Debra Kasowski

EPISODE 554 – Walking the Leadership Ledge with Tess Fyalka

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In this podcast/video, Debra Kasowski speaks with Tess Fyalka to discuss the release of her new book, Walk the Leadership Ledge. This dynamic interview shines a light on the emerging leader – the growth, the mindset, and the drive required to succeed. Tess’s knowledge, experience, and expertise speaks volume about the influence and impact leaders can make. We all need to see ourselves as leaders. #leadership #tessfyalka #debrakasowski

The New Leader’s Reality Check – https://tess-anglecoaching.scoreapp.com

Tess Fyalka (Fee-al-kuh) is an award-winning author, leadership development coach, team coach, corporate trainer, and speaker. She brings more than 25 years’ experience in leadership, management, corporate training, and organizational development. She is the author of the recently released book Walking the Leadership Ledge; The “New” Leaders Guide to Building Resilience and Confidence at Every Step. (www.walkingtheleadershipledge.com). The book earned early recognition generating three first place fall 2025 BookFest Awards in the Business Leadership categories of Leadership & Management, Business Communication, and Women in Business. Tess is one of only 247 professional leadership coaches in the United States, and 1,100 worldwide, to have earned the International Coaching Federation’s Advanced Certification in Team Coaching (ACTC). She is a 2024 Illinois Women in Leadership Athena nominee, which recognizes 10 women for professional excellence, community service, and for actively assisting women in their attainment of professional excellence and leadership skills. Tess recently spent nearly 10 years as director of employee development and engagement for a mid-size commercial construction company where she built their leadership development, coaching, and corporate training infrastructure. She was instrumental in leading the organization to earn the Apex Training Top 100 recognition in 2022 and 2023, which is awarded to only 100 organizations worldwide. Prior to that she was an independent consultant and worked for 14 years with a management consulting firm, which specialized in helping small businesses develop their management systems. She has authored or ghost-written more than 2,000 articles, white papers, blogs, and chapters in books on topics related to management and leadership. She is the owner of Angle Coaching & Communication, LLC (www.anglecoaching.com), a private coaching and consulting practice specializing in leadership development and team effectiveness. Her passion is helping leaders at all levels develop the essential core competencies to lead successfully and equipping organizational teams with the tools they need to cut through challenging team dynamics and achieve their full potential.

Certifications

● Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (Co-Active Training Institute)

● Advanced Certification in Team Coaching (International Coaching Federation)

● Team Coaching Certified Practitioner (Global Team Coaching Institute)

● Professional Certified Coach (International Coaching Federation)

● Leadership Circle Certified Practitioner

● Organization Development Certified Professional

● Navigating Transitions Certified TQ Coach

● Leadership Strategies Trained Facilitator

● EQ-i-2.0 Certified Practitioner

● Conversational Intelligence Coach Practitioner

● Crucial Conversations & Crucial Accountability Certified Trainer

● Playing Big Trained Facilitator

● Positive Intelligence Coach ● BA, MA

Tess and her husband Eric are the parents of two adult children.

Websites:

● www.anglecoaching.com

● www.walkingtheleadershipledge.com

Social Media: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tess-fyalka-cpcc-pcc/

Debra Kasowski is the charismatic podcast host of The Millionaire Woman Show, 3X Best Selling Author, Speaker, and Certified Executive Coach. She interviews incredible speakers, authors, CEO, Business and Organizational Leaders, and drops solo episodes with tips, strategies, and techniques for your success.

GET YOUR GIFT Sign up for our Success Secrets Newsletter and download your FREE 10-page PDF of Reset Your Mindset at www.debrakasowski.com. Book your Complimentary Discovery Session with Debra today!

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EPISODE 553 – Building True Connections – From Networking to Community

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Networking doesn’t have to feel awkward, transactional, or forced.

In this episode of The Millionaire Woman Show, Debra Kasowski reframes networking as something far more powerful—building genuine connections within your community.

