Coachful Coaching Leadership Podcast

David Fung | Leadership & Professional Development
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Entrepreneurship

Great leaders aren't born, they're built through real experiences, honest reflection, and the courage to keep growing. On the Coachful Coaching Leadership Podcast, I sit down with leaders across industries to uncover what actually shaped them and what you can take into your own leadership right now. Real stories. Practical insights. Conversations that make you think differently about the leader you're becoming. New episodes bi-weekly. Globally ranked top 10%.

  1. 2d ago

    The Authenticity You're Measuring Doesn't Exist — Maya Rupert

    What if the authenticity we keep demanding from leaders isn't actually a real, measurable thing? In this episode, I sit down with Maya Rupert, who managed Julián Castro's 2020 presidential campaign, becoming only the third Black woman in U.S. history to run a presidential campaign, and later served as a senior advisor to Elizabeth Warren. Today she's Executive Vice President at Blue State and the author of The Real Ones: How to Disrupt the Hidden Ways Racism Makes Us Less Authentic. Maya challenged something I hear constantly in the corporate world: that we can just "sense" when someone is or isn't authentic. She argues that judgment is mostly vibes, shaped by how many versions of "someone like them" we've seen before. Which means the narrower our reference points, the harder it is for women and people of color to ever be read as authentic, no matter how genuine they are. We get into how she defines real, self-reflective authenticity, what it was like running a campaign with no budget for message testing, why she asks every candidate to define winning beyond winning, and the one lesson from politics and movement work that business still hasn't learned about getting people to truly own their work. If you've ever been told to "just be yourself" and wondered whose self they meant, this one's for you. 🎧 Chapters00:00 Welcome and Maya's introduction (plus a guest appearance from Crispin the cat)01:45 Maya's path and why she wrote The Real Ones04:01 How do you actually define authenticity?05:54 The vibes-based test we use to judge leaders09:49 What the 2020 campaign cycle revealed11:48 Inside a presidential campaign: likability is "squishy"14:46 The irony of measuring your own authenticity18:21 When there's only one winner: redefining what winning means20:25 The values Maya looks for in the leaders she backs22:39 What business still needs to learn from movement work26:38 What worries Maya most right now30:43 The one thing she'd fix overnight31:56 Bring joy to your hustle35:17 Where to find Maya and The Real Ones 📕 Maya's book, The Real Ones, is out now wherever you get your books.Find Maya online: @MayaRupert on X, maya.rupert on Instagram and Bluesky

    34 min

  2. May 29

    Your Brain Won't Let You Solve Your Own Problem | Dr. Marcia Reynolds, ICF Past President

    Your brain is wired to protect you from your own breakthroughs. That's why you can't think your way out of the things that matter most. Dr. Marcia Reynolds calls coaches "external thought disruptors." She's one of the most credentialed voices in the field: 5th global president of the ICF, ranked top 5 coach in the world by Global Gurus, ICF Circle of Distinction honoree, and author of the international bestseller Coach the Person Not the Problem. In this conversation, Marcia and I dig into why self-awareness alone isn't enough, what AI genuinely cannot replicate in a coaching session, and how the identity you're quietly holding onto is usually what's keeping you stuck. Find Marcia at covisioning.com Chapters: 0:00 Welcome and introducing Dr. Marcia Reynolds 1:13 Where "coach the person, not the problem" actually came from 3:24 The self-awareness gap: why high performers don't know themselves 7:05 What AI can and cannot do in coaching 9:16 Co-regulation and the energetic connection between coach and client 14:42 How coaches override the protective brain to create real transformation 16:38 When people start questioning purpose: the midlife inflection point 18:38 David's story: leaving 23 years in corporate to build something meaningful 20:49 Why defining yourself by your job title is a trap 23:42 How to coach at the identity level, not just behaviors and goals 27:45 Marcia at 70: skydiving, purpose over profit, and a life well lived 30:53 The honest truth about building a coaching business 33:17 Coaching is just one modality. Purpose is the product. 37:49 Where to find Dr. Marcia Reynolds

    36 min

  3. May 29

    Belonging Isn't a Feeling. It's Performance Science. With organizational scientist Andrea D. Carter.

