August 15, 2025 • 21 mins
In this episode of Career Coaching Secrets, host Rexhen interviews Karen Liebenguth, a leadership coach and founder of Parseval. Karen began coaching after an unexpected corporate promotion, which led her to discover her passion for helping others.
Her coaching approach is unique, combining eco-psychology and mindfulness. She often conducts sessions while walking with clients in London's green spaces, a method that helps leaders feel grounded and gain new perspectives. Karen works with self-aware leaders and uses her articles on LinkedIn to attract clients.
Her main goal is to scale her ethics program by partnering with a larger organization, as she is more passionate about the coaching itself than the marketing. Her core advice to coaches is to be persistent, believe in their work, and speak their clients' language to build a successful practice.
Connect with Karen Liebenguth
- Website: https://parcival.co.uk/
- LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/karenliebenguth
You can also watch this podcast on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/@CareerCoachingSecrets
If you are a career coach looking to grow your business you can find out more about Purple Circle at http://joinpurplecircle.com
Get Exclusive Access to Our In-Depth Analysis of 71 Successful Career Coaches, Learn exactly what worked (and what didn't) in the career coaching industry in 2024: https://joinpurplecircle.com/white-paper-replay
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Karen Liebenguth (00:00):
Yeah, thank you.
I work with leaders, emergentleaders, aspiring leaders and
established leaders across allsectors, mainly so in the
corporate and public sectorindustries across all genders,
interestingly.
What they have in common is acertain level of awareness that
(00:22):
tells them that there's morethey can learn about themselves
and in how they relate to otherpeople and the condition.
Davis Nguyen (00:30):
Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets, the podcast
where we talk with successfulcareer coaches on how they built
their success and the hardlessons they learned along the
way.
My name is Davis Nguyen, andI'm the founder of Purple
Circle, where we help careercoaches scale their business to
$100,000 years, $100,000 months,and even $100,000 weeks.
Before Purple Circle, I'vegrown several seven and eight
figure career coaching businessmyself and have been a
(00:51):
consultant at two careercoaching businesses that are
doing over $100 million each.
Whether you're an establishedcoach or building your practice
for the first time, You'lldiscover the secrets to
elevating your coachingbusiness.
Rexhen Doda (01:02):
Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of
Career Coaching Secrets Podcast.
I'm your host, Rejan, andtoday's guest is Karen
Liebengut, a leadership coach,mindfulness trainer, and founder
of Parseval, a practicededicated to helping ethical
leaders grow through reflection,compassion, and deep connection
with nature.
Karen's distinctive approachblends transpersonal coaching,
(01:25):
eco-psychology, and restorativepractices, often walking side by
side with clients in greenspaces in London.
And it's a pleasure for me tohave her on the podcast today.
Welcome to the show, Karen.
Karen Liebenguth (01:38):
Thank you very much.
And thank you for theintroduction.
I'm happy to be here.
Rexhen Doda (01:42):
It's a pleasure for us to have you on.
And I wanted to learn moreabout your approach.
First of all, before we get tothe approach, I wanted to learn
what inspired you to become acoach and then start your own
coaching business.
Karen Liebenguth (01:55):
Yeah.
A great question.
So this goes back to when Ifirst came to London in 2001
from Hamburg in Germany.
I came for a one-year contractworking at a corporate company
in London and I was immediatelypromoted to head up a team,
which I didn't expect.
I was working in the filmindustry alone.
(02:17):
translation in the filmindustry, so translating films.
And I was made the team leader,head of department instantly.
And I was managing a team of10.
And I wasn't really preparedfor it and hadn't received, in a
way, the training for it.
if you like.
I was very interested in peopleat the time.
(02:39):
I was up for it, but didn'thave the skills.
So I decided to take up acoaching training course.
And that was the beginning ofmy coaching career.
Initially, I did it for myself,found it immensely helpful for
my own development, for managingmy own mental states, my
communication, my behavior, ifyou like, and managing other
(03:03):
people.
And That was the beginning ofmy coaching career, if you like.
Yes.
Rexhen Doda (03:08):
And so right now, when I think about your coaching
business, it's been about 18years, almost 19 years since you
started doing this.
Karen Liebenguth (03:18):
Yeah, it's for good.
I started fully in 2007 when Ihad finished my coaching
training.
So I started in 2002 or 2003, Ithink, when I did my initial
training training.
first training weekend incoaching before I decided to
take up the full training.
And then I was ready to see myfirst clients around 2007, 2008.
