This picture was taken for my MBA graduation. I had been working for a few years after my university undergrad and then college education when I decided to go back to school on weekends to pursue an MBA. When I graduated from this program, I was 27 years old. I had just signed on for a new job with General Motors and got my first signing bonus. In many ways, I was flying high on life and felt anything was possible. I was smart, super ambitious, and ready for anything that came my way…or so I thought.

After experiencing a brain injury 10 years ago, the death of my Dad and husband, Jeff, to cancer within a few years of each other, and then came the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, I had to reach down deeper within myself than I knew even existed. What have I learned about life and my career along the way? And, what do I wish I could have told my younger self?

I recently spoke at a virtual event about the importance of having coaching-style conversations within the workplace. Before we dive into how you can have coaching conversations to inspire others around you, let’s define what coaching actually is.

What is Coaching? Coaching is the process of helping another individual or group of individuals reflect, learn and create a plan of action to help them perform to the best of their ability in his/her/their life or job.