FRESH IDEAS FOR LEADERS: Coaching the next wave | Embracing 'No excuses'

JUNE 2025

Coaching the next wave of entrepreneurial leaders

There's something profoundly meaningful about returning to where your journey began – especially when you get to bring someone along who represents the future of that journey.

Next month, Pete Stoddart and I will head up to a lodge on New Brunswick's famed Miramichi River to deliver our Using the Coach Approach program to ELP18 – the newest cohort of the Wallace McCain Institute's Entrepreneurial Leaders Program.

For me, it's a homecoming in more ways than one.

I am part of ELP5, one of the early cohorts of what has become a transformative program for Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurs. The Wallace McCain Institute brings together exceptional groups of growth-stage entrepreneurs each year who are given what they need to grow as leaders, CEOs and most importantly, as individuals.

Limited seats: Unlock the power of coaching

What if one conversation could shift the way you lead?

That’s the idea behind Using the Coach Approach™ – a practical, engaging workshop designed to help leaders build trust, navigate tough conversations, and inspire their teams.

Vision Coaching is offering a new public session of this popular program in August, led virtually by internationally accredited Vision coach Jill Brown.

A longtime finance and HR professional turned leadership coach, Jill brings warmth, clarity and hands-on experience to every session.

And the best news is that this special summer learning event is available at discounted rates thanks to sponsorship from VanBuskirk Law.

The nine-hour program – to be held in three-hour sessions on Aug. 11, 18 and 25 – helps leaders at all levels understand what coaching is (and isn’t), when to use coaching conversations, and how to apply a coaching mindset to strengthen performance and engagement.

To learn more and register....

Growing your influence in HR

Becoming a human resources business partner is a major milestone – but what happens next?

How do you shift from supporting the business to influencing it? From reacting to leading?

Leadership coach Jeff Green knows the terrain well. With more than 25 years of HR experience – from the factory floor to the executive table – he’s helped emerging leaders find their footing and seasoned professionals deepen their influence. Now, he’s inviting others to do the same.

To learn more and register....

Leadership lessons from the rink – and the battlefield

From the archives of The Boiling Point podcast, co-hosts Dave Veale and Emily Rodger reconnect with Ed Staniowski, a former NHL goalie and retired Lieutenant Colonel of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Ed reflects on the leadership principles he's developed throughout his unique career, drawing from experiences both on the ice and in military service.

From understanding different coaching styles to navigating military command structures, Ed explores how true leaders cultivate humility, embrace adversity as a team-building tool, and create the foundation of trust that inspires others to follow.

Catch the episode on The Boiling Point website or search it up from wherever you get your favourite podcasts.

In Harvard Business Review, Great Leaders Make People Feel Noticed emphasizes that with only 39 per cent of employees feeling cared for at work, leaders must deliberately practice "noticing" by removing barriers to connection, making space for meaningful interactions, and asking questions that address their people's real concerns.

Featured in MIT Sloan Management Review, Create Mental Space to Be a Wiser Leader argues that leaders trapped in reactive "doing mode" must shift to "spacious mode" – using the SPACE framework (safety, people, attention, conflict, environment) to create mental space for thoughtful reflection and better decision-making.

In a recent issue of McKinsey Quarterly, The Art of 21st-Century Leadership outlines six essential leadership traits for uncertain times – from positive energy and servant leadership to continuous learning and stewardship – while advocating for organizations to build "leadership factories" that develop leaders through real-world mentorship rather than classroom training.