(03:44):
Interesting.
Rexhen Doda (03:45):
Throughout that experience, I really love the
approach of walking with yourclients around the park in
London.
What is it about When goingthrough the coaching journey
with your clients, what about itdo you find the most rewarding
since you started doing this?
Karen Liebenguth (04:01):
Yeah, so when I set myself up as a coach and
started seeing clients,initially I was seeing clients
indoors.
I had a consultation roomwithin a health center.
I was seeing clients And I feltinitially when I started seeing
clients that something wasmissing, but I didn't quite know
what it was.
And from a young age, I've hada deep connection to nature and
(04:25):
I spent a lot of time outdoors.
Thanks to my mother who had agreat love for nature and we
spent every weekend outdoors onfoot, on our bikes, looking at
trees and flowers.
So I've always had a deepconnection to nature.
And on a long walk at the timewhen I was starting as a coach,
I had the idea of seeing myclients while walking in natural
(04:48):
settings.
And I talked it through with myown coach at the time.
And she suggested that I woulddo four pilot coaching sessions
in nature with friends offriends in return for some
robust feedback.
And that's what I did.
I found four clients that Ididn't know who were willing to
take up a coaching session withme in a beautiful park near
(05:12):
where I live in London and tocome on a coaching session
outdoors while walking with mein return for feedback.
And all four people liked itvery much.
And from my own experience,it's in nature when I have my
best ideas, when I feel mostgrounded, when I can take a
different perspective on things,when I can reflect.
(05:34):
And that was very much thefeedback I received when I did
my first pilot sessions.
And the feedback was sopositive that it gave me
confidence to start seeingclients out In addition, I also
did some training ineco-psychology, which explores
our connection with nature.
And during that training, Ialso learned how to work with
(05:56):
people in natural settingsbecause there's a few things to
learn about that.
Rexhen Doda (06:04):
we'll dial into who your ideal client profile is.
So who do you work with?
How would you describe theideal client profile?
Would you say that they havesome commonalities, some common
themes in the goals that theyhave?
How would you describe it?
Karen Liebenguth (06:20):
Yeah, thank you.
I work with leaders, emergentleaders, aspiring leaders, and
established leaders across allsectors, mainly so in the
corporate and public sectorindustries across all genders,
interestingly.
What they have in common is acertain level of awareness that
(06:42):
tells them that there's morethey can learn about themselves
and in how they relate to otherpeople and the conditions they
can create as leaders for othersto unfurl, to flourish, to
thrive, to be well in theworkplace.
So that is what all leaders Iwork with have in common.
Already a certain level ofconsciousness that there's more
(07:06):
they can learn and there's moreFor development in themselves.
Rexhen Doda (07:12):
Interesting.
And so when it comes to themworking with you, how would you
describe the engagement?
Is there a certain program of acertain length that they work
with you typically?
How does that work?
Karen Liebenguth (07:23):
So initially, I always have an initial chat
with anyone who wants to workwith me.
And that can last up to anhour.
That's a thorough exploration,really.
It's quite informal.
It's for us to meet and to hearwhat a client wants to get out
of coaching and why they haveactually contacted me in the
first place.
What moved them to contact me?
(07:45):
That's very interesting to me.
I want to know that people havean idea why they want to invest
time, energy, money.
Often it's the organizationsthat pay, but they have to put
in the effort, the time andenergy and the willingness to
explore themselves and theirwork.
And it's also an opportunityfor me to say a little bit about
(08:09):
how I work.
And once we've done the initialchat, I request in a way that
people take up at least sixsessions with me.
And they can last up to 60minutes per session or 90
minutes.
Often, particularly people inmore senior leadership
positions, they want a 90-minutesession just because it allows
(08:31):
them to have more time and spaceto talk things through and to
explore some issues arising inone session.
And after that, often peoplecontinue and engage in the 12th.
month program with afortnightly session.
Some leaders take up half a dayor a whole day of coaching with
(08:52):
me because they like theintensity of having the luxury,
if you like, of half a day or aday with me.
Particularly leaders sufferfrom a lack of time and space.
That is also what's difficultfor them to start the coaching
process in the first place.
But once they've started, theybenefit enormously from the work
(09:13):
and then often they know whatit's like to have time and space
to talk things through.
They are more willing to investmore time because they have
experienced how beneficial it isfor them and for their work and
for their life overall so thereare different lengths of
program and then very briefly Ialso um I offer a six month or
(09:39):
six session program that cantake different formats for um
leaders who are particularlyinterested in exploring ethics
in leadership, what it means tolead ethically.
