Competency No. 5

Debbi Gardiner McCullough (D G McCullough)

Around 4% of the 55,000 + coaches certified with the International Coaching Federation hold the revered status of Master Certified Coach. Why so few? I'm about to find out. Competency No. 5, the podcast, explores how we maintain presence when we coach, lead, and live our lives. We interview coaches and others whose very livelihood depends upon staying calm and present with those they serve. We also chronicle my attempts (as a self-retired professor and global business reporter from New Zealand) to become an MCC coach. This effort requires beaucoup coaching hours, mentoring, and adhering strictly to the ICF's seven core competencies, especially the deceptively tricky Competency No. 5, maintaining presence.

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“Nature’s the one thing that brings us together” Jacqueline Crivello on birding, nature, and truth

“Nature’s the one thing that brings us together” Jacqueline Crivello on birding, nature, and truth

I’m one of millions of people globally who not only love bird watching, I love to do so from my garden. What a treat to interview Jacqueline Crivello, an award winning photographer, author, bird feeding store owner, a birder, entrepreneur and even an inventor of a bird feeder for hummingbirds. (The latter comes inspired from her very first bird feeder she created as a girl in the forest behind her Wisconsin home. She used a baby food jar and nail polish to attract them.) In our interview, we’re both surprising crisp and sharp given we both woke at 3:30 a.m. that day, drawn from our sleep by the fuller moon and bird song. (Jacqueline hears her from her forest backdrop in Colorado and mine from my Wisconsin garden.) You’ll enjoy hopefully hearing two entrepreneurial women who’d never spoken prior to our interview and find plenty of through lines and shared loves: birds, nature, reinvention, and finding peace and calm through the outdoors. Also, lessons from our girlhoods, which still guide us today. Join us. Follow Jacqueline Crivello on Instagram and find her photography and children’s nature books via @jacqueline_crivello_author and her website.Reach out to me, D G McCullough, for insights on my group coaching and training packages on everything from active listening. public speaking fear to storytelling. You can find my LinkedIn profile here and my website here.

Episodes

“Nature’s the one thing that brings us together” Jacqueline Crivello on birding, nature, and truth

“Nature’s the one thing that brings us together” Jacqueline Crivello on birding, nature, and truth

I’m one of millions of people globally who not only love bird watching, I love to do so from my garden. What a treat to interview Jacqueline Crivello, an award winning photographer, author, bird feeding store owner, a birder, entrepreneur and even an inventor of a bird feeder for hummingbirds. (The latter comes inspired from her very first bird feeder she created as a girl in the forest behind her Wisconsin home. She used a baby food jar and nail polish to attract them.) In our interview, we’re both surprising crisp and sharp given we both woke at 3:30 a.m. that day, drawn from our sleep by the fuller moon and bird song. (Jacqueline hears her from her forest backdrop in Colorado and mine from my Wisconsin garden.) You’ll enjoy hopefully hearing two entrepreneurial women who’d never spoken prior to our interview and find plenty of through lines and shared loves: birds, nature, reinvention, and finding peace and calm through the outdoors. Also, lessons from our girlhoods, which still guide us today. Join us. Follow Jacqueline Crivello on Instagram and find her photography and children’s nature books via @jacqueline_crivello_author and her website.Reach out to me, D G McCullough, for insights on my group coaching and training packages on everything from active listening. public speaking fear to storytelling. You can find my LinkedIn profile here and my website here.

How do I train to become a coach? One coach’s journey

How do I train to become a coach? One coach’s journey

More coachees are asking me each week how to become an International Coaching Federation (ICF) certified coach and how I became a coach, specifically the decisions before me and the training itself. (I’m delighted they ask, because coaching’s a truly delightful field.) I’ve found a fantastic home in this new industry, now coaching full-time for an audience I adore and relate well to. (Most of my clients are foreign-born leaders or managers on their way to the top.) I’m training coaches and corporate leaders on active listening, because they realize they must listen well to get places. My training’s broadened what felt possible. Reading from my article on Medium, in this week’s podcast, I’m sharing how I trained to become a coach, letting the most popular questions I hear guide us.Reach out to me, D G McCullough, for insights on my group coaching and training packages. I’m for hire as a corporate trainer with active listening and public speaking as popular topics. You can find my LinkedIn profile here and my website here.

