Long Life Learning

  This week, Kavitha is joined by sought-after leadership coach Bill Pullen, who will serve as Program Director for the forthcoming Certificate in Coaching Program. Bill explains how his early career as a physical therapist launched his journey into coaching, leading to a rich set of experiences helping leaders navigate transition, transformation, and team relationships. Bill shares with Kavitha his three-part process to cultivating the coach-coachee relationship, describes how leaders can benefit from a mindset of "hosting" their employees, and discusses how to reframe times of transition as an opportunity to grow one's repertoire rather than "let go" of past strengths. Kavitha and Bill's conversation ends with powerful gratitude for two coaching mentors who exhibited fierce love, held the bar high, and accepted all sides of their coachees with grace. As Bill says regarding the paramount importance of human-to-human contact, "Our growth as human beings happens in relationship with other human beings."    Transcript   S3Ep11—Bill Pullen Transcript     Links and Resources   Information on YGELP and Yale SOM Executive Education:   Yale SOM Executive Education Homepage   Certificate in Professional Coaching Program Homepage  Sign up for program updates    Resources and Individuals Mentioned in Today's Episode:   Unlocking Leadership Mind Traps by Jennifer Garvey Berger  Leading in Chaos by Amy Elizabeth Fox and Nicholas Janni     About Today's Guest  Bill Pullen is a leadership coach and consultant with Cultivating Leadership based in Palm Springs, California. A greatly in-demand coach, consultant, teacher, and facilitator, Bill specializes in working with C-level executives and global leaders, particularly in times of transition and transformation. His clientele includes organizations and leaders across Fortune 100 companies, tech startups, government agencies, foundations, and trade associations. He is the former Director for the Institute for Transformational Leadership and former Program Director of the Leadership Coaching Program at Georgetown University. 

Our final guest for the main portion of season three brings an indispensible perspective to conversations about the state of professional coaching today: what value does a coachee get out of the experience? Eriona Gjinukaj, longtime COO of Dompé during its growth from Milan-based pharmaceutical to global biotech firm, has plenty to share with Kavitha on the topic. Eriona emphasizes the ways in which her coach—Cameron Smoak, featured in episode 2—engaged in both team coaching and one-on-one sessions at a time when the company was rapidly expanding its markets, revenues, and team size. For company leadership, having a coach in the boardroom led to improved cooperation and innovation. For Eriona personally, it meant transitioning from a problem-solving strategy consultant to a confident, effective manager of a 15-person team. She and Kavitha discuss the value of learning to prepare for difficult conversations with role-play, finding the right balance between listening and speaking, and why it is so critical that coaches lead with questions which allow their coachees to come to the realization that they already hold the answers they need within themselves.    Transcript   S3Ep9—Eriona Gjinukaj Transcript     Links and Resources   Information on YGELP and Yale SOM Executive Education:   Yale SOM Executive Education Homepage   Certificate in Professional Coaching Program Homepage  Sign up for program updates    Resources Mentioned in Today's Episode:   Dompé Homepage  Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari  Harari on The Ezra Klein Show     About Today's Guest  Eriona Gjinukaj started her career as a consultant with Bain & Company in Rome, rising to the role of Principal Strategic Consultant over the course of ten years. Her areas of specialty included consumer goods, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals. In 2018 she took on the role of Chief Operating Officer for what was at the time a small, Milan-based pharmaceutical company called Dompe Farmaceutici. Over the next eight years, she and her team succeeded in growing this regional primary care company into a global biotech firm. During Eriona's tenure as COO, she oversaw a sevenfold increase in revenues, grew the company to more than 1,000 employees, honed the company's focus on targeting rare diseases, and expanded into US markets. 