So that's a program that Ioffer in addition or alongside
my coaching programs.
Rexhen Doda (10:00):
Interesting.
Karen Liebenguth (10:00):
And that's a group program that's not
one-to-one, but that's usuallyit's a group of nine or ten
leaders.
Rexhen Doda (10:08):
And With the groups, does it all happen that
you also do the walks andretreats with the group?
Karen Liebenguth (10:14):
So, no.
The ethics and leadershipprogram is purely online.
I do sometimes do a coachingimmersion day with three to four
leaders.
That's a small enough group sothat every leader throughout the
day outdoors or to get someoneto one time with me while the
others spend time by themselvesreflecting.
(10:37):
So I do offer coaching, groupcoaching sessions outdoors, but
that would need to be over aday.
But the ethics and leadershipprogram is an online program.
Coaching and mindfulness andcompassion programs are often
also group programs for up to 10leaders.
And what leaders want Inparticular, I always discuss
(11:01):
with them beforehand.
And often when I work with ateam of leaders, it's a blend of
coaching and mindfulness andcompassion practices.
Often mindfulness andcompassion form the practical
application in a way orpractical tools that I offer to
leaders.
They can apply instantly intheir day-to-day work with other
(11:22):
people, with their teams, withtheir colleagues, with their
peers.
Interesting.
So I think now it's word ofmouth.
A big part of the leaders Iwork with come through word of
mouth because I've been doingwhat I'm doing for some years
now.
I'm active on LinkedIn.
I write regularly about my workon different platforms.
(11:46):
So some leaders find me throughmy articles on topics around
leadership.
Often it's actually HR peopleor learning and development
people.
who find me through my articlesand then want to talk with me
about the services I offer andbring me into their organization
as a result.
(12:07):
Interesting.
Rexhen Doda (12:08):
And so it's mostly word of mouth and LinkedIn.
And when looking into yourcoaching business, looking to
the future for the next, let'ssay, one to three years, do you
have any specific goals you'reworking towards?
Karen Liebenguth (12:21):
Yeah, so I want to work with more and more
leaders.
That's my aspiration.
And also I would like to find,this is really my focus for this
year, I would like to find apartner organization that offers
training programs for leadersto run my ethics and leadership
program with.
So that would be for me afantastic opportunity to scale
(12:45):
up my ethics and leadershipprogram.
Working in partnership with anexisting organization, just
because an organization has amuch broader reach than my own
business.
So that would be really a dreamfor me to partner with another
organization who's interested inthe work I do.
And I want to say what's uniqueabout my ethics and leadership
(13:08):
program is that it'sexperiential, not theory.
So there's many models ofleadership around, Often
leadership programs lackpractice, how to actually apply
different ways of leading in theworkplace.
So that's how my program is.
It's different and unique.
Rexhen Doda (13:30):
And throughout your experience throughout these
years, when it comes toinvestments, have there been any
investments that you feel likethey were very worth the money?
It could be investments inyourself, investments in the
business that you feel like yougot a good return from.
And are there also investmentsthat you feel like you probably
(13:51):
should have avoided, like not sogood investments?
Karen Liebenguth (13:54):
I'm not sure.
I'm generally on the cautiousside of investing.
But recently I've worked with avery, very good copywriter,
communicator who has helped mecreate what I find a very
beautiful brochure or pitchdocument explaining my ethics
and leadership program and whatI'm looking for in terms of
(14:18):
collaborating with a partnerorganization.
So I think that was a veryworthwhile investment in
producing something that isbeautiful to look at, that is
accessible to read, that gives agood idea of who I am, what I
offer, and what people get fromworking with me.
And also gives people a littlebit of my personal background,
(14:39):
which I think often people arevery interested in, probably
most interested in, in ourpersonal stories.
So I think she, this person,did a very, very good job
helping me put that together sothat others can get an idea of
what I have to offer and why Iwant to work with them.
Rexhen Doda (14:57):
Interesting.
Right now, so there hasn't beenany bad investments, you'd say?
Karen Liebenguth (15:02):
I can't really think of anything other than
maybe the coaching trainings orprofessional development
trainings I've taken up overtime.
There might have been somethingwhere I thought maybe I could
have done this rather than that.
But sometimes we sign up withsomething and we don't know
until we do it.
Rexhen Doda (15:22):
Absolutely.