True connection isn’t about collecting business cards or pitching yourself. It’s about curiosity, presence, and caring about what matters to people. When we shift from asking “What can I get?” to “How can I support?”, we create relationships that lead to meaningful growth—in business, family, and life.

In this episode, Debra shares five practical strategies you can implement right away to:

  • Build authentic, trust-based relationships
  • Move from competition to collaboration
  • Create stronger, more connected communities
  • Support others while expanding your own opportunities

Because each of us has goals and dreams—and when we support one another, success becomes a shared experience.

Success isn’t built alone—it’s built together, one meaningful connection at a time.

www.debrakasowski.com

Doing Hard Things Even When Self-Doubt is Trying to Get Your Attention

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Does the thought of doing hard things scare you? Even a little bit… especially if the hard thing you want to do is meaningful and significant to you.

Do you know what I notice about choosing to do hard things?

Self-doubt shows up right on queue.

It doesn’t whisper; it is persistent.

It taps you on the shoulder, saying, “Are you sure?”

After being diagnosed in 2022 with a rare neurological eye condition called blepharospasm, a form of focal dystonia, I quietly told myself a story I never wanted to believe: that my triathlon days might be over.

Self-doubt showed up wearing a lab coat and a helmet.
It sounded logical. Responsible. Even protective.

I kept thinking… swim… bike… run.

When I thought about the bike, it got louder.

I knew that when I got going on my road bike, my eyes would spasm and close for 10-15 seconds, and I would veer to the right. Right toward the ditch!

When it first started, my eyes would close up to 40 seconds – there was no bike riding then.

I started longing for the road.

The skinny tires of my beautiful road bike.

The cadence.

The speed.

The wind.

Was it all over?

It wasn’t until I had a brief conversation with Canada’s First Olympic Gold Medalist in Cycling, Lori-Ann Muenzer, that my hope for participating in a triathlon was renewed. I had not competed in a triathlon for nearly 10 years, and here I was, eager to do it again. I shared my predicament with her. We talked about the power of the mind, visualization, and the world of possibility. These types of conversations excite me! Even though I coach my own clients on mindset, sometimes you are too close to the situation to see it for yourself. This conversation is where the shift began.

Workshop/Book Signing with Canada’s First Olympic Gold Medalist in Cycling, Lori-Ann Muenzer – October 2024.

She expanded my thinking.

Tandem Bike? Well, that has never been done before?

Exactly.

There is always an opportunity to be the first. It’s called trailblazing.

That is what happens when you do hard things – you start blazing a path not only for yourself, but for others to follow.

Self-doubt was jumping up and down, trying to get my attention. Over here!!! See me over here!

It asked, “What if you can’t control it?”
“What if you put yourself or someone else at risk?”
“What if this proves everyone else right?”

And then there was Yes You Can.

One of the most inclusive triathlons I have ever been part of.
Not just in words—but in spirit.

Their message was simple and radical:
Everyone is welcome. Any skill. Any ability. Period.

In that space, something shifted. I had reached out to Cheryl Schneider, Owner of No Excuses Fitness and Organizer of the Yes You Can Triathlon. I expressed my desire to participate and requested to have someone ride behind me in the triathlon to ensure I did not veer off course. She said, “Yes!” without hesitation. I had built up all this fear and was not going to ask for fear of rejection. How often are we our own “No”? Rejecting ourselves before even seeing what is possible.

Doing hard things takes courage. You are braver than you think.

The day of the triathlon came. (June 2025) It had been raining throughout the night and the morning.

The roads were slick.

The sky was cloudy.

What a metaphor for my health journey.

Self-doubt was still there.
It didn’t magically disappear.
But it stopped running the show.

Because this wasn’t about performance.
It wasn’t about pace or podiums.
It was about participation.
Choice.
And identity.

I wasn’t choosing certainty.
I was choosing possibility.

I wasn’t waiting to feel confident.
I was moving with self-doubt in the room.

