Alina Bas Consulting

10/13/2026

I'd like to share an exciting news with you. I’m opening the Academy of Human-Led Coaching: Level 2 Coach Education! If you’ve ever considered training as a coach, let's talk.

After years of coaching executives and teaching coaching to grad students at NYU, I’m bringing this work into a program of my own, taking over an ICF-accredited coaching school that has been in existence for 25+ years. This program will continue in the history and traditions of Dr. Leni Wildflower's Knowledge-Based Coaching in the Workplace. To facilitate the transition, Leni will stay on as a Faculty Advisor.

Coaching is both a skill set and a vocation. It’s especially useful when your job involves helping someone clarify where they stand, think through a difficult decision, or figure out the next steps under uncertainty. You can bring it into the work you already do or build a new practice.

The Academy's first cohort starts in January 2027, with live virtual classes. The program is 135 hours over 14 weeks, satisfies ICF's education requirements for an ACC or PCC credential, and includes mentoring, supervised coaching with feedback, Coaching Lab, community of talented peers, and more.

If you’re curious, considering a new direction, or wondering whether this might fit your work, please reach out. Happy to answer questions! Thank you.

08/30/2026

Do you currently mentor coaches toward an ICF credential? Beginning January 1, 2027, coaches providing mentor coaching for ICF credentialing requirements must hold the new ICF Mentor Coach Specialization.

Experienced mentor coaches who have supported at least five coaches toward a credential in the past three years may qualify through the Credit for Prior Learning pathway, which requires a 10-hour class on Mentor Coaching skills, among other things.

To help you meet this requirement, my 10-hour live Mentor Coaching Intensive will meet September 23, 24, 28, 30, and October 1, from 7:00–9:00 p.m. ET. (Application for 10 ICF CCE credits is pending.)
Details and registration: https://AlinaBas.com/Academy

Please feel free to reach out with any questions!

08/27/2026

If you already mentor coaches as a part of a Level 1, 2, or 3 program or independently, ICF's new Mentor Coach Specialization will change your work effective January 1, 2027. (Link in the comments for more details.)

I am offering a live 10-hour Mentor Coaching Intensive, an ICF requirement for experienced mentor coaches pursuing the ICF Mentor Coach Specialization through the Credit for Prior Learning path. We will work on the practical aspects of mentor coaching: observing accurately, calibrating against credential-level standards, separating evidence from inference, and giving feedback that develops a coach's practice.

Five live Zoom sessions. Small cohort. Convenient time. Structured practice, peer calibration, and facilitator feedback.

Fall 2026 cohort: September 23, 24, 28, 30 and October 1, 7:00-9:00 p.m. ET.
Tuition: $599.
Application for 10 ICF CCE credits is pending.
Details and registration: https://AlinaBas.com/Academy

If the new Mentor Coaching Specialization credential is on your 2027 radar, this cohort is built for exactly that. Questions welcome in the comments or by DM.

08/23/2026

If you’re a , , or renewed who mentors other coaches, ICF’s Mentor Coach Specialization ( ) becomes required in 2027, including for anyone mentoring inside a Level 1, 2, or 3 program.

The good news: if you’ve already mentored five or more coaches to their credentials, you may qualify for the Credit for Prior Learning path, which asks for a 10-hour live course rather than the full 41 hours.

I’m offering such a 10-hour course starting mid-September. Five 2-hour Zoom sessions starting mid-September, 6–12 participants per cohort, reasonably priced. Registration opens shortly.

Comment, message, or email me if may be interested, and please pass this to colleagues who might qualify.

07/30/2026

A few new letters after my name, and a signal for where the coaching industry is heading.

I'm excited to share that I've earned the International Coaching Federation (ICF) Mentor Coach Specialization (MCS) credential at both the ACC and PCC levels.

After many years of coaching leaders, mentoring coaches, teaching graduate students, and researching how people make decisions under uncertainty, MCS feels like the next natural step. This specialization recognizes experienced coaches who have completed advanced training in mentor coaching and coaching skill evaluation, and have supported coaching students over the years. AI is rapidly turning coaching into a hybrid profession. And yet, helping human coaches sharpen their skills is still meaningful, relevant, and necessary.

