Bay Area Executive Coach Training

08/28/2025

Become a Certified Executive Coach. Lead with impact. Build your career. Executive coaching is one of the fastest-growing fields in leadership development, and the opportunities are expanding every day.

Join us at our 3.5 day, in-person seminar and get certified upon completion. This short video provides an overview of what to expect and how the program equips you with the skills, confidence, and support to serve leaders at the highest level and build a rewarding career: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awvTm8hjaaA

Email me or visit our website to enroll today. If you have more questions, leave a comment below.

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Back in 2014, I became certified as an executive coach through the Center for Executive Coaching. Since then, I’ve built a successful practice, and now I’m h...

08/13/2025

The Center for Executive Coaching In-Person Seminar is more than just a accelerated path to Executive Coach Certification, it’s a transformative experience.

Not only will you gain the skills and credentials to grow your coaching practice, but you'll also connect with a powerful community of peers. These relationships can become an invaluable source of support, inspiration, and opportunity throughout your coaching journey.

📅 October 15 - 18, 2025
📍 San Mateo, CA

It's time to reserve your spot! 👉 Learn more and register: https://centerforexecutivecoaching.com/executive-coach-certification/cec-certification/in-person-seminar

07/09/2025

There are general best practices that coaches follow to build a successful practice. Here they are as we see them from our perspective in the world of executive coaching:

Earn the Qualifications and Credentials.
When a company selects an executive coach to work with their leaders and teams, they expect the coach to be highly trained. It’s a best practice for the coach to acquire an ICF or similar credential along with a certification from an established executive coach training and certification program.

Maintain Strict Confidentiality at all Times.
Trust between the coach and coachee is rooted in the coach maintaining strict confidentiality about everything that happens within coaching conversations. Coachees won’t speak freely unless they’re assured that what they say in the coaching session stays there.

Place the Client at the Center of the Coaching Process.
One of the principles of effective executive coaching is an understanding that the coachee is at the center of the coaching process and determines coaching goals and agenda.

Be Flexible and Willing to Explore Different Approaches.
Every coachee will require some adjustments based on their challenges, end goals and willingness to be vulnerable and truly dive into the possibilities presented by coaching. Executive coaches need to be flexible in their approach.

Encourage Self-Awareness and Accountability.
The executive coach needs to challenge their coachees to be the message. Living into this ideal form of leadership requires a high degree of self-awareness to see where one has blind spots that are holding them back from being the model leader they strive to be.

Be Honest when Giving Assessments and Feedback.
Top-level leaders often find themselves in a position where they don’t receive enough clear and direct feedback about their performance. A valuable element of an effective executive coaching program is genuine feedback from the coach as well as those around the client.

Run Your Practice like a Reliable Business.
How you run your business will affect the quality of your coaching engagements. Be reliable, responsive, and easy to do business with. Find great help as soon as you can afford it.

Be Open to Feedback Yourself.
A sure way to grow and improve will be to follow your own advice to your clients – get feedback and act on it. We all have blind spots. Only a few of us truly look for them as an opportunity to learn and grow.

•••
We hope the best practices outlined above will guide you in growing and strengthening your executive coaching practice. Success ultimately comes down to building a strong knowledge and skill base and then having the persistence to apply that knowledge to effect positive results.

07/04/2025

Did you know our website is packed with free resources for coaches and leaders?

From downloadable guides (like these: https://www.bayareaexecutivecoach.com/guides/) to insightful blog posts, curated reading lists, e-books, case studies, and videos, there’s a wealth of valuable content available at your fingertips.

And we're always adding more, so be sure to visit regularly: https://www.bayareaexecutivecoach.com/

07/04/2025

As a professional coach, it’s likely you will spend numerous hours each day on video. Indeed, I sometimes have as many as 6 hours of video meetings in a day. But does it need to be that way?