This week, Kavitha is joined by Neha Gupta, CEO and founder of Breakthrough AI, which recently launched a practice-first coaching platform powered by role play scenarios with AI voice tools. Neha explains that part of her vision was to provide real-time quantitative and qualitative feedback on effective communication: particularly for individuals who may be highly technically skilled, but need targeted practice to improve the soft skills that win over clients. She and Kavitha discuss empathy as a cornerstone of client relations, the role of gamification for incentivizing user engagement and self-improvement, and why Neha feels it is imperative to "keep a human in the loop" when interacting with AI coaching tools. In particular, Neha emphasizes the importance of pushing back on the "quick fix" and "life hacks" culture that is rapidly developing around AI-human interactions. Instead, she encourages Kavitha to see AI coaching tools as an opportunity for engaging in unique, targeted practice to prepare employees to meet high-stakes scenarios with confidence and meaningful preparation.    Transcript   S3Ep8—Neha Gupta Transcript     Links and Resources   Information on YGELP and Yale SOM Executive Education:   Yale SOM Executive Education Homepage   Certificate in Professional Coaching Program Homepage  Sign up for program updates    Resources Mentioned in Today's Episode:   Breakthrough AI Homepage  The Way of Excellence by Brad Stulberg     About Today's Guest  Neha Gupta is the founder and CEO of Breakthrough AI, a practice-first AI coaching platform helping teams master the high-stakes conversations that shape performance, client relationships, and career growth. Combining AI role-play, behavioral science, and manager visibility, Breakthrough AI is reimagining professional development by turning communication skills from "soft skills" into measurable business capabilities. Her vision is to make personalized coaching and deliberate practice accessible at scale.  Prior to founding Breakthrough AI, Neha built her career across startups, nonprofits, and global consumer brands, with experience spanning growth strategy, brand marketing, product marketing, and business development. She held leadership roles at SaverLife and previously worked at Clorox and Unilever, gaining experience in brand strategy and customer engagement at scale. She also founded BellyFire Branding, where she and her team advised mission-driven and early-stage organizations on growth strategy, positioning, and sustainable growth. Known for blending sharp strategic thinking with deep empathy for users, Neha has spent her career building brands and systems that create meaningful behavior change. The daughter of immigrants and a first-generation corporate leader, Neha's work is deeply informed by her own experience learning the unspoken rules of professional communication and leadership. That perspective fuels her belief that confidence, executive presence, and communication should not be advantages reserved for a select few. She holds an MBA from Yale School of Management and a BA from Stanford University.  

  This week, we're bringing you something new that we're excited to share: a recent episode of Heidi Brooks' podcast, Learning Through Experience, in which she and fellow Yale School of Management instructor Zoe Chance discuss the thrilling ideas and questions that led to the creation of the Certificate in Professional Coaching Program. Please enjoy this vibrant conversation between two outstanding researchers, educators, and coaches! We'll be back with a regular episode of Long Life Learning next week.   For listeners who are ready to act on your interest in the forthcoming program, please visit the  Certificate in Professional Coaching Program Homepage to learn more and subscribe to program updates.    About Zoe Chance  Zoe studies persuasion and decision making, working passionately to understand how people can lead happier, healthier, more fulfilling lives. At Yale, Zoe teaches Mastering Influence and Persuasion, advises Center for Customer Insights consulting and research teams, and collaborates with Google and Optum Health.  Prior to her engagement at Yale, she marketed a $200 million segment of the Barbie brand at Mattel, developed an executive education leadership program at Harvard, acted on stage and film, and failed as an entrepreneur. She received her doctorate from Harvard, MBA from the University of Southern California, and bachelor's degree from Haverford College. Her research has been covered in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, Scientific American, Psychology Today, Financial Times, and Discover. 

