When Human Wisdom Meets Artificial Intelligence: My Journey to the NYU Coaching & Technology Summit Attending the Coaching & Technology Summit at New York University in June 2026 was one of those experiences that stretches you professionally, challenges your thinking and leaves you returning home with far more questions than answers—in the best possible way. It was my first visit to New York, and simply walking into NYU’s Kimmel Center felt significant. There I was, a South African coach, facilitator, mBIT Coach and Trainer, and founder of CoachGuide™, surrounded by leading academics, researchers, technologists and coaching professionals from across the world. Wow! I felt incredibly honoured to be there, listening to brilliant minds exploring the future of coaching and the rapidly evolving role of technology. At the same time, I would not be completely honest if I did not admit that I experienced a little imposter syndrome.  While listening to conversations about artificial intelligence, coaching research and technological innovation, a quiet voice inside me occasionally whispered, “Yolandi, are you sure you belong in this room?” Thankfully, that voice did not have the final word. From the moment I arrived, every person I met made me feel completely at home. I

The Mirror Before the Measure: Reflection in Ethical Evaluation Evaluation is one of the highest expressions of professional stewardship within COMENSA. Evaluators are entrusted with more than assessing competence; they are entrusted with protecting the dignity of every practitioner, upholding the credibility of the designation process, and preserving the integrity of the coaching profession. Such responsibility calls for more than technical expertise. It requires wisdom, humility, ethical discernment, and the courage to continually reflect on ourselves before evaluating others. Before we evaluate another practitioner, there is a quieter question we seldom ask: Who is the person making the judgement? This question lies at the heart of ethical evaluation. It invites evaluators to pause before assessing another practitioner and to examine the assumptions, values, experiences, biases, and perspectives they themselves bring into the process. Before we reach for the measure, we must first look into the mirror. Reflective practice is often viewed as a professional requirement, evidence of continuing development. Yet I have come to believe it is far more than that. It is an ethical discipline that shapes our awareness, our discernment, and ultimately the quality of our professional judgement, safeguarding fairness, objectivity, consistency, and accountability, so that every evaluation

What the Free State Taught Me About Transformation The Night Everything Collapsed In 2014, a decade-long business partnership that I had poured everything into fractured. My income disappeared. My identity collapsed. My sense of security, everything I had built my life on, fell away at once. What followed was years of waiting. Waiting for the phone to ring. Waiting for the right door to open. Waiting for restoration. I stood in my drought and looked at the sky. And the sky remained empty. But here is what I did not understand then: the drought was not my enemy. It was my teacher.   What the Free State Taught Me I have lived in the Free State for over twenty years. And this landscape, more than any textbook or training programme, taught me everything I know about transformation. In the Free State, when drought comes, farmers do not curse the sky. The wise ones stop looking up and start looking down. They drill boreholes. Because they know something most of us forget in our seasons of depletion: the water was never in the sky. It was always beneath their feet. And when the veld fires sweep across the plains, scorching everything

Are We Coaching the Future Leaders? “Talent is like a flower; you have to fully tend to it if you want something beautiful.” – Marinela Reka We live in a time of unprecedented uncertainty and change. The pace of technological, social and economic disruption means that the past is no longer a reliable guide for the future. As the old Star Trek phrase reminds us, we are heading “where no one has gone before.” And into this unknown future steps a generation of young people who will soon become our organisational, community and societal leaders. The question for us as coaches is simple, yet profound: Are we actively coaching the future leaders – or leaving them to figure it out alone? A generation under pressure Today’s young professionals are entering the workplace with record levels of anxiety and emotional fragility. Jonathan Haidt’s work The Anxious Generation highlights the impact of overprotection, reduced real-world risk-taking, and a childhood shaped by screens rather than stretch experiences. Many young people have been buffered from failure, disappointment and discomfort, precisely the experiences that build resilience, adaptability and confidence. The result is not weakness of character, but underdeveloped emotional muscles. And yet, this is also

Creating Your Compass: Coaching Leaders for Sustainable Engagement Under Pressure By: Gizelle McIntyre, Strengths‑Based Leadership Coach Leadership disengagement. It’s the quiet crisis many of us coach into every day. Gallup’s latest research shows that close to eighty percent of employees in Sub‑Saharan Africa are disengaged at work. But here’s the real insight: the greatest predictor of a team’s engagement is the engagement level of its leader. A disengaged leader doesn’t just underperform personally (which is bad enough for the organisation), they unintentionally create a ripple that drains energy, morale and productivity across their team. When we coach leaders, we’re not only coaching individuals; we’re coaching entire engagement ecosystems. So, the question is: Are we coaching leaders for lasting engagement, or are we only creating insight that disappears under pressure? Why Strengths‑Based Coaching Matters In over twenty‑five years of working with leaders, I’ve seen one truth hold steady: when leaders understand and intentionally use their authentic strengths  (the things that energise and drive them), they perform better and stay more engaged. When engaged, they experience vigour, a sense of energy that fuels effort; dedication, a feeling of meaning and purpose; and absorption, being fully present and immersed in what they’re doing. However, there’s a recurring challenge;

Change Your Lens When I was younger, I loved capturing moments through my camera — people, nature, animals, or anything that caught my eye. Photography was my way of seeing the world differently, of pausing to notice the beauty in everyday life. Over time, life became busier, and that passion quietly faded into the background. Yet, the lessons I learned through the lens have stayed with me — and recently, one of them resurfaced with new meaning. As human beings, we all need to develop the ability to change our lens — to shift perspectives and see life from angles beyond our own. A fixed lens, like a fixed mindset, limits what we can perceive. When we choose not to adjust our focus, we risk missing the bigger picture — the heart of what’s really happening around and within us. Lately, I’ve noticed how easy it is to see only the “ear” and miss the “elephant.” We focus on fragments — someone’s flaws, their missteps, or the parts of a story that fit our preferred narrative. We zoom in so tightly on what we believe to be true that we lose sight of the person’s full essence — their complexity,