The challenges and joy of certifying as an ICF coach. Two coaches’ musings

The challenges and joy of certifying as an ICF coach. Two coaches’ musings

Certifying with the International Coaching Federation, the world’s largest nonprofit for professional coaches, challenges many coaches because it’s no easy feat. We must speak only 10% of the time, drive clarity, insights, and accountability too. Submitting a recorded coaching call to ICF evaluators for review often erodes our presence with our coachee, who we care about the most, even over the exam itself. With the calm wisdom of Coach Sathyanarayanan Sethuraman, my friend and peer coach, we unpack and troubleshoot these problems as we pursue our ICF goals. (Sathya’s certifying at the PCC level and I’m pursuing MCC— level two and level three of the ICF’s core credentials.)Join us for tips on saying less, doing more, and staying calm and present, no matter what. And thank you again to Sathya who had a work emergency amidst our interview which he dealt with midstream and came back to our show! Talk about presence. Listen for our earlier episode here on taming our monkey brain. You can reach Sathya on LinkedIn here. Reach out to me, D G McCullough, for insights on my group coaching and training packages and individual packages on reinventing, promoting, and using your voice through refining the written word. You can find my LinkedIn profile here.

How do we stay calm amidst heated emotions? Musings from Coach Karen du Four des Champs

How do we stay calm amidst heated emotions? Musings from Coach Karen du Four des Champs

Solar eclipse. Mercury retrograde. New moon. Job layoffs. Overwork. No surprise many of us are losing it at home and at work. But if you’re a mental fitness practitioner with a goal to stay calm and peaceful no matter what, some ways exist to find the ease and flow and stabilize the mood and feeling in yourself and those around you. In our delightful conversation, fresh after time digging in her garden (where she loves to play the most), Coach Karen du Four des Champs, who has been coaching for several decades, tells us her tips, tools, and asks me some too.

“Kindness is my legacy from adversity” Magdalena Kranz on luxury fashion and feeling happier with less

“Kindness is my legacy from adversity” Magdalena Kranz on luxury fashion and feeling happier with less

My interview with Chicago-based fashion consultant and stylist, Magdalena Kranz, kicks off a series of ad hoc interviews across my two podcasts. (I also host the Sage Sayers on Apple podcasts). I love that dear Magdalena takes us from her turbulent past in Poland before migrating to the U.S. We hear that she arrived in Chicago as a teen with little more than books, two t-shirts, one pair of pants, and one pair of sneakers. Today, she serves as a fashion consultant at the U.S.’s most luxurious retailer, dressing Michigan Avenue’s high-end shoppers, and being a true fashionista, collector, and connoisseur of gorgeous fashion herself. And yet, as our conversation reveals, despite driving for more (like most immigrants), she finds that sometimes it’s the simplest times in our lives when we feel the most peace and our happiest. I thank Magdalena for her brave story, her honesty and tenderness. Magdalena, you’re an amazing storyteller and woman—my new friend, too. If you’d like to know more about your show host and my coaching and training services, find me on LinkedIn or visit my website here.

“I’m loving this new creative space.” Coach Malvika Joshi on the joy of entrepreneurship.

“I’m loving this new creative space.” Coach Malvika Joshi on the joy of entrepreneurship.

Building your own venture can bring a whirlwind of creativity, problem solving, and joy from building something you love. Partner it with coaching and certifying as a coach and you’ve endless surges of energy and happiness. This becomes the life and outlook of Coach Malvika Joshi, a London-based coach who’s just launched her own coaching practice with a co-partner while thriving still as a marketing leader. In our interview, you’ll hear Malvika’s learnings and hopes as a coach, and her intention for the Coven, a group coaching supper club bringing together community, self awareness, and self growth, over food. You’ll also hear the vital role that solidarity and sisterhood can play, and that everything we’ve ever done prior to coaching brings perspective. If you’d like to find Coach Malvika, reach her on LInkedIn or via Instagram. If you’d like to know more about your show host and my coaching and training services, find me on LinkedIn or visit my website here.