Karen Liebenguth (15:23):
So I've certainly had trainings that I
attended and that I felt worked.
you know, fairly expensive orwhat fair investment.
I always felt that whatever Idid and invested in to develop
further in my work had the rightvalue.
But afterwards, there havecertainly been trainings where I
thought, oh, maybe that wasn'tquite the right time maybe for
(15:46):
me to do it.
Or maybe I didn't learn as muchas I thought I would learn.
But we just don't knowsometimes what we sign up for
from the description ofsomething.
Rexhen Doda (15:56):
Yeah, absolutely.
And it's so hard to understandwhen it comes especially to
trainings.
It has been a case that we'veseen that has not been a very
good investment, especially inthe podcast.
We've noticed this.
But last year on the researchlast year, one of the things
that turned out to be aninvestment that didn't have a
lot of return was on it wascertifications for coaches.
(16:19):
Those didn't have a lot ofreturn because a lot of the
clients, individual clients thatcoaches were working with
didn't really ask for them orwere not very familiar with the
certification at all.
it didn't actually turn out tobe a must-have.
Now, it's helpful for the coachthemselves, but in terms of
thinking of it as a marketing oras actually clients would care,
(16:41):
it has not been the case.
Only if the company asks for aspecific certification or
accreditation, then it would bethe case that that would be
useful.
But yeah, that is what we haveseen from the research last
year.
Karen Liebenguth (16:57):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, interesting.
Rexhen Doda (16:58):
So right now, what would you say when looking at
your coaching businessperspective, what is a challenge
that you're trying to solve fornext in your coaching business?
Where is the bottleneck rightnow?
Karen Liebenguth (17:09):
Yeah, I think it's really connected to what
I've just explained aroundwanting to make good connections
with a partner organization sothat I can scale my work.
But you know what I'm mostinterested in is not so much
becoming...
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
(17:36):
on my own in my business,although I'm an associate with
(18:01):
different organizations workingand delivering coaching sessions
for other organizations.
But what I want to do is more,I would like to work more in
collaboration with otherorganizations who have a broader
reach and through that i canreach more people because what
(18:22):
what i'm good is is the the workwith people i'm not so good at
marketing and recruiting andit's also not where my interest
lies
Rexhen Doda (18:31):
yeah yeah i totally understand that i totally
understand you want to growwithout having to have this big
team but it's basically youworking in the business so that
is very clear um and there'sCertain limitations when you
come to it, especially thinkingabout your time, is limited as
well.
That's where your program couldcome very handy in scaling.
(18:55):
So right now, and this would beuseful for the coaches who are
listening, what advice would yougive to other coaches who are
looking to scale their impact?
And you can think of this as anadvice you'd give to yourself
as well.
Karen Liebenguth (19:08):
Yeah, I really love that question.
I have been asked this questionover the years.
What I always say is that, andthis is my own practice and
continues to be my own practice,is believing in the work I do
and perseverance and beingreally clear about who and what
(19:30):
I want to serve.
So knowing our audience verywell and what their struggles
are and how we can help ascoaches.
So I think that it's verydifficult to really know what
our audience struggles with andwhat exactly they are looking
for, because often we think weknow it and we look at it from
our own perspective as coachesbecause we know what we can help
(19:52):
with.
But actually, to always comeand talk from the perspective of
our clients is probably thegreatest change.
And something I think we needto learn as coaches and any
practitioners in the helpingprofession, really knowing what
the pain points are, what peopleneed and speaking in that
(20:13):
language so that people go, ohyeah, oh yeah, that's me.
I want that.
I need that.
And I think the more we dothat, the more we can scale.
Speaking the language of theclient, belief in ourself.
Clarity about who and what wewant to serve and perseverance,
because as practitioners, we gothrough ups and downs and
(20:34):
knowing that after perhaps aperiod of less work coming in,
there will again be growth anddevelopment.
That's the natural cycle oflife.
Rexhen Doda (20:43):
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Karen.
Thank you for all that advice.
And thank you for coming to ourpodcast today.
It was a pleasure to have youon the show.
Is there any other way theycould connect with you?
Karen Liebenguth (20:53):
That really, I'm on LinkedIn and then there's
my website that you've justmentioned and people can, all my
details are on the website andalso they can direct message me
on LinkedIn.
Rexhen Doda (21:04):
Cool.
Thank you.
Thanks so much, Karen.
Thank you for coming to theshow.
Karen Liebenguth (21:07):
Yeah, thank you very much.
