Courage to Advance: The 90% Training Waste: Why Your Leadership Development Budget Is Failing Without Coaching with Rod Bacon

Welcome to Courage to Advance, hosted by Kim Bohr and brought to you by SparkEffect, in partnership with The Empathy Edge.

Tune in to our subseries every 3rd Thursday, right here on The Empathy Edge! Or check us out at www.CourageToAdvancePodcast.com.

After overwhelming listener response to our AI and coaching conversation, Kim Bohr and Rod Bacon reconvene to address burning questions about executive coaching misconceptions. This deep dive challenges the outdated view of coaching as "leadership rehab" and reveals its true power as a strategic growth amplifier.

Rod dismantles the "scarlet letter" stigma, sharing how vulnerability creates strength and why interview-based stakeholder feedback provides "X-ray vision" into leadership impact. The conversation explores why executive presence is an inside job, how the forgetting curve undermines training investments, and why coaching transforms information into embodied leadership behaviors.

Whether you're justifying development budgets or seeking authentic growth, discover why combining training with coaching multiplies ROI and how modeling vulnerability builds cultures of continuous learning.

To access the episode transcript, please scroll down below.

Key Takeaways:

• Executive coaching is a growth amplifier, not leadership rehab – top performers use it proactively
• Interview-based 360 feedback reveals not just what happened, but organizational ripple effects
• Executive presence isn't about gestures – it's about embodying confidence and claiming your seat
• Up to 90% of training content is forgotten within a week without coaching reinforcement
• Vulnerability-based leadership creates psychological safety and models continuous growth
• Training fills knowledge gaps; coaching ensures application and integration
• The most powerful transformations focus on one or two needle-moving changes

"We're going to see it as a growth amplifier… when people get coaching, they're able to look at their strengths, what's potentially getting in the way of accelerating those, and really grow." — Rod Bacon

About Rod Bacon: Rod Bacon serves as Chief Coaching Officer at SparkEffect, developing world-class executive coaches and working with C-suite leaders across healthcare, pharmaceutical, and technology industries. His philosophy that vulnerability enables true strength has guided transformative leadership development worldwide.

About SparkEffect: SparkEffect partners with organizations to unlock the full potential of their greatest asset: their people. Through tailored assessments and expert coaching, SparkEffect helps organizations manage change, sustain growth, and chart a path to a brighter future.

Go to sparkeffect.com/edge now and download your complimentary Professional and Organizational Alignment Review today.

Connect with Rod Bacon:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwbacon/

Website: sparkeffect.com/about/rod-bacon

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Courage to Advance recording and resources: sparkeffect.com/courage-to-advance-podcast

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/sparkeffect

LinkedIn for Kim Bohr: linkedin.com/in/kimbohr

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