Here's the interesting part. MCS is a brand-new credential by the ICF, and beginning January 2027, only MCS-credentialed coaches will be qualified to mentor and evaluate the next generation of aspiring coaches.

This credential is one piece of a much bigger adventure I've been quietly building up behind the scenes. I look forward to sharing more updates with you soon!

07/15/2026

When I say I'm an organizational psychologist, I get polite nods. When I add "and an executive coach," the nods get more confident, but the follow-up questions suggest a lack of clarity.

So, as the field of coaching is changing, I finally rewrote the FAQ page on my site: what coaching actually is, what results you can expect, why my clients are, what stays confidential when your company is paying, and whether your company can pay at all (often yes, and many people never ask).

The most unexpected sentence on the page might be this one:
"You probably can figure this out on your own."

It answers the question many high-achieving people quietly ask before hiring a coach: why can't I just handle this myself?

You can. That's not the issue. The issue is that when protocols fail and information is incomplete, thinking out loud with someone safe who asks sharp questions gets you oriented faster and better.
Here's my question for you: what do you wish executive coaches would answer honestly upfront on their websites but rarely do?

I'll add your best suggestions to my FAQ page.

06/15/2026

Real vs. Realistic

Does it matter whether something is real if it feels realistic enough? This question was famously posed in the sci-fi drama Westworld, when an android hostess was asked whether she was real. She answered: “Well, if you can’t tell, does it matter?”

As technology advances, it is becoming harder to tell the difference between realistic and real. Things can feel real because they were designed to feel real. And this makes human discernment more important than ever, judging when realistic is enough, and when real should not be substituted. [See the link in the first comment: how to tell the difference and when it matters]

04/17/2026

𝗨𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁: If you’re employed, Do This Now. Don’t assume you’ll have time to prepare for a layoff later, or that a layoff won’t affect you.

Some people are finding out they’ve been laid off when their login access is denied. The badge stops working. No meeting, no warning. Just locked out, which is followed by a brief impersonal email from the organization about termination.

Five, ten, twenty years of doing solid, reliable work, and often being called indispensable, and then one morning, your entire professional history inside that company disappears behind a login you no longer have.

If you’re employed right now, don’t assume you’ll have time to prepare later. 𝗗𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄:

1. 𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀.

Save personal contact info for colleagues, clients, and partners, to the extent you are legally allowed by the company. Connect on LinkedIn. Get personal emails or phone numbers where appropriate, because if you only have work emails for your colleagues and rely on the company system to pull up those email addresses, you can’t connect anymore if either one of you gets fired.

2. 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀.

Save messages of praise, thank-yous, and recognition. Within policy allowance, keep what reflects your contribution.

3. 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆.

Reviews, feedback, ratings. Anything that tells the story of your work.

4. 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸.

Maintain a private, ongoing log of projects, decisions, outcomes, and metrics. Not a resume. A raw archive you can shape later.

5. 𝗘𝘅𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

Start forming your own point of view publicly. Write, comment, share insights. If your voice only exists inside your company, it may not travel with you when your role changes.

Preparedness is not about being paranoid, it is about taking ownership.

The career is yours, and your organization is your partner for part of the journey.

***
I coach executive clients to make clear decisions under conditions of uncertainty. If you feel it is time to think more deliberately about your career and act on it, book a Strategic Planning Session through my site (link in the comments; AlinaBas (dot) com (slash) schedule).

Check whether your company sponsors leadership development for your role, as our work may breathe new life into your current position. This might be the most practical step you take this year for your career, in addition to learning AI.

04/14/2026

When was the last time you said a genuine, happy “wow”? What actually contributes to you feeling “wowed”? Read "When even the Moon feels boring", https://www.alinabas.com/blog/when-even-the-moon-feels-boring Image Credit:

03/06/2026

Clarity in decision-making is not necessarily what we assume it is.

What if leaders seeking outcome clarity are actually looking for the wrong thing?