Mark J Silverman - Revisited

YSV: You Probably Think This Convo’s About You

In another honest, reflective, unpolished exploration of what it really means to build a coaching life, Phil talks with Mark J. Silverman 8 years after his first appearance on the podcast. Mark returns, not just as a more established coach, but as a more humbled, open-hearted human being.

Their conversation touches on identity, ego, success, spirituality, fear, ageing, leadership, and what remains when striving falls away.

In this episode Phil & Mark explore:

• From “early-stage coach” to fully booked executive coach

• Figuring out who you actually are as a coach

• The danger of coaching schools & fantasy careers

• Long-term clients & not pulling punches

• Books, credibility, and identity shifts

• When the podcast stops lighting you up

• Helping people “get to know God” — with more humility

• Blank page living at 60+

• Fear, vanity, ageing & self-care

• What we might be talking about in eight years

There’s a thread running through it all. A maturity that enables less crusade, less selfing, less trying to become somebody.

In that liberation comes more ‘walking beside,’ more presence, more service, and more humour about the ego that never fully disappears.

If you enjoyed Episode 32, this is a beautiful continuation.

If you’re building a coaching life, or even dismantling one, this conversation might feel like a liberating long exhale.

Here’s a little more about Mark

Mark J. Silverman heeded the call into the sphere of coaching and speaking from a successful career in technology. During his corporate tenure Mark generated over $90,000,000 in sales for fast-growing startups by bringing together executives, tech leaders and stakeholders to close complex, multimillion dollar deals.

Mark has enjoyed a consistently full roster of executive coaching clients for a decade. He is committed to helping CEOs, senior leaders and rising high achievers leverage their resources and teams for greater impact while creating sustainable success in all areas with their lives.

Mark is the author of The Rising Leader Handbook - "Turning High Achievers Into Effective Leaders" and "Only 10s 2.0 - Confront Your To-do List Transform Your Life," which in its two iterations has sold over 75,000 copies. Mark is also the host of The Rising Leader Podcast.

Mark helps CEOs, Senior Leadership, and Fast Rising High Achievers leverage their resources and team for greater impact. He is also the host of the “The Rising Leader" podcast and working on his third book of the same name

Topics Mark focuses on:

The Rising Leader Podcast - Turning High Achievers into Effective Leaders, is focused on four main areas.

Leading Up - Becoming a Trusted Advisor

Leading Across (On a strong group of peers)

Leading Your Team

Leading You (Creating a life worth living)

You can find out more about Mark at https://www.markjsilverman.com/

The Flower Never Opens Wrong

If you’ve missed the style of some of the original conversations with coaches on this podcast - you’ll love this episode!

One of my favourite people in this profession, Richard Morgan, returns to the podcast around 7 years after his first appearance, and he’s as grounded and loving as ever.

In this episode, we explore:

• From trying to being

• Energy over productivity

• Art, creativity, and the inner critic

• Marriage, polarity, and showing up

• Dogs, systems, and emotional steadiness

• Experience as the real teacher

• The only thing between you and what you want

• “The flower never opens wrong.”

This was a rather lovely conversation about how to live well on an ordinary Tuesday, when there’s work to do, emotions to feel, and love to practice.

Here’s a little more about Richard:

Our work is about today. What will you make of it?

Richard's extensive background in horticulture and its metaphors gained him the moniker "Gardener of the Human Spirit." It fits. When we look to our own nature, we find the same power and beauty that exists in all of nature — and like any garden, we grow best when we clear away what doesn't belong.

For over two decades he has worked with executives, entrepreneurs, athletes, artists, and professionals across industries. Whether the work is navigating high-stakes decisions or untangling the relationship patterns that shape every area of life, the conversation always arrives at the same place: celebrating how much further you've come than you ever thought possible and how much possibility is ahead.

At the heart of it all is you — as wholeness. Operating from one authentic center rather than the fragmentation of competing roles and expectations.

Most people don't hesitate because they doubt the coaching process. They hesitate because they doubt themselves. That's exactly where the work begins — and exactly what changes first.

You can find out more about Richard at richardmorgancoaching.com

This episode is a little different to most others on The Coaching Life Podcast.

Over a somewhat extended period of time, you get to witness a beautiful conversation with my dear friend, Mark Spall.

Mark and I met on our very first day as apprentices in September 1984.