“Yoga helps us notice our feet have toes.” Yasna Garcia Da Rosa on certifying as a yoga instructor

“Yoga helps us notice our feet have toes.” Yasna Garcia Da Rosa on certifying as a yoga instructor

If you’ve practiced yoga, you know: This ancient practice stills our busy mind and grounds us in our bodies while building stamina and strength. Yasna García da Rosa ACC (Associate Certified Coach) por ICF knows this shift well, especially from taking her love for yoga all the way to the top by certifying ( this quarter) as an instructor.Yasna shares the intricacies of certifying as an instructor of yoga (very tricky, very contemplative) and how her otherwise very busy life in Uruguay has changed in positive ways since. (Hint: Her friends, colleagues, and family—everybody—have noticed she’s “slowed down.“) Yasna! Loved our time together. Thanks again for reminding me of the power of yoga— and self improvement. And congratulations again on certifying as a yoga instructor— such an excellent addition to your skills and offerings as a coach. El mundo es mejor y mas tranquilo contigo dentro. You can reach Coach Yasna on LinkedIn and by emailing her for remote instruction or engagements at yasnagarciadarosa@gmail.com Join the discussion on LinkedIn by visiting us here.

The Lost Sunglasses. The stress of losing lovely things

The Lost Sunglasses. The stress of losing lovely things

Losing my first Tom Ford sunglasses in New Zealand’s Pacific Ocean at Ohope Beach on New Year’s eve this year reminded me that the fear of falling back financially never really leaves us. That's the fodder for this week’s podcast episode. I’m narrating an essay I wrote soon after losing my lovely Tom Fords and one I continued finessing during a snowstorm back here in Wisconsin. (So, it’s a cross-continental exploration of sorts.) I’m bringing these musings to my Competency No 5 podcast because I do believe collecting and then losing things — even worrying about losing things — can erode our presence. You can read along via Medium here.

More trust is vital for mastery of coaching

More trust is vital for mastery of coaching

In this week’s musings, reading from my musings on Medium, I’m sharing what I’ve learned from completing 2:10 of the required mentor sessions with my MCC mentor coach as I strive to certify as a Master Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation. The insights I’ve gathered so far have changed how I feel, think, and how I coach — all through the lens of maintaining presence (competency no 5). My biggest a-ha? I can remain me—and stay creative—even while following the ICF’s very strict seven core competencies. A major phew, I’d say. I worried I had to become all stodgy or boring or something to achieve mastery. Heaven’s forbid! I’d lose all my clients immediately and probably have to find something new to do with my time. If you’d like to know more about your show host and my coaching and training services, find me on LinkedIn or visit my website here.

Growing things gives us inner strength: Pamela Currall on finding peace in her garden

Growing things gives us inner strength: Pamela Currall on finding peace in her garden

Such a lovely way to launch season two for Competency No 5, my podcast focused on finding calm when we coach, lead, and live our lives. Meet Lady Pamela at the Sea, AKA Pamela Currall, a retired practice nurse in New Zealand. She’s also my dear Mum, and in our delightful interview (which takes place in her garden off of the Kapiti Coast) she shares the joy and tranquility that comes from gardening. Pamela’s immensely talented at this craft. She finds gardening and making something stunning from something bland, not only uplifts, brings confidence, she finds tranquility, too—something we can all benefit from, especially as life gets too busy.If you’d like to know more about your show host and my coaching and training services, find me on LinkedIn or visit my website here.

I find calm, confidence, and joy from playing flute: Emma Zhou

I find calm, confidence, and joy from playing flute: Emma Zhou

Boston-based project manager Emma Zhou has long found joy, calm, and courage from playing flute. What began as a hobby in her undergraduate studies in China has now become part of her personal branding and a delightful activity she maintains alongside advanced analytics work. She performs often with local musicians and solo in the greater Boston area, at weddings, and remote for retirement homes in China, especially now during Christmas and New Year. Emma reminds us of the presence and calm—the peace—that comes from music, or any artistic activity. And we hear how having a craft alongside our professional work life becomes an excellent extension of our personal brand. If you’d like to follow Emma’s delightful music, find her YouTube channel here. If you’d like to know more about your show host and my coaching and training services, find me on LinkedIn or visit my website here.