It's been a pleasure.
Davis Nguyen (21:10):
That's it for this episode of Career Coaching
Secrets.
If you enjoyed thisconversation, you can subscribe
on YouTube, Spotify, ApplePodcasts, or wherever you're
listening to this episode tocatch future episodes.
This podcast was brought to youby Purple Circle, where we help
career coaches scale theirbusiness to $100,000 years,
$100,000 months, or even$100,000 weeks, all without
burning out and making sure thatyou're making the impact and
(21:30):
having the life that you want.
To learn more about ourcommunity and how we can help
you, visit joinpurplecircle.com.
Yeah, thank you.
I work with leaders, emergentleaders, aspiring leaders and
established leaders across allsectors, mainly so in the
corporate and public sectorindustries across all genders,
interestingly.
What they have in common is acertain level of awareness that
(00:22):
tells them that there's morethey can learn about themselves
and in how they relate to otherpeople and the condition.
Davis Nguyen (00:30):
Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets, the podcast
where we talk with successfulcareer coaches on how they built
their success and the hardlessons they learned along the
way.
My name is Davis Nguyen, andI'm the founder of Purple
Circle, where we help careercoaches scale their business to
$100,000 years, $100,000 months,and even $100,000 weeks.
Before Purple Circle, I'vegrown several seven and eight
figure career coaching businessmyself and have been a
(00:51):
consultant at two careercoaching businesses that are
doing over $100 million each.
Whether you're an establishedcoach or building your practice
for the first time, You'lldiscover the secrets to
elevating your coachingbusiness.
Rexhen Doda (01:02):
Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of
Career Coaching Secrets Podcast.
I'm your host, Rejan, andtoday's guest is Karen
Liebengut, a leadership coach,mindfulness trainer, and founder
of Parseval, a practicededicated to helping ethical
leaders grow through reflection,compassion, and deep connection
with nature.
Karen's distinctive approachblends transpersonal coaching,
(01:25):
eco-psychology, and restorativepractices, often walking side by
side with clients in greenspaces in London.
And it's a pleasure for me tohave her on the podcast today.
Welcome to the show, Karen.
Karen Liebenguth (01:38):
Thank you very much.
And thank you for theintroduction.
I'm happy to be here.
Rexhen Doda (01:42):
It's a pleasure for us to have you on.
And I wanted to learn moreabout your approach.
First of all, before we get tothe approach, I wanted to learn
what inspired you to become acoach and then start your own
coaching business.
Karen Liebenguth (01:55):
Yeah.
A great question.
So this goes back to when Ifirst came to London in 2001
from Hamburg in Germany.
I came for a one-year contractworking at a corporate company
in London and I was immediatelypromoted to head up a team,
which I didn't expect.
I was working in the filmindustry alone.
(02:17):
translation in the filmindustry, so translating films.
And I was made the team leader,head of department instantly.
And I was managing a team of10.
And I wasn't really preparedfor it and hadn't received, in a
way, the training for it.
if you like.
I was very interested in peopleat the time.
(02:39):
I was up for it, but didn'thave the skills.
So I decided to take up acoaching training course.
And that was the beginning ofmy coaching career.
Initially, I did it for myself,found it immensely helpful for
my own development, for managingmy own mental states, my
communication, my behavior, ifyou like, and managing other
(03:03):
people.
And That was the beginning ofmy coaching career, if you like.
Yes.
Rexhen Doda (03:08):
And so right now, when I think about your coaching
business, it's been about 18years, almost 19 years since you
started doing this.
Karen Liebenguth (03:18):
Yeah, it's for good.
I started fully in 2007 when Ihad finished my coaching
training.
So I started in 2002 or 2003, Ithink, when I did my initial
training training.
first training weekend incoaching before I decided to
take up the full training.
And then I was ready to see myfirst clients around 2007, 2008.
(03:44):
Interesting.
Rexhen Doda (03:45):
Throughout that experience, I really love the
approach of walking with yourclients around the park in
London.
What is it about When goingthrough the coaching journey
with your clients, what about itdo you find the most rewarding
since you started doing this?
Karen Liebenguth (04:01):
Yeah, so when I set myself up as a coach and
started seeing clients,initially I was seeing clients
indoors.
I had a consultation roomwithin a health center.
I was seeing clients And I feltinitially when I started seeing
clients that something wasmissing, but I didn't quite know
what it was.
And from a young age, I've hada deep connection to nature and
(04:25):
I spent a lot of time outdoors.
