Coaching Real Leaders

By HBR Presents / Muriel Wilkins

Society & Culture Business Careers

What's Coaching Real Leaders about?

We all want to get to the next level of our career, but so many of us get stuck. Longtime leadership coach Muriel Wilkins takes you inside real-life leadership coaching sessions with high performers working to overcome professional challenges and grow as leaders. Listen in on real conversations and leave with new insights and practical guidance for your own career.

The views expressed on this podcast are those of its hosts, guests, and callers, and not those of Harvard Business Review.

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How Do I Communicate With M...

09.18.2023

He’s always believed in hard work and is extremely ambitious. But he’s received feedback that sometimes the way he communicates is too direct, and he wants to work on his delivery. Host Muriel Wilkins helps him understand what might be ...

Coaching Real Leaders episodes:

09.18.2023 How Do I Communicate With More Tact? He’s always believed in hard work and is extremely ambitious. But he’s received feedback that sometimes the way he communicates is too direct, and he wants to work on his delivery. Host Muriel Wilkins helps him understand what might be ...
09.11.2023 Coming Soon: Season 6 Executive coach Muriel Wilkins is back September 18 with an all new season of the podcast that takes you behind the scenes of real life executive coaching conversations. This season, first-time managers, mid-level leaders, and executives work through some of ...
08.21.2023 How to Use Your Presence (from Think Fast, Talk Smart) On this special bonus episode, host Muriel Wilkins and Think Fast, Talk Smart host Matt Abrahams discuss strategies for creating a strong physical presence that can be felt by those around you . By understanding and controlling your presence, you ...
07.25.2023 The One Skill Leaders Need Today (from Radical Candor) Candor and compassion at work are more important (and more difficult to cultivate) than ever. On this episode, host Muriel Wilkins joins the Radical Candor podcast to take questions from listeners and discuss how to lead in a hybrid environment. ...
06.19.2023 How Do I Move Forward from a Career Setback? He experienced early success and a fast promotion at his organization, but then things started to shift. Now, there have been leadership changes, and his scope of responsibilities has changed, making him feel like his career is backsliding. Host Muriel ...
06.05.2023 How Do I Set the Right Pace To Meet Our Strategic Goals? She loves the work she does and has effectively managed her career to gain increased responsibility over time. She’s recently started managing managers for the first time and is struggling to find the right pace to help her organization reach ...
05.22.2023 How Do I Work with a Difficult Boss? He’s a mission driven leader who has always found roles where he can help others. He was brought in at a high level at a new organization, but he’s feeling tension and conflict with the organization’s founder. Host Muriel Wilkins ...
05.08.2023 How Do I Define My New Role to Set Myself Up for Success? She’s found a career path she truly enjoys, in part because of her ability to take risks and try new things. Now, as her team is reorganized, she has the opportunity to design her next leadership position, but she’s not ...
04.24.2023 How Do I Lead My Team without Strategic Direction from the Top? He leads a team at a large global organization and gets positive feedback on their work. But he’s having trouble leading his team with a clear vision amid conflicting priorities and without direction from his senior leaders. Host Muriel Wilkins ...
04.10.2023 How Do I Stay Motivated After Surviving Layoffs? She’s finally found a leadership role that feels aligned with her personal mission. But in the wake of unexpected company-wide layoffs, she’s struggling with how to plan for her team’s future amid the organizational uncertainty. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches her ...
04.03.2023 Coming Soon: Season 5 Coaching Real Leaders returns April 10 for another season of real-life coaching sessions, with leadership challenges like staying motivated after layoffs, achieving team goals, and more. Listen in as host and longtime executive coach Muriel Wilkins takes you behind closed ...
12.12.2022 How Do I Ask for Help? She’s carved out a unique role for herself, which she loves, but worries that the pace of work is unsustainable. As she thinks about the next step in her career, she realizes that it will require her to lean on ...
11.28.2022 How Do I Overcome My Disillusionment with the Executive Team? He sees himself as a servant leader and enjoys building and supporting his teams. But over time, he’s seen behavior from more senior leaders that he doesn’t always agree with, and it’s making him feel disengaged at work. Host Muriel ...
11.14.2022 How Do I Adapt My Leadership Style as My Team Grows? He’s had fast success in a sales-driven industry and enjoys leading his expanding team. But as his responsibilities grow, he needs to learn how to delegate to his team more and empower his direct reports. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches him ...
