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The fastest way to change a coaching conversation isn’t a new tool it’s helping someone see they have options. I’m joined by executive coach, educator, and author Jenn Chloupek  to talk about the power of choice and the ABC framework she built to make transformation feel clear, human, and repeatable: Awareness, Behaviors, Connections. If you coach leaders, build a coaching culture, or simply want better conversations, this one gives you a practical structure you can use immediately. 

We dig into what “awareness” really means beyond surface insight: identity, purpose, strengths, blind spots, and the internal driver that quietly runs your day. Jen explains how that driver can be both your superpower and your kryptonite, and why stress often shows up when we act like we don’t have a choice. From there, we move into behavior change the small shifts in how we listen, speak, decide, and lead that turn insight into momentum. 

Jenn shares a powerful real-world story from a global program with women engineers, where participants named internal barriers and then watched those barriers dissolve through structured reflection and empowered choice. We also separate courage from confidence, and explore what it looks like to “do it scared” in leadership and in business. Along the way, you’ll hear one of Jenn’s favorite coaching questions, why ABC aligns well with ICF core competencies, and how connection becomes the real outcome of the work. 

If you enjoyed this conversation, subscribe, share it with a coach or leader who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find Beyond the Page.

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If you are interested in the ABC Coaching Framework, please email Jenn at [email protected] and she will send it to you. 

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The moment someone says “I have no choice,” a coach has a doorway into what’s really happening beneath the words. We talk with leadership and executive coach Sanaz Kalantari about how agency gets lost in modern work, why the speed of change can push us into survival mode, and what it actually takes to design empowered conversations that bring choice back online.

Sanaz draws on deep experience from global technology organizations, including helping lead a large scale coaching initiative at Microsoft focused on empowering employees to drive and design their careers. From there, we zoom in on the coaching room: the “have to” trap, the subtle ways clients give away autonomy, and how overwhelm can look like indecision when it’s really a nervous system response. We explore three common patterns that shrink agency: getting flooded by the present, getting stuck in shame and self judgment about the past, and investing energy in “gravity problems” outside the circle of control.

We also get concrete about what helps. You’ll hear coaching questions that surface hidden assumptions, the circle of influence as a fast grounding tool, and somatic inquiry techniques that help clients name where restriction lives in the body so they can pause, breathe, and regain clarity. Along the way, Sinaz explains why feeling trapped can become “psychological malnutrition” and how restoring autonomy connects to motivation, self leadership, and sustainable change.

If you care about coaching skills, executive presence, change management, and real world tools for reducing overwhelm, this conversation is built to be used. Subscribe, share this with a fellow coach or leader, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

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Free Gift: A reflective coaching guide to help individuals disrupt default thinking, reconnect with what matters, and consciously choose how they want to respond in moments of uncertainty and change.

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Conflict can make smart people act out of character. When emotions spike and the stakes feel personal, our thinking narrows, our defenses go up, and “good communication” advice suddenly stops working. We sit down with Cherise Hairston, a veteran conflict resolution professional and transformative mediation practitioner, to unpack what’s really happening inside us during conflict and how coaches can help clients regain clarity without rushing to a fix.

We explore why conflict is often less about the stated issue and more about the internal experience: anger, fear, guilt, disappointment, and the sense that something important has been violated. Cherise explains how this destabilization can leave clients feeling disempowered and reactive, and why the coaching task is to restore a sense of competency, dignity, and choice. We also dig into the neuroscience of conflict, including the threat response that can short-circuit the prefrontal cortex, and what it takes to get “mind, body, heart, and soul” back into alignment.

From there, we move into practical conflict coaching tools: creating a psychologically safe container, slowing the conversation down, and working a simple pathway of awareness, alignment, and action. We talk about “dream justice” the hope for an apology or accountability that may never come and how values-based decisions can help clients move forward even when the conflict is not resolvable. If you coach leaders, teams, families, or anyone navigating high-stakes relationships, this is a grounded guide to coaching through conflict with more skill and less advice-giving.

Subscribe to Beyond the Page, share this episode with a fellow coach, and leave a review so more listeners can find these conflict coaching and transformative mediation insights.

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Your body answers before your brain can finish the sentence, and that changes everything about how we coach decision making.

We sit down with ICF Professional Certified Coach and licensed counselor Maria Connolly to explore somatic awareness and why “choice really lives” in the body. Maria shares what she looks for as a self-described “body detector,” from facial expression and breath to shoulders and chest, and how those signals can reveal a quiet no even when the mind is building a persuasive story. If you coach clients who overthink career moves, leadership choices, or high-stakes conflict at work, this conversation offers a grounded, practical path back to clarity.