Thanks to my mother who had agreat love for nature and we
spent every weekend outdoors onfoot, on our bikes, looking at
trees and flowers.
So I've always had a deepconnection to nature.
And on a long walk at the timewhen I was starting as a coach,
I had the idea of seeing myclients while walking in natural
(04:48):
settings.
And I talked it through with myown coach at the time.
And she suggested that I woulddo four pilot coaching sessions
in nature with friends offriends in return for some
robust feedback.
And that's what I did.
I found four clients that Ididn't know who were willing to
take up a coaching session withme in a beautiful park near
(05:12):
where I live in London and tocome on a coaching session
outdoors while walking with mein return for feedback.
And all four people liked itvery much.
And from my own experience,it's in nature when I have my
best ideas, when I feel mostgrounded, when I can take a
different perspective on things,when I can reflect.
(05:34):
And that was very much thefeedback I received when I did
my first pilot sessions.
And the feedback was sopositive that it gave me
confidence to start seeingclients out In addition, I also
did some training ineco-psychology, which explores
our connection with nature.
And during that training, Ialso learned how to work with
(05:56):
people in natural settingsbecause there's a few things to
learn about that.
Rexhen Doda (06:04):
we'll dial into who your ideal client profile is.
So who do you work with?
How would you describe theideal client profile?
Would you say that they havesome commonalities, some common
themes in the goals that theyhave?
How would you describe it?
Karen Liebenguth (06:20):
Yeah, thank you.
I work with leaders, emergentleaders, aspiring leaders, and
established leaders across allsectors, mainly so in the
corporate and public sectorindustries across all genders,
interestingly.
What they have in common is acertain level of awareness that
(06:42):
tells them that there's morethey can learn about themselves
and in how they relate to otherpeople and the conditions they
can create as leaders for othersto unfurl, to flourish, to
thrive, to be well in theworkplace.
So that is what all leaders Iwork with have in common.
Already a certain level ofconsciousness that there's more
(07:06):
they can learn and there's moreFor development in themselves.
Rexhen Doda (07:12):
Interesting.
And so when it comes to themworking with you, how would you
describe the engagement?
Is there a certain program of acertain length that they work
with you typically?
How does that work?
Karen Liebenguth (07:23):
So initially, I always have an initial chat
with anyone who wants to workwith me.
And that can last up to anhour.
That's a thorough exploration,really.
It's quite informal.
It's for us to meet and to hearwhat a client wants to get out
of coaching and why they haveactually contacted me in the
first place.
What moved them to contact me?
(07:45):
That's very interesting to me.
I want to know that people havean idea why they want to invest
time, energy, money.
Often it's the organizationsthat pay, but they have to put
in the effort, the time andenergy and the willingness to
explore themselves and theirwork.
And it's also an opportunityfor me to say a little bit about
(08:09):
how I work.
And once we've done the initialchat, I request in a way that
people take up at least sixsessions with me.
And they can last up to 60minutes per session or 90
minutes.
Often, particularly people inmore senior leadership
positions, they want a 90-minutesession just because it allows
(08:31):
them to have more time and spaceto talk things through and to
explore some issues arising inone session.
And after that, often peoplecontinue and engage in the 12th.
month program with afortnightly session.
Some leaders take up half a dayor a whole day of coaching with
(08:52):
me because they like theintensity of having the luxury,
if you like, of half a day or aday with me.
Particularly leaders sufferfrom a lack of time and space.
That is also what's difficultfor them to start the coaching
process in the first place.
But once they've started, theybenefit enormously from the work
(09:13):
and then often they know whatit's like to have time and space
to talk things through.
They are more willing to investmore time because they have
experienced how beneficial it isfor them and for their work and
for their life overall so thereare different lengths of
program and then very briefly Ialso um I offer a six month or
(09:39):
six session program that cantake different formats for um
leaders who are particularlyinterested in exploring ethics
in leadership, what it means tolead ethically.
So that's a program that Ioffer in addition or alongside
my coaching programs.
Rexhen Doda (10:00):
Interesting.
Karen Liebenguth (10:00):
And that's a group program that's not
one-to-one, but that's usuallyit's a group of nine or ten
leaders.
Rexhen Doda (10:08):
And With the groups, does it all happen that
you also do the walks andretreats with the group?
Karen Liebenguth (10:14):
So, no.
The ethics and leadershipprogram is purely online.
I do sometimes do a coachingimmersion day with three to four
leaders.