    What if belonging isn't a soft, feel-good idea but the actual infrastructure that decides whether your team performs? In this episode of the Coachful Coaching Leadership Podcast, I chat with Andrea Carter, organizational scientist, founder of Belonging First, and adjunct professor at Adler University. Fresh off presenting at Google HQ in London for the launch of the Global Workplace Happiness Report, Andrea breaks down what her research across 150,000 employees reveals about why people stay, perform, and actually feel happy at work. A few things we get into: - The finding that people are least happy at work when they're with their boss, and what that says about how we train managers - Why organizations keep investing the most in what matters the least - The five measurable indicators of belonging: comfort, connection, contribution, psychological safety, and well-being - The difference between engagement (who's busy) and contribution (who's creating real impact) - Why employees experience work as a relationship while organizations treat it as a transaction Andrea also shares a free diagnostic, the Belonging Breakdown, so you can see where belonging is breaking down on your own team. Learn more about Andrea's work: https://belongingfirst.com Connect with Andrea on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreadcarter/If you enjoyed this episode, please like, subscribe, and share it with someone who leads a team. Chapters: 00:00 Welcome and introductions 01:30 Andrea's detour to Google HQ in London 03:31 Happy workers perform measurably better 04:33 Why people are least happy with their boss 06:38 Why companies invest the most in what matters least 07:54 Belonging as performance science: the five indicators 10:00 Engagement vs contribution 12:00 Why psychological safety is only one fifth of belonging 14:00 The problem with most resilience training 15:49 What good infrastructure looks like 19:00 When AI does more harm than good in HR 23:24 Fitting in vs belonging: the 50-50 equation 26:45 What do we actually do about it 29:14 The Belonging Breakdown diagnostic 30:20 What drives Andrea's passion for this work 33:14 Bringing joy to your work today

    32 min

  4. May 14

    You Haven't Delegated. You've Just Handed Off the Task. — with Brooke Dukes

    You Haven't Delegated. You've Just Handed Off the Task. — with Brooke Dukes Most founders think they've delegated. They haven't. They've handed off the task and kept the ownership, and that's why their growth has stalled. Brooke Dukes has built four businesses, consulted Fortune 500s for over two decades, and now runs Success by Design — a leadership operating system for founders who've become the bottleneck in their own company. She's also the author of Burn On Not Out and host of the podcast by the same name. In this conversation, Brooke and I get into why "my bandwidth is my company's ceiling" is the most uncomfortable sentence a founder can say out loud, the five-day exercise she gives every client to prove the bottleneck isn't their people, and the moment at 33 — on a corporate jet, in preterm labour, walking away from a six-figure bonus — that ended her Fortune 100 career. If you've ever told yourself "if I don't do it, it won't get done," this one's for you. Chapters00:00 Intro01:29 Four businesses in, here's what Brooke learned04:34 Why growing companies actually stall06:36 Early warning signs you've become the bottleneck08:06 The five-day exercise that reveals where the real problem is11:45 The pushback every founder gives (and why it doesn't hold up)14:47 What being the bottleneck actually costs you19:40 Burn on, not out: the corporate jet moment that changed everything23:16 Leaving a Fortune 500 on your own terms27:06 Why you can't have a Plan B as a founder31:01 The 90-second rule for handling doubt34:52 Brooke's advice for bringing more joy into your day Connect with Brooke DukesPodcast: Burn On, Not OutBook: Burn On Not OutCompany: BMD / Success by Design

    33 min

  5. May 5

    How to Disagree Without Losing Respect — Ron Harvey

    How do you disagree with someone without the conversation falling apart? Ron Harvey spent 21 years in the U.S. Army and now leads as VP of GCS Consulting. In this episode, he and David Fung unpack what most leaders get wrong about disagreement, respect, and leading people in a world that's changing fast. A few moments that stood out: → Why most disagreements aren't really about the issue→ The difference between appreciating people and tolerating them→ How to spot toxic positivity on a team→ Why your worldview needs an annual upgrade, like your iPhone→ Why coaching isn't about making your team better, it's about making you better Chapters 00:00 Intro: Meet Ron Harvey01:11 21 years in the U.S. Army02:00 "People always matter" — where it comes from04:57 How to disagree without losing respect07:57 What respect actually looks like as a behavior12:57 Why "just make a difference" is Ron's north star15:12 How to measure the intangible18:04 Why coaching is about making YOU better, not your team20:11 The most common leadership mistake Ron still sees21:04 The vulnerability exercise Ron runs with executive teams23:41 Toxic positivity vs. toxic negativity26:39 Finding the sweet spot between the two extremes28:23 Why your worldview needs an annual upgrade (the iPhone test)32:14 What to carry from the past, and what to leave behind35:55 Stop driving through life looking in the rearview mirror37:19 Ron's advice for finding more joy39:26 Where to find Ron

    39 min

  6. Apr 30

    Stop Treating Your Company Like a Machine — Norman Wolfe on the Living Organization