That day reminded me of something I now teach and live by:

Courage isn’t the absence of self-doubt.
It’s deciding that self-doubt doesn’t get to make the final call.

And here’s the truth I want people to hear:

Self-doubt often shows up right when you’re doing something meaningful.
Something aligned.
Something that matters.

Not to stop you—
But to see if you’ll let it.

It is a test to see if you are ready to own your power!

Because you see, you have done hard things before.

The greater the challenge, the greater the reward.

The WIN of not letting self-doubt call the shots.

Knowing you can do hard things.

Understanding what is hard for one person may not be hard for others.

What is your hard, is your hard. No two hards are the same.

See it in your mind.

Feel it in your heart.

Believe in your soul – you are meant to do hard things.

Regardless of the hard, when you conquer it. You feel UNSTOPPABLE!

Debra Kasowski is a two-time TEDx speaker, executive coach, three-time bestselling author, and host of The Millionaire Woman Show podcast. With a background in healthcare leadership and a passion for personal mastery, she helps high-achieving professionals silence self-doubt, lead with confidence, and take bold, intentional action. Currently pursuing her Master’s in Organizational Leadership, Debra blends real-world experience with evidence-based strategies to empower others to live and lead with purpose. A triathlete and resilience advocate, she inspires others to push beyond perceived limits and embrace the power of choice. Learn more at www.debrakasowski.com.

Team Coaching- Strengthen the System, Not Only the Individuals

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In today’s complex and ever-changing environments, teams are no longer simply groups of talented individuals working side by side. They are living systems that are shaped by relationships, communication patterns, power dynamics, purpose, and the broader organizational context in which they operate.

At the same time, when teams struggle, have you noticed that the response is often tactical: more meetings, new processes, another reorganization, or individual leadership development alone?

Many of the challenges teams are facing are interconnected with other partners in the system. Teams are often working in silos, looking for solutions and wanting to bring a voice to the possibility of something better.

Team coaching offers a different approach. It is far more sustainable and a path forward in the right direction.

What is Team Coaching?

“Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” – Henry Ford

Team coaching is a structured, collaborative partnership that supports an entire team to work more effectively together while remaining aligned to their shared vision, mission, and collective purpose. Hilary Lines and John Leary-Joyce (2024) define Systemic Team Coaching as “a process of coaching the whole team, together and apart, over a designated period of time.”

Unlike individual coaching, which focuses on personal growth and performance, team coaching works with the team as a system. It explores how team members relate, communicate, make decisions, manage conflict, and respond to change—both internally and within the larger organization.

At its core, team coaching creates space for:

  • Shared understanding
  • Collective accountability
  • Psychological safety
  • Generative dialogue
  • Effective ecosystem partner engagement
  • Aligned action

It invites every voice into the room and not for the sake of consensus, but for clarity, cohesion, and collective ownership.

Why Team Coaching Matters Now More Than Ever

Organizations today are navigating unprecedented complexity:

  • Constant change and competing priorities
  • Hybrid and remote work dynamics
  • Burnout and disengagement
  • Increasing pressure for innovation and collaboration

In these conditions, teams do not need more directives. They need capacity.

Team coaching builds that capacity by helping teams:

  1. Slow down enough to see what is really happening
  2. Step back from day-to-day details to observe patterns and dynamics
  3. Engage in honest, respectful conversations that lead to better decisions
  4. Strengthen trust while navigating differences
  5. Move forward with intention rather than reaction

This is not about fixing people. It is about strengthening how the system functions.

The Role of the Leader in Team Coaching

One of the most powerful and often misunderstood aspects of team coaching is the role of the leader.

In effective team coaching engagements, the team leader is coached separately, in parallel, while also participating in the team process.

Why?

Leaders are not outside the system. They are part of it.