That's a small enough group sothat every leader throughout the
day outdoors or to get someoneto one time with me while the
others spend time by themselvesreflecting.
(10:37):
So I do offer coaching, groupcoaching sessions outdoors, but
that would need to be over aday.
But the ethics and leadershipprogram is an online program.
Coaching and mindfulness andcompassion programs are often
also group programs for up to 10leaders.
And what leaders want Inparticular, I always discuss
(11:01):
with them beforehand.
And often when I work with ateam of leaders, it's a blend of
coaching and mindfulness andcompassion practices.
Often mindfulness andcompassion form the practical
application in a way orpractical tools that I offer to
leaders.
They can apply instantly intheir day-to-day work with other
(11:22):
people, with their teams, withtheir colleagues, with their
peers.
Interesting.
So I think now it's word ofmouth.
A big part of the leaders Iwork with come through word of
mouth because I've been doingwhat I'm doing for some years
now.
I'm active on LinkedIn.
I write regularly about my workon different platforms.
(11:46):
So some leaders find me throughmy articles on topics around
leadership.
Often it's actually HR peopleor learning and development
people.
who find me through my articlesand then want to talk with me
about the services I offer andbring me into their organization
as a result.
(12:07):
Interesting.
Rexhen Doda (12:08):
And so it's mostly word of mouth and LinkedIn.
And when looking into yourcoaching business, looking to
the future for the next, let'ssay, one to three years, do you
have any specific goals you'reworking towards?
Karen Liebenguth (12:21):
Yeah, so I want to work with more and more
leaders.
That's my aspiration.
And also I would like to find,this is really my focus for this
year, I would like to find apartner organization that offers
training programs for leadersto run my ethics and leadership
program with.
So that would be for me afantastic opportunity to scale
(12:45):
up my ethics and leadershipprogram.
Working in partnership with anexisting organization, just
because an organization has amuch broader reach than my own
business.
So that would be really a dreamfor me to partner with another
organization who's interested inthe work I do.
And I want to say what's uniqueabout my ethics and leadership
(13:08):
program is that it'sexperiential, not theory.
So there's many models ofleadership around, Often
leadership programs lackpractice, how to actually apply
different ways of leading in theworkplace.
So that's how my program is.
It's different and unique.
Rexhen Doda (13:30):
And throughout your experience throughout these
years, when it comes toinvestments, have there been any
investments that you feel likethey were very worth the money?
It could be investments inyourself, investments in the
business that you feel like yougot a good return from.
And are there also investmentsthat you feel like you probably
(13:51):
should have avoided, like not sogood investments?
Karen Liebenguth (13:54):
I'm not sure.
I'm generally on the cautiousside of investing.
But recently I've worked with avery, very good copywriter,
communicator who has helped mecreate what I find a very
beautiful brochure or pitchdocument explaining my ethics
and leadership program and whatI'm looking for in terms of
(14:18):
collaborating with a partnerorganization.
So I think that was a veryworthwhile investment in
producing something that isbeautiful to look at, that is
accessible to read, that gives agood idea of who I am, what I
offer, and what people get fromworking with me.
And also gives people a littlebit of my personal background,
(14:39):
which I think often people arevery interested in, probably
most interested in, in ourpersonal stories.
So I think she, this person,did a very, very good job
helping me put that together sothat others can get an idea of
what I have to offer and why Iwant to work with them.
Rexhen Doda (14:57):
Interesting.
Right now, so there hasn't beenany bad investments, you'd say?
Karen Liebenguth (15:02):
I can't really think of anything other than
maybe the coaching trainings orprofessional development
trainings I've taken up overtime.
There might have been somethingwhere I thought maybe I could
have done this rather than that.
But sometimes we sign up withsomething and we don't know
until we do it.
Rexhen Doda (15:22):
Absolutely.
Karen Liebenguth (15:23):
So I've certainly had trainings that I
attended and that I felt worked.
you know, fairly expensive orwhat fair investment.
I always felt that whatever Idid and invested in to develop
further in my work had the rightvalue.
But afterwards, there havecertainly been trainings where I
thought, oh, maybe that wasn'tquite the right time maybe for
(15:46):
me to do it.
Or maybe I didn't learn as muchas I thought I would learn.
But we just don't knowsometimes what we sign up for
from the description ofsomething.
Rexhen Doda (15:56):
Yeah, absolutely.
And it's so hard to understandwhen it comes especially to
trainings.