10.31.2022 How Do I Make a Career Change when the Odds Are Stacked Against Me? He’s had a long, successful career as an attorney, in spite of the challenges he’s faced as a neurodivergent leader. Now he wants to parlay his legal experience and interest in advocacy into a different career in diversity, equity, and ...
10.17.2022 How Do I Transition from a Corporate Leadership Role to Entrepreneurship? She’s had a successful career leading in the corporate world and now she’s decided to venture out on her own to build a consulting business from scratch. But she’s struggling with her move into entrepreneurship and wonders if she made ...
10.03.2022 How Do I Get Promoted Without a Clear Career Path? He’s a self-professed “natural finance guy” and has shown himself to be invaluable to his company. His long-term goal is to become a CFO, but he’s gotten little feedback on what to do to get to the executive level. Now ...
09.26.2022 Coming Soon: Season 4 Coaching Real Leaders returns October 3 for another season of real-life coaching sessions, with leadership challenges like making a career change later in life, transitioning from a corporate job to an entrepreneurial one, and more. Listen in as host and ...
09.19.2022 How Can I Get Along with My “Difficult” Boss? (from HBR’s Women at Work) This episode is part of a new special series from HBR’s Women at Work, hosted by Amy Gallo – an expert in workplace dynamics. Each episode offers tactics for dealing with “difficult” people at work. Every workplace has them, but ...
07.11.2022 How Do I Transition Out of My Current Career? He’s had a successful career in the military and is deeply invested in his professional growth. As his transition out of the military approaches, he wants to figure out what’s next for him professionally. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches him through ...
06.27.2022 How Can I Build Credibility with My Team? She took on a leadership role as a scrum master because she wanted a new challenge. But after a few months on the job, she worries that she lacks the technical knowledge and years of experience to truly lead her ...
06.13.2022 How Do I Move from a Specialist to a General Leadership Role? He’s developed a stellar reputation at his organization as the go-to person to solve some very specific, complicated problems. But he worries that the organization has pigeon-holed him as a subject matter expert, limiting his ability to lead more broadly. ...
05.30.2022 How Do I Fast-Track My Career? She has risen very quickly in her career, often being the youngest in the room. She’s ambitious and wants to make it to the C-suite eventually, but she doesn’t know the right moves to make in the short term to ...
05.16.2022 How Do I Hold My Team Accountable? She’s heading toward the apex of her career and wants to play a more strategic role in her company because she feels that’s where her strengths lie. While she’s great at creating the vision, she’s struggling to set direction and ...
05.02.2022 How Do I Become an Intrapreneur? He’s part of a real estate organization and loves his work but wonders what his future looks like at the company and how his role could grow in the coming decades. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches this leader through how he ...
04.18.2022 Coming Soon: Season 3 Coaching Real Leaders returns May 2 to tackle new leadership challenges – like learning how to hold your team accountable, making the move from subject matter expert to business leader, and more. Listen in on coaching sessions with real leaders ...
12.22.2021 How Do I Navigate a New Senior Role? No matter how driven and capable you are, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by a promotion and a new seat at the table. Host Muriel Wilkins speaks with a newly promoted leader who wants to make sure she’s as effective ...
12.15.2021 Why Do I Keep Getting Passed Over for the C-Suite? He’s a senior-level executive with a goal to make it to the C-suite. While he’s come close, he’s been turned down and is not sure why. Host Muriel Wilkins helps this leader plan his next moves.
12.08.2021 How to Handle Feeling Overworked As we head into the holidays after a very stressful year, many of us are struggling with burnout. This week, we revisit a conversation from earlier in the year with a leader on the brink of burnout. Host Muriel Wilkins ...
12.01.2021 How Do I Get My Confidence Back? He's been at his company for many years and has worked his way up from an entry-level position to a director role. Now, he wants to get to the next level in his career, but he feels stuck and unsure ...
11.24.2021 How Do I Get Sponsorship Support? No matter how hard you work and how good you are at executing tasks, there are always less tangible reasons people get tapped for more senior roles. Executive presence matters, as does finding the right sponsors. Host Muriel Wilkins speaks ...
11.17.2021 How Can I Lead Authentically? There are all different kinds of leadership styles, but it’s hard to know what is authentic to you, or how much you should try to adapt to your environment. In this episode, host Muriel Wilkins speaks with a senior leader ...
