He’s a leader who took a role at an organization where he can expand his area of expertise and make more of a strategic impact. But he’s getting mixed signals from leadership on how to grow the company, and he’s wondering how to stay effective in influencing the senior team without burning out in the process. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches him through how to clear the path ahead.

Further reading:

• Strengthen Your Ability to Influence People
• What It Takes to Build Influence at Work from podcast HBR On Leadership
• Does Your Organization Have the Energy to Transform?
• What the Best Leadership Teams Do Right

She’s an experienced leader who made a big international move to take on a new change management role. But the transformation project isn’t working out the way she had hoped. Now she’s looking for ways to increase buy-in from key stakeholders while also navigating cross-cultural challenges. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches this leader through her possible next steps to handle the resistance she’s facing as she tries to lead change.

Further reading:

• Getting Employee Buy-In for Organizational Change
• Change Is Hard. Here’s How to Make It Less Painful.
• Change Management Requires a Change Mindset

She’s put in the hard work and might be next in line for an important, C-suite level job. But she’s not sure if that role is something she really wants. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches this leader to help her discover what she really wants to do next.

Further reading:

• How to Figure Out What You Want Next in Your Career
• When You’re Ready to Make a Big Career Move
• The Big Decisions that Impact Your Career
• Should I Continue to Climb the Corporate Ladder?

He leads a large team that has grown quickly. Now he’s struggling with senior members on the team whose work isn’t meeting his expectations. He’s not sure how to hold them more accountable and drive higher performance. Host Muriel Wilkins helps him evaluate his options and understand the different ways he can enforce boundaries to move his team forward.

Further reading:

• Overcome Your Fear of Giving Feedback
• How to Give Negative Feedback: Our Favorite Reads
• Managing an Underperformer Who Thinks They’re Doing Great
• 3 Ways to Compassionately Hold Your Team Accountable

After finishing business school, he landed several leadership positions and was fast-tracked into the executive level of his organization. But he’s been struggling to find his footing in his new leadership role, especially when he doesn’t agree with his boss. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches him through how to come to terms with leadership decisions he doesn’t agree with while staying true to himself.

Further reading:

• Why We Should Be Disagreeing More at Work
• 3 Ways to Live Out Your Values at Work
• How To Respectfully Disagree With Your Boss
• The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World

She has ambitions to reach the C-suite, but her career has hit a plateau. Opportunities in her current role have stalled, and she feels her options are limited as she tries to balance her career with that of her partner’s. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches her through reframing her career stagnation and the steps she can take to continue her professional growth.

Further reading:

• How Dual-Career Couples Make It Work
• Restructure Ahead? Here’s Your Roadmap To Success
• How Do I Avoid a Career Plateau at Midlife?
• Feeling Stuck or Stymied?

Butting heads with your boss? Trying to decide whether to push for a promotion to the C suite? Struggling to figure out what really matters to you in your career?

These are all real challenges that many of us face in our careers, but we don’t always have a place to turn for answers.

Executive coach Muriel Wilkins is back for another season of Coaching Real Leaders to tackle these leadership hurdles and more on the podcast that takes you behind the scenes of real life executive coaching conversations. Muriel helps leaders discover unexpected insights about themselves and actionable steps they can take to move forward.

Listen to the new season of Coaching Real Leaders starting October 7th.

Have you ever wondered why different people work better at different times of the day? Maybe you love to do your most challenging work first thing in the morning or perhaps you’re at your best in the middle of the night. We all experience peaks and troughs over the course of a working day, but knowing how to manage them can make us more productive – and happier.

This episode is a special introduction to Working It, an award-winning podcast from the Financial Times, hosted by Isabel Berwick.

Working It offers expert analysis and key takeaways to help leaders and managers make sense of the big news stories and trends shaping the world of work.

In this episode, bestselling author Daniel Pink explains why we work best at specific times of the day, how to talk about those differences with your manager or your team, and how we can harness these differences to do our best work.

You can listen to Working It at https://www.ft.com/working-it or wherever you get your podcasts.

She’s experienced burnout in more than one past role. Now, after taking some time away from work, she’s gearing up to start a new position and she wants to avoid making the same mistakes. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches her toward uncovering the root of her burnout and realizing how she can change the work habits that have caused it in the past.

Further reading:

• Brené Brown on empathy, compassion and boundaries
• Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
• On the Brink of Burnout
• Burnout Immunity: How Emotional Intelligence Can Help You Build Resilience and Heal Your Relationship with Work
• Setting boundaries at your new job will help you avoid burnout. Here’s how to start

He’s come up the ranks and built his career working in the field, and now wants to transition to the corporate side of his company. But he’s struggling to convince senior colleagues to permanently place him in such a role. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches him through defining his value proposition and influencing key decision-makers to achieve his career goals.

Further reading:

• Navigating Uncertainty About Your Role During a Reorg
• 4 Steps to Making a Successful Career Change
• Build Your Reputation as a Trustworthy Leader
• How to Define, Develop, and Communicate Your Personal Brand

She’s an experienced leader who has always been highly ambitious and motivated to achieve impressive results. But now as she enters mid-life, she’s thinking about the next phase of her career and how to find a balance between striving and fulfillment. Host Muriel Wilkins coaches her through her concerns about aging in the workforce, finding the right challenges, and planning for her future.

Further reading:

• From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life (Arthur Brooks)
• Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age (Chip Conley)
• Making Peace with your Midlife, Mid-Career Self (HBR IdeaCast)
• How Do I Get Through My Mid-Career Crisis? (Coaching Real Leaders)