    Norman Wolfe spent 40+ years inside organizations, including a long stretch at Hewlett-Packard, before noticing something nobody could explain: 70% of companies fail at strategy execution, despite shelves of books telling them how to succeed. His answer? We're stuck in a paradigm trap, treating organizations as machines and people as component parts. In this conversation, Norman shares the framework behind his book The Living Organization, the three forces that actually create results (doing, relationships, and context), and the story of how he once crushed a goal at HP that he completely forgot about and never tracked. We also get into why mental models quietly run our lives, how improvisation is a more useful operating system than control, and why the leaders who push hardest often achieve the least. A conversation for anyone who's tired of grinding and wondering if there's a better way to lead. Find Norman at quantumleaders.com. Chapters 00:00 Why organizations aren't machines 03:00 The 70% strategy execution problem 06:30 What 40 years of leadership taught Norman about ease 09:00 The three forces: doing, relationships, and context 13:00 The HP goal he hit without trying 17:00 Why who you're being is what you attract 20:00 The non-time based reality of results 24:00 Leading through uncertainty in 2026 26:00 What improvisation teaches us about control 33:00 Mental models and why they break 36:30 Norman's one piece of advice for living your best life

    34 min

  7. Apr 20

    You’re Not Stuck, You’re Running an Old Story | Will Steel

    In this episode of the Coachful Coaching Leadership Podcast, I sit down with Will Steel, a high performance and executive coach, author of Free to Lead, and a former RAF fast jet pilot turned commercial pilot turned coach to founders and business leaders. Will shares the moment in officer training when he almost got kicked out for "keeping his head down," and how being told to actually be himself led to him graduating 18 weeks later with the leadership trophy. From there we get into the real stuff: the limiting beliefs that quietly run people's lives, why business owners hit a ceiling around the $1M mark, and how one of his clients went from working 60 to 70 hours a week down to 12, while growing the business from barely keeping the lights on to $7M. We also talk about: The "I'm not enough" story almost every leader is secretly carryingWhy you can't logic someone into giving up control (and what actually works)How a scientist doubled his income and cut his hours in half after one single insightThe simple practice Will uses to stay grounded and gratefulIf you're a founder, business owner, or leader who feels like the lid on your growth is you, this one is worth your time. Find Will at willsteel.com and grab his book Free to Lead at willsteel.com/freetolead.php Listen to the Coachful Coaching Leadership Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

    36 min

  8. Apr 10

    Why Great Salespeople Don’t Feel Like Salespeople (With Darren Mitchell)

    Why Great Salespeople Don’t Feel Like Salespeople (With Darren Mitchell) What if the best salespeople… don’t actually feel like they’re selling? In this episode, we sit down with Darren Mitchell, Sales Leadership Coach and founder of Exceptional Sales Leader, to break down the biggest misconceptions about sales and why most people are getting it completely wrong. With 800+ podcast episodes and decades of experience, Darren shares why sales isn’t about pushing products… it’s about service, curiosity, and guiding people to better decisions. If you’ve ever felt uncomfortable “selling” or struggled with how to build trust with clients, this conversation will challenge how you think about sales—and leadership. In this episode, we cover:00:00 – Introduction to Darren Mitchell02:10 – Why sales has such a bad reputation05:30 – The biggest misconception about sales09:15 – Why “selling the pen” is outdated12:00 – Car dealerships, Tesla, and the shift to buyer-driven sales17:45 – Why most sales training fails21:00 – Talking yourself out of a sale (and how to avoid it)25:30 – What top 1% salespeople actually do differently29:30 – Bringing more joy into a high-pressure sales role34:00 – Where to find Darren Connect with Darren Mitchell:🌐 Website: https://exceptionalsalesleader.com/🎙 Podcast: https://exceptionalsalesleader.com/podcast💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darren-j-mitchell/ Coachful Coaching Leadership Podcast:🌐 Website: https://coachfulcoaching.com/🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@coachfulcoaching🎧 Spotify: https://spotify.link/NTBgVJIL3yb🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/41Cz5gI About Coachful Coaching:Coachful Coaching helps leaders build high-performing, human-centered teams through practical coaching, communication, and leadership frameworks. If you’re a technical leader looking to grow your influence and impact, you’re in the right place. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to like, subscribe, and share it with someone who still thinks sales is about “convincing people.”

    34 min
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Great leaders aren't born, they're built through real experiences, honest reflection, and the courage to keep growing. On the Coachful Coaching Leadership Podcast, I sit down with leaders across industries to uncover what actually shaped them and what you can take into your own leadership right now. Real stories. Practical insights. Conversations that make you think differently about the leader you're becoming. New episodes bi-weekly. Globally ranked top 10%.

Information

  • Creator
    David Fung | Leadership & Professional Development
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    123
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © David Fung | Leadership & Professional Development
  • Show Website
    Coachful Coaching Leadership Podcast