We dig into a real coaching example: a client deciding whether to accept an almost-right job offer. Maria explains how coaches can slow the moment down, invite a check-in with sensation, and uncover what the nervous system already knows. We also tackle the big question: how do you tell the difference between body wisdom and a fear response shaped by old conditioning or trauma? Maria describes what alignment often feels like in the body and how values-based resonance can show up as more ease, regulation, and steadiness, even when the choice is uncomfortable.

You’ll also get simple ways to build somatic literacy without turning your day into a retreat: a few minutes of mindfulness, noticing without judgment, using small cues to pause, and letting movement support insight. We talk standing, stretching, walking meetings, and the idea that you might not want to trust a thought that only exists while you’re sitting still. If you’re ready to design more empowering coaching conversations through embodied coaching, press play, then share this with a coach friend. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: where do you feel your clearest “yes”?

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Free Gift to our listeners: 10 Steps to an Embodied Practice 

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A client says, “Nothing I do matters,” and suddenly the coaching work is no longer a checklist, it’s a turning point. We sit down with leadership coach and belonging advocate Jennifer Nielsen to unpack learned helplessness: how it develops, why it’s so common in today’s workplace, and what coaches and people leaders can do when motivation disappears and resignation takes over.

We explore the real-world forces that amplify helplessness right now, including workplace burnout, rolling layoffs, corporate restructuring, AI-driven job uncertainty, and systemic bias that can leave marginalized professionals feeling unseen. Jennifer shares the language patterns she listens for in coaching sessions, especially identity language that turns a setback into a self-definition, belief systems that sound like “truth,” and the subtle words and body cues that signal resignation.

From there, we get practical. We talk about building trust and safety so we don’t rush to fix, how to separate identity from patterns, and how to reframe without forcing positivity. Jennifer also walks through her five-stage approach to helping clients reclaim choice, with an emphasis on small, self-directed actions that generate new evidence and rebuild confidence over time. The goal is simple but powerful: shifting from “this is happening to me” to “I can choose how I respond.”

If you coach leaders, manage a team, or feel stuck yourself, you’ll leave with sharper listening skills, better questions, and a clearer path back to agency. Subscribe for more conversations like this, share the episode with a colleague, and leave a review so more coaches can find it.

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“I don’t have a choice” sounds like a conclusion, but we hear it as a signal flare. When clients are stressed, overwhelmed, or worn down by decision fatigue, their options can collapse into a painful binary, and their confidence goes with it. I sit down with Social Leadership Coach, Gloria Custodio, to map what actually helps in those moments, not motivational talk, but clear coaching moves that bring people back to agency.

We dig into what to listen for first: the real constraints that must be acknowledged, the assumptions quietly shaping the story, and the values that can act like a compass when everything feels noisy. Gloria explains why choice works better as a spectrum of small steps, and how “experiments” can replace the pressure to make a perfect, permanent decision. We talk about practical tests that create learning and momentum, from tiny career actions to something as simple as sitting with an option and noticing what the body says.

We also go to the tender place: regret. Gloria offers a grounded reframe that helps clients stop treating a past choice like a verdict and start using it as a teacher. From there, we widen the lens to coach presence, co-regulation, and what to do when a client’s situation or the news triggers our own reactions. If you want stronger coaching conversations around decision-making, values-based leadership, and overwhelm, you’ll leave with language and approaches you can use right away.

Subscribe, share this with a coach or leader who’s carrying too many decisions, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What’s one small choice you can make today that moves you toward what matters most?

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If today’s conversation resonates with you, Gloria has created a free companion workbook: Choosing What Matters: A Deep Reflection Workbook for Coaches. It invites coaches to explore their own relationship with choice through guided reflection. The workbook includes five sections of writing prompts that examine the language we use around decisions, patterns that shape our choices, the values guiding our work, and what we may be ready to choose next in our practice. It also includes a values alignment check, a decision-making pattern inventory, and a short practice audit covering areas such as pricing, client boundaries, and how we communicate about our work.

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Your mind loves to act like the CEO of your life, but it’s often the last to know what’s true. Garry Schleifer sits down with Lisa Murrell, PCC, to explore embodied choice and why clients don’t actually make decisions with thoughts alone. We talk about somatic coaching in a way that’s practical, grounded, and immediately usable, whether you coach leaders in Fortune 500 environments or support clients through personal transitions.

Lisa shares how her work in systemic coaching and equine facilitated learning changed the way she understands “getting unstuck.” The big shift is simple but radical: the body is a sensory device, and breath, tension, and capacity are data. When a client’s nervous system is braced, options shrink. When we slow down, notice what’s happening below the neck, and build real trust, choice expands. We also dig into intersubjectivity, the shared space between coach and client where presence replaces performance and new possibilities can emerge.

You’ll hear why new coaches can get trapped chasing the “best coaching questions,” and what to do instead. Lisa explains her signature reframe “What would you do if this was your horse?” and how it works as a metaphor even for non-horse people, helping clients step out of self-judgment and into clearer action. If you’re curious about executive coaching, embodied leadership, somatics, and coaching presence that actually changes behavior, this conversation delivers.

