Why Your Brain Wants You to Stay Mediocre (And How to Fix It)

AI Won't Replace Leaders. It Will REVEAL Them.

What happens when a 20-year IBM veteran and former CIO graduates from the corporate world and becomes an executive coach? Jane Williams spent 20 years at IBM and was inside the building when Watson was first being trained, back when every professional had to teach the machine their own domain by hand. She rose to CIO, then built a coaching practice for IT leaders. In this conversation she makes the case that AI will not replace leaders, it will reveal them, because once the mechanical work disappears the only thing left to evaluate is judgment. We also get tactical about the business of coaching. Why selling to a boardroom beats selling to an individual. Why she caps her roster at 8 to 10 clients and runs 6 on purpose. Why the hardest part of the corporate-to-coach pivot is not the coaching, it is learning to be your own marketing department. And the one piece of advice she gives every new coach: get credentialed, and do not just hang up a shingle. If you are a leader navigating the AI shift, or a corporate expert thinking about coaching as your next chapter, this one is for you. CONNECT WITH JANE WILLIAMS: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janeparkerwilliams/ Website: Find Your Fire Coach (findyourfirecoach.com) New venture: Make Working Work READ THE FULL ARTICLE: https://kyberfive.com/articles/judgment-is-the-moat [https://kyberfive.com/articles/judgment-is-the-moat?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=ep31-jane] READY TO CLOSE THE GROWTH GAP? Get the Growth Gap resources here: https://growthgap.kyberfive.com/?ref=k5post ABOUT COACH AS ENTREPRENEUR: Coach as Entrepreneur is the show for coaches building real businesses with systems, strategy, and heart. Hosted by David Chung, each episode features honest conversations with coaches about the realities of building a sustainable coaching practice. Subscribe for new episodes every week. CONNECT WITH DAVID: Website: https://kyberfive.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidchung-01/

Why This Executive Coach Rejoined the Military at 50 | Episode 30

"My success as a leader is measured by how far my team members go." Urs Koenig is a Swiss executive coach, NATO and UN peacekeeper, ultra-endurance athlete, and author of Radical Humility. He has worked with leaders at Amazon, Microsoft, and Starbucks. In this episode, Urs takes us through one of the most unusual coaching journeys you will hear on this show. A geographer with a PhD in climate research, an MBA, a consulting career, then a transition to coaching in 2000 when coaching was still the Wild West. Seventeen years later, at age 50, he rejoined the military and deployed as a NATO peacekeeper, then again four years after that with the UN in the Middle East. We talk about why he went back, the imposter syndrome he carried for years, the leadership factory concept, his ideal client (the arrogant jerk), and the practical advice he gives to anyone starting a coaching business today. Key Topics: Radical humility as a leadership framework Rejoining the military at 50 to live the leadership world of his clients The leadership factory: measuring success by how far your team members go Imposter syndrome in early coaching ("who am I to coach executives?") The two-channel marketing system: speaker bureaus and direct inbound Why new coaches should give it away and get the reps in Connect with Urs Koenig: Website: https://urskoenig.com [https://urskoenig.com] Book: Radical Humility https://www.urskoenig.com/book [https://www.urskoenig.com/book] READ THE FULL ARTICLE: https://kyberfive.com/articles/rejoined-at-fifty-urs-koenig-ep30 Ready to close the Growth Gap? Get the Growth Gap resources here: https://growthgap.kyberfive.com/?ref=k5post ABOUT COACH AS ENTREPRENEUR: Coach as Entrepreneur is the show for coaches building real businesses with systems, strategy, and heart. Hosted by David Chung, each episode features honest conversations with coaches about the realities of building a sustainable coaching practice. Subscribe for new episodes every week. CONNECT WITH DAVID: Website: https://kyberfive.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidchung-01/ Find us on your favorite podcast apps: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/coach-as-entrepreneur/id1843243824 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0hpKBTpaHH5qT1mzilKRu6 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/98fa3ba9-56dc-4eb3-989f-d890ab21bf02