Here we are sitting together in Bali, recording a conversation that has been unfolding for over four decades.

Rather than a structured coaching conversation or a clearly defined theme, this is a slow, reflective, wide-ranging dialogue between two friends who have known each other their entire adult lives.

You’ll get to witness two men remembering, wondering, circling back, and allowing meaning to surface in its own time.

In this conversation we explore:

• Growing up without a clear sense of direction, and how much of life is shaped by chance, encouragement, and small moments of being seen

• Early work, apprenticeships, and the quiet impact of teachers, mentors, and off-hand comments

• Self-doubt, belonging, and the long-carried sense of “not quite fitting in.”

• Intelligence, effort, neurodivergence, and the different ways people learn and thrive.

• Programming, technology, creativity, and the joy of being absorbed in something for its own sake.

• Leadership, validation, and the deep human desire to matter.

• Spiritual curiosity, psychology, meaning, and the slow evolution of identity over time.

• Friendship itself, how relationships drift, reconnect, and quietly shape who we become

There is wisdom here, and its not delivered as advice.

It emerges through memory, honesty, laughter, and reflection.

Looking deeper, there’s something very honest about friendship here, about becoming, evolving and belonging, and the beautiful privilege of still being in conversation after all these years.

We have created this episode together because I simply wanted to share with you someone who has been a part of my entire adult life.

Just a side note - the audio quality is not of a standard I would prefer, but we did what we could with what was available to us at the time here in Bali, without postponing creating the recording…

You’ll hear Bali in the background, in the form of motorcycles and other noises…

And I’m a big advocate for imperfect action trumping inaction…

I hope you enjoy listening in.

AI & The Future of Coaching

What Can Be Replaced, and What Never Will

Artificial Intelligence is changing the landscape of every creative and human profession, including coaching. In this solo episode, Phil Goddard explores what AI can already do better than most humans, and where its reach will always end. Phil also takes a more intimate look at what those two letters, AI, might also come to mean for the coaching world.

This isn’t a debate about technology; it’s an inquiry into what makes coaching truly human: presence, curiosity, and love.

Phil takes listeners on a reflective, grounded journey through the evolving world of creation and connection, inviting both coaches and clients to return to the essence of what real transformation is built upon.

In this episode Phil shares:

• What aspects of the coaching industry are most at risk from automation

• The irreplaceable qualities that keep real coaching alive

• Why curiosity is the true heartbeat of transformation

• How creativity loses soul when it becomes mechanical

• What the future of meaningful human work might look like

• If you’re a coach: this episode invites you to rediscover your depth, to shift from performance to presence, and to build your work around what no machine can replicate.

• If you’re a coaching client: it offers clarity on what genuine coaching feels like, how to recognise when a conversation is alive, real, and transformative, and not formulaic.

This is a meditation on where technology ends, and where humanity begins.

The Art of Mentorship

Leo Pessl joins Phil for a thoughtful conversation on the transformative power of mentorship. With warmth and humility, they discuss how mentorship has been a thread that has connected growth, purpose, progression and their eventual roles as a guide to others.

This episode is a quiet masterclass on how learning unfolds in connection with others, and is a tribute to those who light the way.

Phil & Leo discuss

• The vital role mentors play in personal and intellectual awakening.

• Why mentorship is as much about deep listening as it is about guidance.

• How being seen by the right person can spark lifelong growth.

• The quiet confidence and patience essential to both mentor and mentee.

• Reflections on legacy, gratitude, and the enduring value of mentorship.

• The emotional depth of being truly seen, supported, and believed in.

• Why great mentorship is grounded in trust, not just expertise.

Here’s a little more about Leo:

Born in Austria and raised in Germany by an American Mother and Austrian father, Leo developed a sense of alienation early in life. His ADD felt incompatible with traditional education and, feeling something was wrong with him, he found it difficult to connect with other people.

Since 2014 he has explored the nature of the human experience and through many kind and openhearted conversations has come to understand that how he felt was as much a universal as it was a personal experience. It is what he would describe as a pandemic of disconnection and disembodiment.

Having trained in Gestalt therapy and group dynamics, and being at much more ease with life, he reached a turning point in his career: daring to offer someone he had just met a coaching session. The feedback from that conversation helped him decide to follow his calling to coach.

