Nine conversations. Nine extraordinary leaders.
One season grounded in courageous conversations, conscious leadership, and better business.

We’re just getting started.

Dear Carolyn,

When we launched Beyond Your Best back in May 2025, we had a vision: bring the kind of rich, honest conversations that happen in a coaching room to a wider audience — business owners, leaders, and teams navigating a world that keeps shifting beneath their feet. Looking back at Season 1, we're proud of what we built together.

Beyond Your Best is built on one belief: to do your best work, you have to be your best. Every episode this season explored a different facet of that — from mental fitness and team accountability to business exits, legacy, and self-belief.

Find further below a look at every conversation from Season 1 — spanning our four pillars of The Coach's Corner, Client Spotlight, Better Your Best, and Success Stories.

WHAT WE HEARD FROM YOU

Your response to Season 1 reminded us that you enjoy great chat and learning from others as much as we do. You showed up, listened, shared episodes with your teams, and took the assessments. The conversations didn't stop when the episode ended — they continued in boardrooms, one-on-ones, and coaching sessions.

A few themes surfaced and stuck:

• "What's important is getting it right, not being right." - Wayne Holm
• The leaders who thrive are the ones willing to have the conversation others avoid.
  Not louder. Not smarter. Just braver.
• Discipline shows up quietly.
  Not in big moments, but in daily choices no one sees.
• Culture is built in the in-between.
  In the small moments, in how we follow through on what we say we’ll do, in how we show up to team meetings, in what we choose to focus on, in what we tolerate, and in what we celebrate.
• The “messy middle” is where real leadership is forged.
  Not at the start. Not at the finish. In the uncertainty.

WHAT'S COMING IN SEASON 2

We're already deep in planning for Season 2, and the conversations lined up are going to push us all further. More courageous stories. More practical tools. More honest reflections on what great leadership looks like today.

If there's a topic, challenge, or guest you'd love to see featured, we want to hear from you. This podcast exists because of the community around it — your questions, your growth, and your willingness to go beyond your best.

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Full Episode List

SEASON 1 EPISODES

Episode 1 | The Coach's Corner | May 2025
Playing the Long Game Through Uncertainty with Molly Edge, Executive Coach

Adopting a learner's mindset, aligning values, and building leadership capacity for the long haul — the episode that kicked everything off. Molly and Carolyn explore the evolving landscape of leadership and what it means to stay human, curious, and intentional through uncertain times.

Episode 2 | Client Spotlight | June 2025
Leading Through the Messy Middle: Clarity, Coaching & Courage in Growth with Dorothy Bootle, VP of Operations, Oxygen8

What it takes to lead a fast-growing team when systems lag scaling. Dorothy shares how clarity, courageous conversations, and a culture of trust can turn growing pains into genuine opportunities.

Episode 3 | Better Your Best | July 2025
Humility in Action: Leading with Love, Learning & Legacy with Wayne & Erin Holm

A conversation about ongoing learning, high-performance leadership concepts, and what it means to lead a life of legacy. Wayne and Erin remind us that the most impactful leaders show up with quiet wisdom, curiosity, and deep humility — and that how we fuel ourselves matters too.

Episode 4 | The Coach's Corner | August 2025
Thriving in Uncertainty: The Power of Mental Fitness with Fyfe Barraclough, Executive Coach, Better Your Best

How mental fitness helps leaders stay clear-headed, make better decisions under pressure, and keep teams performing without constant firefighting. Fyfe shares vivid real-world stories — from near-burnout to a company van on fire — that show how mental fitness turns stress into opportunity.

Episode 5 | Success Stories | September 2025
Exit Ready Every Day: The Case for Starting Tomorrow with Mark Stephenson, Co-founder, Cube Business Media & Business Transitions Forum

Hard-won lessons on business transitions — why building a stronger business today is the best preparation for whatever comes next. Mark shares what he learned from selling a company and why the best time to start preparing is always right now.

Episode 6 | The Coach's Corner | October 2025
Time on the Ball: Building High-Performing Teams with Alison Caldwell Johnson, Better Your Best Associate

Three essential habits of high-performing teams: aligning on the real problem before jumping to solutions, balancing candor with celebration, and building a culture of accountability together — not doing it to people, but with them.

Episode 7 | Client Spotlight | November 2025
Process Over Podium with Ian Robertson, Wealth Manager, Oxford PhD & Masters Swimmer

How discipline, curiosity, and consistency — not titles or timing — shape a meaningful life and career. Ian's story is a powerful reminder that excellence isn't about the podium. It's about quietly, consistently doing the work.

Episode 8 | Better Your Best | January 2026
Proof You Belong: Building Belief Through Effort and Integrity with Trevor Stokes, Streetfront Alternative Program, Vancouver

How high expectations paired with deep support — and the courage to try when it would be easier not to — build lasting self-belief. Trevor's work with youth navigating poverty and instability is a masterclass in what it really means to raise the bar.

Episode 9 | The Coach's Corner | February 2026
Lead Out Loud: Why the Best Leaders Practice Two-Way Feedback with Candace Giesbrecht, HR Leader & Leadership Strategist

Leadership starts with self-awareness — understanding how you're wired and how you show up. Candace and Carolyn explore the power of asking "how am I doing, and what do you need from me?" and how that simple practice transforms trust and culture.

Better Your Best provides coaching, consulting, training, and speaking services to help you optimize the performance of your leadership, your teams, and your business.