How Do Active Minds Learn to Meditate? Helio Fujita Knows

How Do Active Minds Learn to Meditate? Helio Fujita Knows

If your mind wanders too much for you to effectively meditate, then this week’s interview might delight you. My guest is Helio Fujita, an HR executive based in Switzerland. And (among other things) he’s a student at a prestigious UC Berkeley school training the bright and gifted how to teach meditation, the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification program. I loved this exchange and how kindly and patiently Helio asks about my disastrous attempts to meditate. He also offers us new ways to view the situation, to continue on with meditation, and he reminds us: even noticing things counts.If you’d like to reach out to Helio Fujita, do so by LinkedIn. You can find me on LinkedIn too. And if you’ve stayed loyal to this podcast so far, you’ll know this episode chronicles a second interview with Helio. We spoke earlier this year on his sabbatical and Buddhist pilgrimage, which he found quite life changing indeed—and even inspired this new training to teach others to meditate. You can find that episode here.

How Feeling Thanks Boosts My Presence and Business

How Feeling Thanks Boosts My Presence and Business

This week is Thanksgiving in America. I love that this country I’ve made home stays one of a few nations around the world devoting an entire holiday to giving thanks. (How lovely. And perhaps more countries can follow suit?) As a mental fitness practitioner and coach, I find that feeling thankful daily helps me feel more confident, calm, and centered, especially with high-stakes situations and presentations and especially when I coach. In this week’s podcast, I share three ways that gratitude focuses my mind while building more focused, potent, and effective strategy, which helps me also in business.You can read my musings on feeling thanks and how that helps me as a coach and entreprenuer on Medium, by clicking here.

Using Candor and Presence to Speak and Challenge the Truth

Using Candor and Presence to Speak and Challenge the Truth

We have my dear friend and peer coach Sathya Sethuraman back with us this week to discuss with me a curious dynamic that comes up for coaches when maintaining presence: The occasional but powerful need for radical candor. In this context we mean challenging our coachee on the words they lay down and asking open-ended, short, but powerful questions to challenge inconsistencies we notice and hear or get to the root of the feelings behind what they lay down. Clients typically want and expect this kind of candor from their coach; and yet many coaches struggle, especially when the culture they emerged from drives home respect, staying pleasant, and agreeing vs. disagreeing. Whether you're a team lead, executive, or coach you may relate to the idea that barriers can exist in our hearts and minds when challenging the words and ideas of others. I hope today's conversation between a coach from India and one from New Zealand, two cultures which encourage pleasantries from communicators, sparks something new within you. You can reach Sathya on LinkedIn here. Reach out to me, D G McCullough, for insights on my group coaching and training packages and individual packages on reinventing, promoting, and using your voice through refining the written word. You can find my LinkedIn profile here.

Celebrating 5,250 Individual Coaching Hours: Lessons and Tactics

Celebrating 5,250 Individual Coaching Hours: Lessons and Tactics

This week, I’ve reached 5,250 individual coaching hours, which more than doubles the 2,500 individual hours the International Coaching Federation asks for coaches certifying as a Master Certified Coach. MCC certified coaches make up only 4% of global ICF coaches, because of all the other lengthy requirements they ask for, and because it’s so hard and expensive. MCC became my game plan when I fell in love with coaching, four years ago, and remains my plan today. Certifying as an MCC coach became my new PhD ambition. I pulled from a lot of skills, including entrepreneurialism, creativity, and communications to coach these first 5,250 hours. Here lie my top 10 tips and tactics I’ve developed to reach this milestone, and (hopefully) to continue the momentum I’ve started, knowing I've still so much to learn--the main reason for going for more mastery. Reach out to me, D G McCullough if you'd like coaching on reinventing, raising your visibility by building your personal brand, and using your voice through refining your presentations and the written word. You can find my LinkedIn profile here and read my musings on Medium here.

Riptide Adventures. A Tale of Trust and Presence

Riptide Adventures. A Tale of Trust and Presence

Anyone who knows me well knows that Lake Michigan, the world’s fifth largest lake, is my happy place here in Wisconsin bringing me calm, clarity, gratitude, and creativity. One visit can bring powerful shifts in perspective and unlocks big ideas. A recent trip to a new access lake point, Two Rivers, brought an unexpected adventure: Getting caught in a riptide. My way back to shore became a lesson and reminder on accepting, trusting, and staying present in dramatic and fearful situations.. Reach out to me, D G McCullough (now safely back ashore) for insights on my group coaching and training packages and individual packages on reinventing, raising your visibility by building your personal brand, and using your voice through refining the written word. You can find my LinkedIn profile here and read my musings on Medium here.