Stop Throwing Spaghetti at the Wall: Coaching Lessons from Year 1

"If your employees are hearing feedback for the first time at the annual review, way too late." Dr. Lani Jones is a clinical psychologist turned executive coach and founder of HBL Advisory Group. She helps ambitious leaders stop chasing conventional success and start architecting a lasting legacy through her Final 1% framework. In this episode, Dr. Jones brings her deep understanding of human behavior to the conversation on leadership, culture, and the realities of building a coaching business. We unpack the Index Card test that exposes the true culture of any leadership team, why yearly performance reviews destroy growth, and how to escape the "minnow in the ocean" feeling when you're a new coach finding your voice. Key Topics: The Index Card test for revealing true company culture Why yearly evaluations are broken and what to do instead The "minnow in the ocean" problem for new coaches The Final 1% framework: turning success into lasting legacy How to spot when a "fear state" is killing creativity on your team Year-one advice: put blinders on, keep the path narrow Connect with Dr. Lani Jones: Website: https://drlanijones.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlanijones/ Company: HBL Advisory Group Ready to close the Growth Gap? Get the Growth Gap resources here: https://growthgap.kyberfive.com/?ref=k5post ABOUT COACH AS ENTREPRENEUR: Coach as Entrepreneur is the show for coaches building real businesses with systems, strategy, and heart. Hosted by David Chung, each episode features honest conversations with coaches about the realities of building a sustainable coaching practice. Subscribe for new episodes every week. CONNECT WITH DAVID: Website: https://kyberfive.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidchung-01/ Find us on your favorite podcast apps: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/coach-as-entrepreneur/id1843243824 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0hpKBTpaHH5qT1mzilKRu6 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/98fa3ba9-56dc-4eb3-989f-d890ab21bf02 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/g7Vqn8EsUSw

How to Build Business Systems So You Can Take a 2-Week Vacation | Laurie Hollinger

Laurie Hollinger didn't plan on becoming a coach. She planned on fashion. Growing up in a town of 900 in North Dakota, she told her mother she was going to live somewhere she could actually touch the clothes in the magazines. She got to New York. She got recruited into the Saks Fifth Avenue training program. And she became a designer sportswear buyer. What followed was 15 years in corporate and another decade-plus helping a small business scale to $10 million. Then she woke up almost 50 and thought: what's next? The answer became a coaching practice — and a 10-week mastermind called Design Your Decade. In this episode, David and Laurie dig into what it actually takes to build a business that supports the life you want — not just the work. They cover the Design Your Decade framework (values, wheel of life, Working Genius), the three pillars every business owner needs to grow with ease (clear vision, empowered team, great systems), and the vacation litmus test for knowing whether your systems are real or just theoretical. Plus the North Star Laurie has carried since day one: better daycare pickups. Key themes: Intentional business design | Fractional teams | Systems building | Coaching as a second act | Vision and values alignment Connect with Laurie Hollinger: Website: https://hollingerco.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriehollinger Ready to close the Growth Gap? Get the Growth Gap resources here: https://growthgap.kyberfive.com/?ref=k5post About Coach as Entrepreneur: Coach as Entrepreneur is the show for coaches building real businesses with systems, strategy, and heart. Hosted by David Chung, each episode features honest conversations with coaches about the realities of building a sustainable coaching practice. Connect with David: Website: https://kyberfive.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidchung-01/

Why Your Brain Wants You to Stay Mediocre (And How to Fix It)

Your brain doesn't want you to succeed. It wants you to survive. David Edmonds explains why that difference is the thing keeping coaches stuck. David Edmonds is an ontological leadership coach and author of Becoming You. After 20+ years in architecture, he took a 75% pay cut to coach full-time. He now works with leaders and executives who sense they've outgrown the identity that made them successful. In this conversation, David and I dig into the root fear that stops most coaches from charging what they're worth, putting themselves out there, and building real businesses. He shares his own journey from £350 for five sessions to premium leadership coaching, and the stories that shaped how he thinks about fear, identity, and contribution. We also talk about why money is a measure of contribution, the "Filing Cabinet Error" that keeps people living into their past, and the coaching conversation that may have shifted a Brexit negotiation. Key Topics: * Why your brain is designed to keep you mediocre, not help you thrive * Fear vs. danger: how your imagination hijacks decision-making * The "Filing Cabinet Error" — stop filing past failures into your future * Charging what you're worth: from hourly rates to value-based pricing * Three tiers of coaching and why transformational work changes everything * Why every coach needs a coach * Book picks: The Chimp Paradox and Man's Search for Meaning Connect with David Edmonds: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-edmonds-31603020/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-edmonds-31603020/] Website: https://www.certuscoaching.co.uk [https://www.certuscoaching.co.uk/] ABOUT COACH AS ENTREPRENEUR: Coach as Entrepreneur is the show for coaches building real businesses with systems, strategy, and heart. Hosted by David Chung, each episode features honest conversations with coaches about the realities of building a sustainable coaching practice. Subscribe for new episodes every week. CONNECT WITH DAVID: Website: https://kyberfive.com [https://kyberfive.com/] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidchung-01/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidchung-01/]