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Gift: "The Systemic Coaching Framework: 5 Questions Worth Sitting With" 
A free guide for coaches who want to help clients make more embodied, authentic choices. These five questions bypass cognitive override and access the whole-system intelligence your clients already have — they just haven't been asked the right questions yet.

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A single sentence can reveal more than a 60-minute coaching call if we know how to work with it: “I choose to…” That’s where our conversation with author and teacher Kim DeYoung begins, and it quickly turns into a practical masterclass on how coaches can stay present, curious, and connected to what’s true when a client feels stuck, conflicted, or overwhelmed by a decision.

We unpack Kim’s Choice Mapping framework, a visual method that captures a client’s exact words and expands them through focused inquiry. We talk about why mapping is different from journaling, how a coach can use early maps as a benchmark, and what happens when the “choice” a client names at the start turns out not to be the real choice at all. Along the way, Kim shares the coaching mindset behind the tool: letting go of perfection, resisting fix-it mode, and trusting that better questions create better outcomes.

Kim also walks through the core prompts that consistently deepen the work: why the choice matters, what could hold the client back, who they want to be while choosing, what becomes possible, and what actions they will take. We explore how Choice Mapping can support healing around past choices, including shame and regret, and how thoughtful notes and reflection can go beyond what AI-generated recaps can provide by elevating a client’s own “gems of wisdom” into lasting insight.

If you want a coaching tool for decision making, client clarity, accountability, and deeper coaching conversations, you’ll get plenty to try right away. Subscribe, share this with a coach friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find Beyond the Page.

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Take The Choice Quiz which will help to understand your decision-making personalityhere.  

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Success can be the very thing that steals your joy, not because you’re doing it wrong, but because the world rewards results while quietly ignoring the cost. I sit down with coach and speaker Cindy Van Eeckhout, author of “Helping Clients Find Joy in a High Pressure World,” to unpack what “misaligned success” really looks like when your life shines on paper but feels heavy inside. We get honest about how high achievers minimize emotions to stay productive, how that builds disconnection from values and needs, and why joy is often the first thing sacrificed in the name of performance. 

We also draw a sharp line between happiness and joy. Happiness tends to be an emotional reaction to external events, while joy is intrinsic, a steadier internal yes to life. That difference matters for coaching, leadership, and entrepreneurship because joy functions like renewable energy: it supports clearer decisions, healthier boundaries, and better leadership under pressure. Cindy names the common warning signs high-achieving women face, including mental overload, emotional suppression, physical depletion, and spiritual misalignment, and explains how alignment can change over time as you evolve. 

From there, we get practical with Cindy’s Joy of Life Method, a five-pillar framework built around clarity, energy management, working smarter, mindset, and purpose. You’ll hear specific ideas like a simple morning ritual using breathing, meditation, movement, gratitude, and intention setting, plus why celebrating small wins can instantly shift your state when your mind is stuck on what isn’t working. Cindy also shares a free Joy of Life assessment to help you pinpoint what’s driving stress and overwhelm. Subscribe, share this with a high achiever who needs a reset, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

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Free gift: The Joy of Life Assessment
A free 2-minute assessment that helps high-achieving women identify what’s driving their stress, overwhelm and exhaustion - and receive personalized insights and practical tips to regain clarity, energy and joy without sacrificing success.

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Joy isn’t a lucky break or a fleeting mood; it’s a practice we can design. We sit down with executive and life coach Anika Wariebi to unpack what truly differentiates joy from happiness and how coaches help clients build a steadier, values-aligned foundation for daily life. Drawing from dictionary and psychological perspectives as well as responses from a diverse group of “real people,” we trace how joy shows up as connection, fulfillment, creativity, and peace—and why it endures when quick hits of happiness fade.

Anika walks us through the real barriers that drain joy: rumination, comparison, inner saboteurs, and the external pressures of toxic environments, discrimination, conflict, and financial insecurity. We explore how coaching turns awareness into agency with practical tools: naming “kill joys,” setting clear boundaries, reframing challenges, and building routines that protect attention. You’ll hear how gratitude, mindfulness, breathwork, and spiritual practices can anchor the day, while simple rituals—a quiet coffee, a check-in with a friend—compound into something much larger over time.

We also dig into decision-making through the lens of joy. When people align choices with values, stress drops and relationships strengthen. Past hardships can deepen the capacity to savor peace; gratitude amplifies that shift. Anika offers a clear path forward: craft your vision of joy for the year, choose a few meaningful actions, and create accountability. If you’re a coach, you’ll pick up actionable strategies to support clients; if you’re a listener seeking more joy, you’ll leave with steps you can start today.

If this conversation sparks a shift, share it with a friend, subscribe for more coaching insights, and leave a review to help others discover the show. Then tell us: what boundary will you set this week to protect your joy?

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