Coach Kym, a coach whose career has run through entertainment, sports and corporate communications, joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast to talk about going against the grain. She shares how she came to own the title of coach on her own terms, without a certification or anyone else's methodology. What emerged is a simple practice for leaders: walking away from the herd, choosing themselves first, and treating every result as either a win or a lesson.
Episode at a glance
- Guest: Coach Kym, Coach with roots in entertainment, sports and corporate communications
- Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
- Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released November 24, 2022
- Format: conversation, 40 minutes
- Topics: Owning the title of coach, Fulfillment through others' success, Going against the grain, Win or learn, Choosing herself first
What Coach brought to the conversation
Coach Kym has coached people throughout her career, from crews of dancers, music artists and performers in entertainment, to a sports label, to the corporate communications agency she ran, where the best part was nurturing her team. She began working wholly as a coach in 2018, and her corporate clients told her she was naturally motivational and nurturing and liked to find the strengths in people. Her work with clients comes from her own expertise and experience, and she says she does not stop until the people she works with are incredible. She is experimenting with new work about defying what the world says people should be, and her fire comes from watching other people fly.
What emerged
The central shift is from earning the title of coach to owning it. Coach Kym read the books and took the courses, found none of it felt like her, and chose to walk in a different direction. When someone who knew her from her entertainment years, and whom she hadn't seen in 15 years, told her she had always been the coach, everything fell into place, because it's who she is, not the methodology or the title. Niiamah Ashong heard in her story the path he calls owning your outlier and blazing your trail, and they landed on the same practice: choosing themselves again and again.
Questions this episode answers
Can you be a coach without a coaching certification?
Coach Kym is not certified by any coaching authority, and at first she thought that meant she couldn't call herself a coach. Everything she does with clients comes from her own expertise and experience, and when she signed her first high-level client and did it her way, without following anybody else's methodology, the client got incredible results, so she did it again and again.
Where does a coach's fulfillment come from?
Coach Kym had incredible success in her career, yet she didn't feel she had quite made it even when everyone around her said she had. She recently realized her fulfillment comes from the success of others, and seeing someone she works with say they did it fulfills her far beyond any stage she has performed on.
Why does going against the grain matter for leaders?
Coach Kym says finding one's alignment is terrifying because it likely means going against the majority and its top 10 tips for success. When she walked away from the herd and blazed her own trail, her work started to feel like joy, because she was curating the experience from her own learnings and data. She says someone who isn't aligned with what they do may be working hard, but isn't doing their best work.
Is choosing yourself first selfish?
Coach Kym says many people shy away from choosing themselves because it feels selfish, but it's the complete opposite: choosing oneself first puts a person in a position to be so much to so many people and serve on a much greater level. Niiamah Ashong describes the same practice in his own work as choosing himself over and over again.
How can a leader turn every result into a lesson?
Coach Kym says there's no way she can lose or fail, because either she wins or she learns, and she welcomed mistakes because each one got her closer to getting it right. Niiamah Ashong tells his team they need to go beyond being willing to fail to wanting to fail, because it's about living, experiencing, learning and choosing more of what works.
In their words
My fulfillment isn't my own success, it's the success of others, and that is why I'm a coach.
Coach Kym
There's no way I can lose, there's no way I can fail, because either we win or we learn.
Coach Kym
You have to choose you first before you can go out there and be the power that you need to be for others.
Coach Kym
Key moments
06:41 – Leaning into being a coach
07:45 – Fulfillment through others' success
13:28 – Coaching through every career
18:09 – Stepping fully into coaching
21:16 – Signing her first high-level client
22:47 – You've always been the coach
26:26 – Going against the grain
28:31 – Win or learn
34:54 – Choosing herself first
About Niiamah Ashong
Niiamah Ashong is a coach to outlier leaders, host of the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, and founder of the Trailblazer Collective. He coaches leaders who are creating something only they can make: a company, a body of work or a movement. Make a difference with your difference.
Work with Niiamah: 1:1 with Niiamah | World of Difference
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