Discover how celebrating small wins can transform your mindset and leadership. Carey-Ann Oestreicher, MCC, shares insights on resilience and growth.

Have you ever felt like you are creating calm in the storm for others around you—while secretly feeling like you’re drowning inside? As leaders, we’re conditioned to be steady, composed, and always “on.” But the truth is, many of us carry the weight of impossible expectations, private doubts, and constant pressure.

As an Executive Coach, I want you to know leadership doesn’t just require us to create psychological safety for our teams—it requires us to create it within ourselves first.

My daughters and I recently volunteered as a Peer Mentor Family for Camp Kerry, a grief camp for young families who have experienced the loss of someone close in their immediate family, like we have with my daughter’s Dad and my Husband, Jeff. It was a weekend filled with raw emotion, courage, and connection.

At Camp Kerry, families are navigating tremendous pain—and yet what struck me most wasn’t the loss itself, but the space that was created for healing. A space where people felt safe to cry, to laugh, to share their stories without fear of judgment or shame.

It reminded me of something profound: whether in a grief camp, a family, or a corporate boardroom, psychological safety is what allows people to show up fully as themselves. It’s what allows healing to happen, innovation to spark, and trust to grow.

Sometimes, the most powerful leadership breakthroughs don’t happen in boardrooms or strategy sessions.
They happen in stillness.

On my recent family vacation in the Bahamas, I stumbled onto what I now call the “Reflection Ledge.”
It’s nothing more than a stretch of stone at the lip of an infinity pool, but something extraordinary kept happening there.

Last week, two icons from different worlds – professional wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan and heavy‑metal frontman Ozzy Osbourne – passed away. Both men lived hard and fast; their bodies took abuse, and each navigated controversy. Yet they became cultural touchstones because of who they became, not just what they did. Their stories contain powerful lessons for leaders about purpose, resilience, and reinvention.

Time is one of a leader’s most valuable and limited resources. Yet, in the midst of back-to-back meetings, shifting priorities, and the constant pull to “do more,” time can start to feel like something that happens to us, rather than something we lead through.

But what if we flipped the script? What if time became less about urgency and more about intention?

Effective leaders don’t just manage their schedules—they lead with time in mind. They align their minutes with their mission, their days with their values. When we use time purposefully, we unlock greater impact, clarity, and presence.

Have you ever felt like a fraud? Are you just waiting for someone to figure out that you're not as capable, smart, or worthy as others think you are? Or maybe you are saying one thing to your colleagues, clients or even your kids, but then you don’t always 'walk the talk' on it yourself?

That feeling has a name — Imposter Syndrome — and you're far from alone.

I received word from the International Coaches Federation (ICF) that I successfully passed all components of my Master Certified Coach (MCC) designation credentialing with a score of over 90 per cent.

I am honored to join the ranks of only the Top 3 percent of Executive Coaches globally who hold the highest level coaching designation. It was important to me that I pursue this educational path to be my very best and ensure that I can provide you and your organization's leaders with exceptional coaching to help them be their best!

When I Executive Coach a Leader, we need to define in the beginning exactly what they are trying to achieve. We need to be clear on our goals and make sure we are both moving in the same direction.

So, I would like to take a moment at the beginning of our journey together through this blog series to define what my blogs overarching theme of Leading and Living with Purpose really means.

What does it look like to lead and live with purpose?

To see a picture of my family on social media, we looked almost perfect. Two beautiful little girls, an athletic, handsome husband, the quintessential golden retriever puppy, and me. Social media is this century’s biggest PR machine. But social media often doesn’t tell the story behind the photo.

My family is amazing, but we have been broken time and time again.

Today is my birthday! I am now 49 years of age.  You will never hear me complain about turning another year older.  Each year is a gift.  My husband, Jeff, died of esophageal cancer at the age of 46. I have gotten the gift of three extra years (and counting!) more than Jeff did on this Earth.

15 years ago, I created my Executive Coaching firm, Potential Unlimited, upon the philosophy that we need to look at developing leaders in the same way that we would develop any sort of initiative within our business.

We need to lay out all the parts, see how they are working together, and then create a strategic plan with timelines to achieve the goal. This is exactly what I do in my Executive Coaching. If someone comes to me wanting to improve their Executive Presence, we don’t just dive right into some tips and tools around Executive Presence, and then they are good to go. For the good or bad, people are way more complicated than that!

I have never seen stress levels, and I will call them burnout levels as high as they are right now.

If you have been thinking about working with an Executive Coach to help you make a greater impact this year but still debating, let me tell you more about the process here to help you understand if it would be the right move for you now.

Growing up, most of us likely faced bullies on our school playgrounds. It is an awful feeling to be relentlessly teased or ridiculed by another person(s). It can erode our confidence, lead to a feeling of isolation, and reduce our performance.

When I was a child, I equated bullying to immaturity and expected that once I became an adult that this behaviour I witnessed happening around me would stop. But, the reality is that bullying still happens at workplaces. We may not see it from our leadership positions but don’t be too quick to dismiss that it isn’t happening at your organization.

So, how do we know if there is bullying in our organizations, and if so, how do we deal with bullies?