I recently presented a 3-hour team development class to a leadership team that wanted to be off-camera the entire time. The CEO told me that cameras should be optional for meetings like this to prevent Zoom fatigue. That threw me off at first, but before too long I enjoyed not worrying about looking into the camera the whole time. I also noted that they seemed plenty engaged and speaking frequently. They were in the workshop with me.

I observed a mentor coaching practice session recently where both coaches decided to try audio only to see how it would affect their coaching. What happened was very interesting. They both made an effort to listen even more carefully. They reported closing their eyes at times to really concentrate on fully hearing the other person. They also sought to be more careful with their words and tone than they might have been since that’s all they had.

Both coaches really enjoyed the experience. It reminded me that I can do this too. I occasionally do coach my clients with audio only, but it’s usually because the internet connection is buggy or they need to be in the car driving. I’m thinking that I will offer my clients to have audio only coaching anytime they desire going forward so they know it’s an option.

The benefit to me as the coach is time away from the camera but more importantly perhaps, the opportunity to listen to my clients even more closely and intently than before.

When coaching 1on1, do you always go with camera on? I know this is an area of great debate amongst coaches. There are proponents of both sides, and I’d love to hear what you think.

Contact me if you have follow-up questions or would like to talk about your coaching business and how to develop it.

09/26/2024

Our next In-Person Executive Coach Training and Certification Seminar is scheduled for October 23 - 26, 2024 in San Mateo, CA.

This program equips Executive Coaches to succeed in the market and develop solutions that get practical, measurable results for their clients.
But it is not just for Executive Coaches! The curriculum offers excellent benefits to many business leaders, including:

- COMPANY LEADERS who want to blend coaching into their leadership skills.
- HR LEADERS who want to bring a coaching culture to their organizations.
- CONSULTANTS who want to add coaching to be more valuable to their clients.

Register for the seminar here: https://centerforexecutivecoaching.com/get-certified/in-person-executive-coaching-seminar/

09/26/2024

We are very excited to announce that our October in-person seminar will feature a special guest speaker: worldwide listening training and teaching expert, Dr. Laura Janusik!

Dr. Janusik will join us on October 25th, day 3 of the three-and-a-half-day event. Her presentation will perfectly complement the seminar content. It will be followed by a networking reception, during which participants can get to know Laura better and establish a one-to-one connection with her.

Dr. Janusik’s specialty is helping coaches connect with clients in ways that accelerate their client’s transformation. Her approach is based on developing the coach’s ability to listen carefully, thoughtfully, and nonjudgmentally to their clients. By leveraging the critical input derived from critical listening, the coach can better guide clients along their journey to genuine leadership growth.

An engaging speaker and trainer, Dr. Janusik is published nationally and internationally in academic journals and publications such as Forbes, Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, US News and World Report, and The Coach magazine.

I’ve enjoyed a great professional relationship with Laura Janusik and I know our seminar attendees can greatly benefit by learning from her and getting to know her. As with past Center for Executive Coaching in-person seminars, space is limited, and available seats fill up quickly. Those interested in attending this high-growth event and meeting Dr. Janusik should register immediately!

07/09/2024

Want a brilliant framework to use within a coaching session? Use this three-element dynamic shared with me by Andrew Neitlich, founder of the Center for Executive Coaching.

When you’re working with a client who wants to be more effective, ask them how they are doing in balancing the three elements of Ego, Results & Relationships.

They’ll counter with, “How do you mean?”

Here’s an example from a recent conversation with a client. They were telling me about one of their reports who’s a subject matter expert. Given the opportunity to flex their intellect, they will take on a project and do most of the work. That gets them Results and strengthens their Ego. But where does that leave Relationships? Out in the cold. My client actually characterized it as “Cheating the others out of a chance to develop their capabilities”.

In another scenario, the leader likes to see themselves as being very empathetic to their team members. Thus, when a big project with a tight timeline comes along, their ego says, “Don’t push them too hard. You’ll damage the relationship.” But then the Results suffer.