Taming Our “Monkey Brain” When We Coach. An interview with Coach Sathya Sethuraman

Taming Our “Monkey Brain” When We Coach. An interview with Coach Sathya Sethuraman

My guest this week is Sathya Sethuraman, a financial Services and insurance industry strategist and thought leader who's served for 20+ years as a trusted advisor to Fortune 100 global insurance and financial service firms. Sathya’ s also my friend and a coach. Sathya’ s realizing, as he applies to certify in more advanced ways with the International Coaching Federation, that taming our active mind (our Monkey Brain) becomes pivotal to this process. You’ll hear laughter, connection, and musings as two coaches work together to figure out how indeed do we ground and stay present for our clients, and for those we love? Also, what powerful shifts can occur in us and our audience when we trust the process and coach the person vs the problem.You can reach Sathya on LinkedIn here. Reach out to me, D G McCullough, for insights on my group coaching and training packages and individual packages on reinventing, promoting, and using your voice through refining the written word. You can find my LinkedIn profile here.

“I Know that “”He”” is the Biggest Boss to Impress.” Jevon Koh on Finding Calm through Faith and Travel

“I Know that “”He”” is the Biggest Boss to Impress.” Jevon Koh on Finding Calm through Faith and Travel

Many of us struggle with fear and uncertainty—the very opposite of presence—when speaking with powerful people. It’s 100% normal; and more pronounced in these intense times. And yet leaders like Jevon Koh, a business development and global digital partnerships director for a giant financial services firm, find that his Christian faith, his easy-going nature, and living abroad give him a vital and calming perspective in high-stakes situations he might otherwise lack. I loved Jevon and my exchange on travels, outlook, and faith. This interview reminded me that whether we have religious conviction or not, belief that something bigger than us exists and that all will be well, no matter what, brings a calming, grounding perspective indeed. You can connect with Jevon via LinkedIn by clicking here. Find me, D G (Debbi Gardiner) McCullough, by visiting my website and clicking on the Calendly link. Or, write to me on LinkedIn. If you enjoy this podcast, do share with anyone interested in coaching or wanting to find the coach approach to life’s problems through staying more present.

How Laughing At Work Can Bring Joy and Presence. An Interview with Amy Azuma

How Laughing At Work Can Bring Joy and Presence. An Interview with Amy Azuma

UC Berkeley educator and program director Amy Azuma's long used humor to shift intense moods and energy. In her adult years, she's shifted from using humor as oppositional defiance to a tool for finding and creating presence, with herself and with others. In a delightful interview, Azuma shares how finding the funny in the serious can bring feelings of joy, relief, and become an excellent personal branding tool. Her 20-year career in education advising, teaching, and directing programs, mostly at UC Berkeley has become a perfect Petri dish for comedy, too. You can find Amy Azuma here on LinkedIn. Find me, D G (Debbi Gardiner) McCullough, by visiting my website and clicking on the Calendly link. Or, write to me on LinkedIn. If you enjoy this podcast, do share with anyone interested in coaching or wanting to find the coach approach to life’s problems through staying more present.

How I Center and Reset When Coaching At Scale

How I Center and Reset When Coaching At Scale

With Gallup reporting most U.S. workers find 50-hour work weeks normal, no wonder many of us struggle maintaining presence as we work. If our typical flow becomes back-to-back meetings, presence (which I'm defining here as peace, calm, and present with ourselves and others) can feel impossible. As my coaching practice has grown, I've challenged how I relate to time because my job requires (at it's core skill) being present. In this week's episode, I share three small experiments which still help me stay present even when coaching abundantly (often 10 sessions in the one day.)Next up: How does humor help replace tension with calm, presence—even joy? An interview with UC Berkeley educator and program leader, Amy Azuma. Book me, D G (Debbi Gardiner) McCullough, by visiting my website and clicking on the Calendly link. Or, write to me on LinkedIn. If you enjoy this podcast, do share with anyone interested in coaching or wanting to find the coach approach to life’s problems through staying more present.