This week, Kavitha is joined by Dr. Howie Forman (MD & MBA) of Yale University to discuss the unique role coaching plays in the world of medicine. Howie explains how coaching helped him navigate key turning points in his career, which has expanded from radiology into the worlds of health policy, leadership, teaching, and some coaching and mentoring of his own. He and Kavitha parse the difference between professional coaching and other key terms that have arisen this season, including psychiatry and psychotherapy. Howie identifies a core underlying principle that unifies all of them: the practice of leading with questions so as to empower clients to come to their own conclusions for action. In addition, Howie and Kavitha discuss where coaching can uniquely benefit medical practitioners, and Howie shares his thoughts about the characteristics that make certain individuals as a natural fit for coaching. Finally, Howie explains why it's not too late to change your workplace habits after age 45!   Transcript   S3Ep6—Howie Forman Transcript     Links and Resources   Information on YGELP and Yale SOM Executive Education:   Yale SOM Executive Education Homepage   Certificate in Professional Coaching Program Homepage  Sign up for program updates    Resources and Individuals Mentioned in Today's Episode:   Health & Veritas podcast on Yale Insights  MBA/MD with Yale School of Medicine Homepage  Books by Victor Frankl, including Man's Search for Meaning  "Your Local Epidemiologist," Katelyn Jetelina's Substack     About Today's Guest  Howie Forman Howie Forman is a Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Public Health (Health Policy), Management, and Economics at Yale University. He came to Yale as a practicing diagnostic radiologist and remains an active clinician in the YNHH Emergency Room, where he also functions as the deputy operational chief for Radiology. Since 1998, he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses on healthcare policy, economics, finance, and leadership. He is the faculty director and founder of Yale's MD/MBA program and the Healthcare focus area of the Executive MBA program. Since 2011, he has been the director of the Health Care Management (HCM) Program at the YSPH. He is actively involved in patient care and issues related to financial administration, healthcare compliance, and quality improvement. He has worked in the US Senate, as a health policy fellow, on Medicare legislation. He is widely quoted in popular print and social media on Public Health, Health Policy, Healthcare Leadership/Management and Finance topics.   Since September 2021, he has co-hosted the weekly Health And Veritas Podcast with Harlan Krumholz. 

For the midpoint of Season 3, Kavitha is joined by midlife expert Chip Conley, founder of the Modern Elder Academy. Chip's exceptional career led him from founding Joie de Vivre Hospitality to serving as Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy for Airbnb during the company's crucial rise from startup to household name. Chip's leadership frequently placed him in the role of coach, mentor, and what his colleagues variously described as "confidante" and "modern elder." Join us to hear Chip's insight into how midlife mentors can embody both wisdom and curiosity, as well as his perspective on what the historic five-generation span in the workplace means in the contexts of coaching and vocational purpose. In addition, Chip and Kavitha discuss the importance of joy in career and personal success, the contemporary landscape for approaches to leadership, and why Chip believes that life only gets better as we age.      Transcript   S3Ep5—Chip Conley Transcript (AI-generated, unedited)     Links and Resources   Information on YGELP and Yale SOM Executive Education:   Yale SOM Executive Education Homepage   Certificate in Professional Coaching Program Homepage  Sign up for program updates    Resources and Links Mentioned in Today's Episode:   Modern Elder Academy Homepage  Chip's Blog: Wisdom Well   Chip's Podcast: Midlife Chrysalis  Chip's TED Talks  Mary Catherine Bateson, coiner of "the midlife atrium"   Wisdom at Work: The Making of a Modern Elder by Chip Conley  The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger  Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change by David Cooperrider and Diana Whitney  One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success by Marci Alboher  More about Dilip Jeste's Wisdom Scale  Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age by Chip Conley  Dr. Becca Levy, Professor of Public Health with the Yale School of Public Health  The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Brain by Gene Cohen  From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life by Arthur Brooks  Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for America's Future by Jean Twenge  Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow by Chip Conley  The Ezra Klein Show   Interesting Times with Ross Douthat     About Today's Guest  Chip Conley is on a midlife mission. After disrupting the hospitality industry twice, first as the founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, the second-largest operator of boutique hotels in the U.S., and then as Airbnb's Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy, leading a worldwide revolution in travel, Conley co-founded MEA (Modern Elder Academy) in January 2018 in Baja California, Mexico. Inspired by his experience of intergenerational mentoring as a 'modern elder' at Airbnb, where his guidance was instrumental to the company's extraordinary transformation from fast-growing start-up to the world's most valuable hospitality brand, MEA is the world's first 'midlife wisdom school' and has a 2,600-acre regenerative horse ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico which opened in May 2024. Dedicated to reframing the concept of aging, MEA supports students to navigate midlife with a renewed sense of purpose and possibility. Conley has authored eight books, given three TED talks, has a daily Wisdom Well blog, and a weekly podcast The Midlife Chrysalis which has included a wide variety of guests from Maria Shriver to Arthur Brooks to Elizabeth Gilbert to Rich Roll. 

