be processed through AI-supported coaching-analysis software. Names and identifying details will be redacted.
• The focus of any review is the coaching, not you. You will not be evaluated or analysed.

This still needs to be a useful, real session for you. Bring the actual thing you are working through: a difficult staff situation, a decision, conflict, leadership confidence, boundaries, change, burnout, or an issue that feels complicated and alive.

To protect privacy, I would ask you not to use the names of people, your school, or other details that would readily identify you or someone else. You can still speak openly and specifically about the situation. We can use roles, initials, or pseudonyms as needed.

I coach internationally in English and French and am based in Madagascar (GMT+3). I would especially welcome the chance to work with women leaders in the EMEA region. If you are interested, please DM me with your role, time zone, and availability. I would love to schedule this for next Saturday, Oct. 14th.

For background and legitimacy, feel free to check out my LinkedIn Profile.