Leo has invested in working with internationally renowned coaches and teachers, and now takes much joy from helping his clients flourish and connect with a loving life. Being of service is his main drive.

He also enjoys writing, listening to and playing music, volunteering in the name of happiness, and supporting organizations or individuals in their quest for a better world.

You can find out more about Leo at https://leopessl.net/english

It Starts With You

In this beautifully reflective episode, Phil Goddard welcomes Lorena Bernal — actor, model, TV host, mother, wife of a Premier League Football manager, and now coach and author — for a soul-stirring conversation about what it truly means to live from the heart.

Lorena’s journey has taken her from Argentina to Spain, to Hollywood, and beyond. While her life has included fame and public recognition, it’s her rich inner world and emotional depth that take center stage here. Drawing from her debut book, It Starts With You, Lorena shares powerful insights into identity, self-inquiry, and emotional intelligence — offering listeners a loving nudge toward authenticity and self-acceptance.

Phil and Lorena dive into the nuances of emotional awareness, spiritual growth, and the freedom that comes when we let go of the need to prove or perform. This episode isn’t just about coaching — it’s about being human in a way that’s honest, vulnerable, and real.

Highlights include:

• How constant change shaped Lorena’s sense of home and identity

• The “inner world” she developed as a child navigating multiple cultures

• Acting as a mirror for understanding human complexity and emotion

• The moment she realized her natural inclination to coach others

• Why emotional resilience starts with self-trust, not strategy

• Her views on parenting from the heart vs. parenting from the mind

• The liberating power of recognizing you’re not your conditioned self

• A fresh metaphor for life as a ride to be embraced, not controlled

• A glimpse into her life with her husband, an English Premier League manager.

This is a conversation filled with truth, warmth, and quiet power — a reminder that real transformation always begins within.

Here’s a little more about Lorena

Lorena Bernal is an internationally recognised life and spiritual coach, speaker and author dedicated to empowering individuals to reconnect with their inner wisdom and lead fulfilling purpose-driven lives.

Through her own unique coaching approach and mindfulness expertise, Lorena helps individuals to achieve their personal and life goals. No stranger to fame, Lorena has gained great insight into the worlds of both celebrity, thanks to a multifaceted career as a celebrated actress, model and television presenter, and elite sport and high performance, as the wife of leading football manager Mikel Arteta - giving her firsthand experience of the psychological resilience required to thrive in competitive environments.

Sharing both professional advice and personal experiences, Lorena, with her natural charisma, eloquence and authentic storytelling, can captivate audiences, offering media profound insights with a relatable and uplifting approach whilst being positioned as an expert in the wellness and lifestyle space.

Lorena takes readers on a transformative journey in her debut book, It Starts With You, available this April.

A powerful exploration of self-acceptance, intuition, and emotional freedom, the book is a universally relevant guide to unlocking inner peace and joy. More than just a self-help book, It Starts With You is a profound journey into discovering and embodying the love that we truly are. Drawing on her lived experiences and extensive studies in personal growth, energy healing, consciousness, and human potential, Lorena offers readers a roadmap to embracing life with clarity and confidence.

You can find out more about Lorena and purchase her book at https://lbcoach.co.uk/

And follow her on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/lober99

A Path of Mastery

In this episode of The Coaching Life Podcast, Phil Goddard sits down with Rishi for a deep and moving conversation about the search for meaning, the twists of self-discovery, and what it truly means to live a fulfilling life.

In This Episode:

• How an existential crisis sparked a journey of transformation

• The role of philosophy, spirituality, and psychology in shaping our reality

• Navigating uncertainty and finding peace in the unknown

• Lessons from personal struggle, deep reflection, and letting go

• The power of deep listening and presence in coaching

• What it truly means to serve clients beyond techniques and formulas

• Why fulfilment isn’t about fixing life, but embracing it as it is

This conversation goes beyond coaching—it’s about the universal human experience, the search for truth, and the courage to live fully.

Here’s a little more about Rishi:

Rishi Rongala’s work is in shifting the way people experience themselves and their world. As a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coaching Federation (ICF), he works with leaders, entrepreneurs, and teams to create real impact—not by teaching more strategies, but by helping them cut through the noise of overthinking, self-doubt, and conditioned patterns.

With a background spanning startups, enterprise risk, and financial consulting, Rishi’s journey into coaching wasn’t a planned career move. It was a relentless personal exploration—through the intersections of psychology, philosophy, and spirituality—that led him to see human potential beyond conventional wisdom.