11.10.2021 Where Are They Now?: Checking in with Guests from Season 1 We check in with three guests from Season 1 to see what they took with them from their coaching meetings and where they are now.
11.03.2021 How Do I Stop Being Defensive? She's recently been promoted to a senior role, after working her way up in the industry from an entry level position. But she’s become a leader at a time when there's also a lot of change. Now she's the legacy ...
10.27.2021 How Do I Manage Other Managers? He’s moving up a level to take on a new leadership role at his company. Now he’s managing other managers for the first time and realizing that it’s a big leap to go from managing individual contributors to managing other ...
10.20.2021 How Do I Get Through My Mid-Career Crisis? She made it to a coveted senior role, but she isn’t feeling excited about her future career path. And now she’s wondering how to balance all the competing commitments in her life – children, spouse, elderly parents, and work – ...
10.13.2021 Am I Approaching My Female Coworkers the Wrong Way? He’s a senior leader in a hospital, who has long seen himself as an advocate for equality for his female colleagues. But in the past few years, he’s faced a few instances where women he works with have been offended ...
10.06.2021 How Do I Know When It’s Time to Leave? She’s a C-suite-level executive with 20 years of experience working in corporate finance. Earlier in her career, she stayed at companies for long periods of time. But in her last few roles, she’s been jumping ship as soon as the ...
09.15.2021 Coming Soon: Season 2 Coaching Real Leaders returns October 6 to tackle new leadership challenges – from when to quit your job to communicating across differences, navigating imposter syndrome, and more. Listen in on coaching sessions with real leaders from all walks of life, ...
03.15.2021 Finding My Leadership Voice She’s worked her way up from an administrative assistant to a leadership position. But she still struggles to come across as confident, especially in high-level management meetings. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches this leader on how to communicate more effectively.
03.08.2021 Building Influence Without Authority She’s relatively new to the organization and more junior than most of her stakeholders. But her success hinges on her ability to lead initiatives cross-functionally. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches this emerging leader through how to cultivate strategic relationships and increase ...
03.01.2021 The Problem with Always Being the Problem Solver He’s spent much of his career successfully being a problem solver. Now, as he works his way up, he’s realizing that always trying to fix everything won’t let him focus on leading – or help his team succeed. How can ...
02.22.2021 How Does My Team Perceive Me? As a leader, she has always tried to find a balance between being directive and collaborative. But she has also struggled to bridge the gap between how she sees herself – and how her team experienced her as a leader. ...
02.15.2021 Choosing What’s Next for My Career He’s been successful in his industry but feels like he’s been typecast in his role. Now he’s hoping for a change and wants to make sure his next position helps him redirect his career. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches this leader ...
02.08.2021 Getting the Leadership Respect I Deserve She’s demonstrated her leadership ability throughout her career, advancing to some of the most senior leadership roles. But her C-suite peers haven’t always valued what she brings to the table. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches this leader through how to demonstrate ...
02.01.2021 On the Brink of Burnout She’s ambitious and has always leaned into opportunities to lead. But in her current leadership role, her responsibilities just keep growing, which makes her feel like she can’t keep up. If this is what leadership is all about, she questions ...
01.25.2021 Bridging the Gap Between Me & My Team He’s a senior executive leading a division made up of professionals who are much younger than him and come from different racial backgrounds. He’s committed to helping his team members grow professionally, while generating positive results for the company. But ...
01.19.2021 Caught in the Middle Her boss is white. Her staff are people of color. She’s been walking a tightrope between addressing her boss’s microaggressions and making her team feel safe. But so far, it’s not working. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches this leader through this ...
01.11.2021 Am I C-Suite Material? Her out-of-the-box approach to solving business problems has made her successful in her current role, but she’s been passed over for a promotion that would put her on track to the C-suite. Host Muriel Wilkins talks this leader through how ...
12.17.2020 Introducing Coaching Real Leaders New from the HBR Presents podcast network: a show that takes you inside real-life coaching sessions with leaders working to overcome professional challenges. Host Muriel Wilkins is a longtime executive coach who has helped highly successful professionals – from team ...