This week, Kavitha is joined by Aha2Impact CEO Allison Holzer to talk about how her background with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and as an educator prepared her for excellence as a master certified executive coach. Allison walks Kavitha through the exciting developments at the forefront of coaching today, including expanded opportunities for group and team coaching, internal organizational transformation, and individual entrepreneurship. They also touch upon the democratization of coaching, how Allison incorporates her background in the visual arts into sessions, and why it is imperative for coaches to not feel invested in their clients' success. The key? Coaches and clients alike need to avoid "performing" so that they can disrupt traditional power dynamics, honor the client's agency, and approach the coaching relationship with trust and authenticity.   Transcript   S3Ep4—Allison Holzer Transcript     Links and Resources   Information on YGELP and Yale SOM Executive Education:   Yale SOM Executive Education Homepage   Certificate in Professional Coaching Program Homepage  Sign up for program updates    Resources and Individuals Mentioned in Today's Episode:   Aha2Impact Insights  Dare to Inspire: Sustain the Fire of Inspiration in Work and Life by Allison Holzer  The Gift and Power of Unstructured Time – Allison's TED Talk  Ideas to Impact Newsletter Signup  Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering by Malcolm Gladwell  AI for the Authentic Leader: How to Communicate More Effectively Without Losing Your Humanity by Allison Shapira     About Today's Guest  Allison Aboud Holzer is a Master Certified Executive Coach, leadership and innovation advisor, author, and keynote speaker who helps leaders rethink how they lead in moments that matter most. She is the Founder and CEO of Aha2Impact, a women-owned leadership consulting firm that partners with organizations to align leadership, strategy, and culture in ways that drive meaningful and measurable impact.  With more than 25 years of experience, Allison has coached and advised over a thousand global leaders - including CEOs, presidents, provosts, and senior healthcare leaders - through growth, transformation, and high-stakes decision-making. Her work spans Fortune 500 companies, leading healthcare systems, and top-tier academic institutions, with a focus on helping leaders newly expanded roles and business challenges with clarity and purpose.  For over 15 years, she has served as a guest lecturer, executive coach, and master facilitator for executive education programs at Yale School of Management, Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business and Vanderbilt Owen's School of Business. Allison is also the co-author of Dare to Inspire and a 2x TEDx speaker whose work explores topics like emotional agility, storytelling, and the power of unstructured time.  At the heart of her work is a simple idea: when leaders harness insight, emotion, and intention, they unlock the potential to create lasting, positive change. 

  This week, Kavitha is joined by Shawna Samuel, founder of the Mental Offload Coaching and Advisory Practice, to discuss coaching that is responsive to lived experience of women leaders in today's workplace. Shawna came to coaching after years as a marketing expert across Europe helped her realize that her greatest potential for leadership came in the form of mentoring others to success and achievement. She shares with Kavitha how feminist coaching breaks down traditional coach-client hierarchies, explains what it means to be a "productivity nerd," and discusses how leaders can overcome "Cinderella Syndrome" and work more effectively toward achieving their professional ambitions.    Transcript   Long Life Learning S3Ep3 Transcript – Shawna Samuel    Links and Resources   Information on YGELP and Yale SOM Executive Education:   Yale SOM Executive Education Homepage   Certificate in Professional Coaching Program Homepage  Sign up for program updates    Resources Mentioned in Today's Episode:   The Mental Offload and Shawna's accompanying podcast  Likeable Badass by Alison Fragale   Influence is Your Superpower: How to Get What You Want Without Compromising Who You Are by Zoe Chance  The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, by Tom Reiss      About Today's Guest   Shawna Samuel is an executive coach specializing in the needs of women balancing demanding leadership roles with busy family lives. She is the founder of a boutique coaching & advisory practice, The Mental Offload, and hosts The Mental Offload Podcast. She works with clients across sectors (corporate, academia, entrepreneurship) to help them achieve more in life and work, with less stress. She built her business to share the strategies she developed in her two decades of professional experience working across more than 20 global markets. In addition to her coaching work, she's also a passionate advocate and speaker on issues of women's leadership and gender equity in the workplace. Shawna holds an MBA from Yale School of Management in addition to several coaching certifications. She lives with her husband and 2 children in Paris. 