This is a great dynamic and with a fairly brief explanation, every leader will see the wisdom in balancing the three elements going forward. I hope it proves to be a useful tool for you.

07/09/2024

In a world where so much emphasis is placed on pushing hard to get ahead, it can come as a surprise to learn that slowing down is sometimes the best way to move ahead. That was the insight gained by a coaching client of ours who was promoted from a senior sales role to an executive sales role at his company. Here's his story: https://www.bayareaexecutivecoach.com/case-studies/

Helping leaders succeed is a core service of our executive coaching practice. T

07/09/2024

The Bay Area Executive Coach (BAEC) YouTube channel has surpassed the 1000 subscriber mark!

My goal was to create an informative and practical video channel to help newer executive coaches, or people interested in becoming coaches, develop their skills to reach their full potential. We create videos on timely topics of interest to our target audiences. I even answer frequently asked questions that I receive from coaches in my training classes. Some of the most popular titles are in-depth interview videos with leading coaching industry experts. Among the interviewees are Mike Williams, Dave Baker, Daiana Stoicescu, Dr. Anne Welsh, Kelly Tweeddale, Dr. Amy Bladen Shatto, and Trevor Blondeel.

According to a recent survey, less than 10% of YouTube channels have 1000 or more subscribers, placing the BAEC channel in an exclusive category.
Over 150 coach training videos currently populate the channel, with new titles added on a regular basis.

To see the current BAEC Executive Coach training video catalog, go to https://www.youtube.com/

06/06/2024

Are you studying for your ICF Credential but not sure about resources to study for the exam? In this video, I will cover some resources for studying for the ICF Exam to become a Professional Certified Coach. Watch to learn more!

If you have more questions, leave a comment below, or reach out to Michael at [email protected] Thank you for watching, and be sure to subsc...

06/06/2024

I’ve noticed an uptick in female membership at the Center for Executive Coaching. Just from my little corner of the coaching world, I’m seeing more women enter the profession of leadership coaching, than men.

I was asked what I thought might be driving this trend. I’d love to hear your thoughts because you may have a completely different perspective on this. Until then, I’ll share what factors I think might be driving this trend. These are not in order of magnitude or importance by the way.

1. More women are going on to university and graduating than men. This is a macro trend that’s driving change in many industries. I bring this up because it’s bound to affect executive coaching where most coaches are degree holders with a fair number holding graduate degrees.

2. Women tend to gravitate towards this heart-centered profession. How do I explain this since I am a heart-centered male who absolutely loves coaching? Simple, I believe women tend to be more insightful, perceptive, and nurturing than men. These are qualities that lend themselves to coaching. I do think men and women are fairly equal on being growth-oriented, but when it comes to work that’s more on the emotional side, women seem to seek out that type of profession more eagerly. I’m not sure I’ve explained this well. Feel free to disagree and share your opposing thoughts.

3. Executive coaching is a level playing field. We’ve heard a lot of talk about the glass ceiling. Women are still not rising to the highest levels of executive leadership anywhere near the numbers men are. This progress is moving at a maddeningly slow pace. I believe some of the women coming to leadership coaching may be those who grew tired of the games played in corporations and decided to run their show on their terms with unlimited earning power where there’s plenty of respect and appreciation to go around.

4. In a word, lifestyle. This is related to item 3 but it’s different, too. External executive coaches can have work-life balance to the degree that they see fit to do. As the pandemic wanes and many companies are seeking to get their people back to the office, professional women are seeking a different career path that has the independence, challenge, and personal satisfaction they desire. Is this different for women than men? I’m not 100% sure, but I wanted to add this to the list as food for thought.

5. Referrals. People often take up a line of work at the suggestion of someone else. If we have more women than men in the field of professional coaching, and they tell other women about what they’re doing and how enjoyable and rewarding it is, that causes other women to consider it. It just makes sense to me that this is a factor.

That’s my list. What do you think? Agree? Disagree? If you agree, do you think this trend matters at all? And, if so, how?