It has been a case that we'veseen that has not been a very
good investment, especially inthe podcast.
We've noticed this.
But last year on the researchlast year, one of the things
that turned out to be aninvestment that didn't have a
lot of return was on it wascertifications for coaches.
(16:19):
Those didn't have a lot ofreturn because a lot of the
clients, individual clients thatcoaches were working with
didn't really ask for them orwere not very familiar with the
certification at all.
it didn't actually turn out tobe a must-have.
Now, it's helpful for the coachthemselves, but in terms of
thinking of it as a marketing oras actually clients would care,
(16:41):
it has not been the case.
Only if the company asks for aspecific certification or
accreditation, then it would bethe case that that would be
useful.
But yeah, that is what we haveseen from the research last
year.
Karen Liebenguth (16:57):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, interesting.
Rexhen Doda (16:58):
So right now, what would you say when looking at
your coaching businessperspective, what is a challenge
that you're trying to solve fornext in your coaching business?
Where is the bottleneck rightnow?
Karen Liebenguth (17:09):
Yeah, I think it's really connected to what
I've just explained aroundwanting to make good connections
with a partner organization sothat I can scale my work.
But you know what I'm mostinterested in is not so much
becoming...
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
(17:36):
on my own in my business,although I'm an associate with
(18:01):
different organizations workingand delivering coaching sessions
for other organizations.
But what I want to do is more,I would like to work more in
collaboration with otherorganizations who have a broader
reach and through that i canreach more people because what
(18:22):
what i'm good is is the the workwith people i'm not so good at
marketing and recruiting andit's also not where my interest
lies
Rexhen Doda (18:31):
yeah yeah i totally understand that i totally
understand you want to growwithout having to have this big
team but it's basically youworking in the business so that
is very clear um and there'sCertain limitations when you
come to it, especially thinkingabout your time, is limited as
well.
That's where your program couldcome very handy in scaling.
(18:55):
So right now, and this would beuseful for the coaches who are
listening, what advice would yougive to other coaches who are
looking to scale their impact?
And you can think of this as anadvice you'd give to yourself
as well.
Karen Liebenguth (19:08):
Yeah, I really love that question.
I have been asked this questionover the years.
What I always say is that, andthis is my own practice and
continues to be my own practice,is believing in the work I do
and perseverance and beingreally clear about who and what
(19:30):
I want to serve.
So knowing our audience verywell and what their struggles
are and how we can help ascoaches.
So I think that it's verydifficult to really know what
our audience struggles with andwhat exactly they are looking
for, because often we think weknow it and we look at it from
our own perspective as coachesbecause we know what we can help
(19:52):
with.
But actually, to always comeand talk from the perspective of
our clients is probably thegreatest change.
And something I think we needto learn as coaches and any
practitioners in the helpingprofession, really knowing what
the pain points are, what peopleneed and speaking in that
(20:13):
language so that people go, ohyeah, oh yeah, that's me.
I want that.
I need that.
And I think the more we dothat, the more we can scale.
Speaking the language of theclient, belief in ourself.
Clarity about who and what wewant to serve and perseverance,
because as practitioners, we gothrough ups and downs and
(20:34):
knowing that after perhaps aperiod of less work coming in,
there will again be growth anddevelopment.
That's the natural cycle oflife.
Rexhen Doda (20:43):
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Karen.
Thank you for all that advice.
And thank you for coming to ourpodcast today.
It was a pleasure to have youon the show.
Is there any other way theycould connect with you?
Karen Liebenguth (20:53):
That really, I'm on LinkedIn and then there's
my website that you've justmentioned and people can, all my
details are on the website andalso they can direct message me
on LinkedIn.
Rexhen Doda (21:04):
Cool.
Thank you.
Thanks so much, Karen.
Thank you for coming to theshow.
Karen Liebenguth (21:07):
Yeah, thank you very much.
It's been a pleasure.
Davis Nguyen (21:10):
That's it for this episode of Career Coaching
Secrets.
If you enjoyed thisconversation, you can subscribe
on YouTube, Spotify, ApplePodcasts, or wherever you're
listening to this episode tocatch future episodes.
This podcast was brought to youby Purple Circle, where we help
career coaches scale theirbusiness to $100,000 years,
$100,000 months, or even$100,000 weeks, all without
burning out and making sure thatyou're making the impact and
(21:30):
having the life that you want.
To learn more about ourcommunity and how we can help
you, visit joinpurplecircle.com.
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