This week, Kavitha is joined by two guests at the forefront of development in coaching excellence who are fresh off of a whirlwind global tour to train new coaches: Cameron Smoak and Madjdy Kassem, the dynamic co-founders of Educe. Madjdy and Cameron share how their years at McKinsey & Co. led to a passion for professional coaching, and how their work today strives to foster deliberate and purposeful relationships in order to shape a new generation of coaches who represent global society as a whole.   Cameron and Madjdy share with Kavitha why they're excited to have a hand in shaping instruction for the Certificate in Professional Coaching Program in alignment with ICF standards, and their plans to seek MCC certification. Along the way, Kavitha finds out what Madjdy thinks about clients with AI chatbots for coaches, how Cameron approaches the coaching of coaches, and what American ski instructors can learn from best practices in professional coaching.   Transcript   LLL S3Ep2 Madjdy Kassem & Cameron Smoak Transcript   Links and Resources   Information on YGELP and Yale SOM Executive Education:   Yale SOM Executive Education Homepage   Certificate in Professional Coaching Program Homepage  Sign up for program updates    Resources and Individuals Mentioned in Today's Episode:   Educe homepage  International Coaching Federation (ICF) homepage  Champions of the Golden Valley, directed by Ben Sturgulewski  The Inner Game of Tennis, by W. Timothy Gallwey  Love Is My Savior: The Arabic Poems of Rumi, translated by Nesreen Akhtarkhavari and Anthony A. Lee   The Courage to Be Disliked, by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga      About Today's Guests  Cameron Smoak and Madjdy Kassem are co-founders of Educe. Both came to coaching as alumni of McKinsey & Company, and today are ICF Professional Certified Coaches with twenty years of combined experience. They are also sought-after program designers and leadership development facilitators serving clients around the world. In addition, both are multilingual, with Cameron speaking English and Italian, and Madjdy speaking Arabic, English, and French. Madjdy and Cameron are collaborative partners with Yale SOM Exec Ed in the design and execution of the forthcoming Certificate in Professional Coaching program. 

To kick off Season 3, Kavitha sits down with longtime Yale SOM Executive Education faculty instructor, fellow podcaster, and faculty director to the forthcoming Certificate in Professional Coaching Program, Dr. Heidi Brooks. Heidi explains why her approach to coaching is grounded in the centrality of relationships, citing a long list of beloved mentors who have shaped the trajectory of her research and work. Together, Heidi and Kavitha unpack the behaviors and habits of skillful coaches, highlighting the importance of reflection, writing, and responsive dialogue that reinforces client agency. In preparing for this first cohort of Exec Ed's debut coaching-centered program, Heidi makes the case for why in-person interactions continue to be critical to human relationships, and how coaching empowers clients to move forward with confidence and courage in embracing everyday leadership.  Links and Resources   Information on the Certificate in Professional Coaching Program and Yale SOM Executive Education:   Yale SOM Executive Education Homepage   Certificate in Professional Coaching Program Homepage  Sign up for program updates    Resources Mentioned in Today's Episode:   Learning Through Experience Podcast  The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World by Ron Heifetz, Marty Linsky, and Alexander Grashow  Forbes' list of recent articles by Heidi Brooks  South by Southwest conference homepage  You and We by Jim Farrell  Leadership and Self-Deception, by the Arbinger Institute  "Utopia" by Wisława Szymborska     About Today's Guest  Heidi Brooks is a Senior Lecturer in Organizational Behavior at the Yale School of Management, where she teaches and advises on the subject of everyday leadership—the micro-moments of impact that shape human experience. She is particularly passionate about creating more courageous communities, especially within organizations. Dr. Brooks specializes in leadership effectiveness, group dynamics, and learning through interpersonal experience.  At Yale SOM, Dr. Brooks has taught Interpersonal Dynamics—one of the school's most in-demand MBA electives—for over 20 years. She also directs the Program for the Practice of Everyday Leadership (PPEL, pronounced "people") and hosts the Yale SOM podcast Learning Through Experience.  Dr. Brooks earned her doctorate in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, and her bachelor's degree from Brown University. A lifelong experiential learner, she can often be found in classrooms ranging from improvisational theater to tennis to immersion language lessons.