This led to Rishi founding a boutique coaching firm called Paradigm Shift specialising in transformative coaching. His clients don’t just come for frameworks or strategies. They come for something much rarer—a space where they can see themselves more clearly than ever before. And in that space, things shift. They lead with more presence, make decisions with more clarity, and move forward without the second-guessing that used to slow them down.

Whether it’s a business leader making high-stakes decisions with ease, an entrepreneur navigating uncertainty without stress, or a professional stepping into their full presence, the shift is always the same—less effort, more impact.

You can find out more about Rishi at https://rishirongala.com/

The Accidental Coach

What has really struck me in my conversations with Ian, and in reading his throughly beautiful book, The Tao of Homeopathy, is that everything in homeopathy is applicable in some way to masterful coaching. We explore this and more in this wholesome exploration of healing and what it is to be human.

Phil & Ian discuss:

* Ian’s expansion of his work into coaching.

* The miracle ‘cure’ of Phil’s back & knee pains, & the interconnected nature of everything.

* What is healing and how it is different from curing.

* How the Tao Te Ching is applicable and can help us in coaching and all of our relationships.

* Being you versus Being present.

* Teaching vs Educating, and getting to truly know ourselves.

* The role of susceptibility in getting sick and healing.

* What does it mean to follow the path of ease?

Here’s a little more about Ian:

Ian Watson is an educator, author and facilitator who has worked in the field of well-being, holistic healing and inner transformation since1988. Ian became well known as a homeopathic practitioner and writer, and he subsequently went on to pursue a deeper understanding of mental and emotional health.

This led to the study and practice of a wide variety of disciplines including Journey Process work, Emotional Freedom Technique, Shen Physio-emotional Release Therapy, Jungian psychology, Byron Katie work, family constellations and Hakomi technique.

In 2011 he trained in the Three Principles paradigm discovered by Sydney Banks, and this psycho-spiritual understanding has been the foundation of his work ever since. Ian has been invited to share his understanding with schoolchildren, health professionals, business leaders and countless individuals and groups in the UK and overseas.

Further information at: www.theinsightspace.com

Exploring Human Experience

A special episode in which Phil responds to some queries raised by Tibi, and they explore together how we create our experience and our most compassionate way of Loving Being Human.

Phil & Tibi discuss:

* Are we really 100% responsible for our experience?

* Goddard’s Law of Spiritual Exploration.

* How can we be compassionate towards everyone?

* Dysfunctional compassion.

* How are boundaries misused?

* What’s our role in relating with people who have ‘wounds’?

* What’s the point of forgiveness?

* Phil’s story of understanding his father.

* Handling things that irritate us.

Tibi Sátor is a Coach, Creator, Husband and Dad.

He specialises in Relationship and Parenting Coaching.

You can connect with Tibi here:

http://facebook.com/tibor.sator

And subscribe to his newsletter here:

tiborsator.substack.com

Ethics, Cults and Coaching Integrity

In a necessary conversation for all coaches and service professionals, Sara and Phil talk in-depth about ethics, cults, integrity, and how important it is for us to be aware of unhealthy aspects of our desires to help others.

Topics of conversation include:

* When and when not to share our writing.

* Embellishment on social media.

* The power dynamics between a coach and client, and the required care and awareness of these dynamics.

* Unhealthy aspirations and how some teachings can distance us from ourselves.

* The importance of expressing emotions.

* The ethics of charging and being transparent with costs of time, energy and money.

* Non-duality - what is it? What use is it?

* The role of a coach in this exploration.

* Manipulation and cult-like behaviour in some communities.

* What are the elements of a cult, what’s the appeal and how do people end up involved in them.

* What specifically do coaches need to be aware of, to ensure they operate with integrity?

Here’s a little more about Sara:

Sara brings a wealth of experience to her work as a coach and spiritual mentor. She firmly believes in empowerment and support. She has a focus on our true self, learning to love all of ourselves, and gently disentangling anything that gets in the way. She is also an advocate for those who've been through cult-like groups, and is a special advisor to the Association for Spiritual Integrity. You'll find her in her garden shed with at least a couple of cats, a big mug of coffee, and always open to chat.

You can connect with Sara here:

https://www.sarapriestley.com/