Post by Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching

The best leadership conversations rarely start with leadership. They start with a question. Someone willing to admit they don’t have the answer. That was the thread running through last week’s Stakeholder Centered Coaching® workshop. We had coaches and leaders joining us from across the United States, Europe and from as far away as Taiwan. Different industries and different cultures. Yet they all arrived at the same realization. Leadership isn’t defined by what you intended. t’s defined by how other people experience you. That’s the uncomfortable part. Most leaders already know what they want to be known for. The harder question is whether the people around them would describe them the same way. That’s why Stakeholder Centered Coaching works. It shifts the conversation away from private reflection and toward observable behavior. Away from intentions and toward evidence. Away from self-assessment and toward stakeholder feedback. Because unseen change doesn’t count. Over the course of the workshop, I watched participants wrestle with that idea. They challenged assumptions. Tested new approaches. Learned from one another’s experiences. And gradually replaced certainty with curiosity. That’s where meaningful leadership development begins. Not when someone tells you what to improve. When you’re willing to ask the people who experience your leadership every day. To everyone who joined us, thank you! Your willingness to engage honestly, challenge your own thinking, and contribute generously made this cohort exceptional. If you want to learn how to help leaders create change that other people can actually see, we’d love to have you join us for the next Stakeholder Centered Coaching® certification workshop. Next workshop: August 17–20, 2026 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM Pacific Standard Time You can connect with Laura Garcia - Marshall Goldsmith Coaching to learn more and see whether the program is the right fit. Bonita Owens Cristina Mas Gordoa Charley Hu Gary Beall Kevin McGovern MAODL Jesse Ortiz Mike Barnett Tabatha Lawson, MBA Thom Mayer, MD