Separate leadership coaching provides a confidential reflective space to:

  • Reflect on leadership impact and presence
  • Explore assumptions, habits, and blind spots
  • Strengthen emotional intelligence and communication
  • Practice responding rather than reacting
  • Learn how to reinforce healthy team dynamics over time

This dual approach ensures that what is learned in the team setting is supported, modeled, and sustained by leadership.

Getting Started With Team Coaching

Introducing team coaching does not require a crisis. In fact, the most successful engagements often begin with curiosity rather than urgency. Team coaching is more than facilitating meetings and conducting assessments. It can be about surfacing some of the tensions between team members and gaining an understanding that the tensions “are often a function of the tensions in the system the team serves (Lines & Leary-Joyce, 2024).

A thoughtful starting point includes:

  • Clarifying the team’s shared vision and mission
  • Identifying current challenges and desired outcomes
  • Acknowledging what is working well—and what is getting in the way
  • Committing to the process, not just quick fixes

Team coaching works best when organizations view it as a developmental investment, not an intervention.

It is a commitment to learning together.

A Systems Lens: Seeing the Whole, Not Just the Parts

One of the defining features of systemic team coaching is the ability to see beyond individual behaviors and into the patterns and structures shaping those behaviors.

“Today I would first ask the team: ‘Who is the team in service of?’; ‘What do your stakeholders currently value receiving from you and what will the stakeholders need different from you in the future?’ In reviewing the coaching so far accomplished, I will then ask: ‘If your stakeholders had been sitting in on our work together, what would they value about the work we have done and what would their challenge be to us?” ― Peter Hawkins, Leadership Team Coaching: Developing Collective Transformational Leadership

This includes:

  • How information flows
  • How decisions are made
  • Where authority and accountability sit
  • How conflict is handled—or avoided
  • How the team interacts with the broader organization

By stepping back to observe the system, teams gain insight into what truly needs to shift—not just what feels urgent in the moment.

When systems are supported through change, rather than pushed through it, transformation becomes sustainable.

From Coaching to Capability

The ultimate goal of team coaching is not dependence on a coach.

It is capability.

Over time, teams learn how to:

  • Have more courageous conversations
  • Navigate tension productively
  • Self-correct when patterns resurface
  • Stay anchored to purpose during change

The coach gradually becomes less central as the leader and team build the confidence and skills to support themselves.

That is when real transformation takes hold.

Why Organizations, Associations, and Businesses Should Consider Team Coaching

Team coaching is not limited to corporate settings. It is equally powerful for:

  • Leadership teams
  • Cross-functional groups
  • Boards and associations
  • Healthcare, education, and non-profit teams
  • Growing businesses navigating scale and complexity

Wherever people are working together toward something that matters, team coaching can help them do it with greater alignment, clarity, and impact.

Looking Ahead

As we move into 2026, organizations that thrive will be those that invest not only in strategy, but in how people work together to bring that strategy to life.

Team coaching offers a way to:

  • Strengthen cohesion
  • Unlock collective intelligence
  • Foster collaboration
  • Align action with vision
  • Create lasting systems change

When teams learn together, grow together, and lead together, the results go far beyond performance. Why not work toward a vivid vision that reflects ecosystem needs, wants, and desires for not only the here and now but also the future.

They shape cultures where people, purpose, and possibility are truly aligned.

  1. Leary-Joyce, J., & Lines, H. (2024). Systemic team coaching (2nd ed.). Academy of Executive Coaching Press.
  2. Hawkins, P. (2021). Leadership team coaching: Developing collective transformational leadership. Kogan Page.

Debra Kasowski is a two-time TEDx speaker, executive coach, three-time bestselling author, and host of The Millionaire Woman Show podcast. With a background in healthcare leadership and a passion for personal mastery, she helps high-achieving professionals silence self-doubt, lead with confidence, and take bold, intentional action. Currently pursuing her Master’s in Organizational Leadership, Debra blends real-world experience with evidence-based strategies to empower others to live and lead with purpose. A triathlete and resilience advocate, she inspires others to push beyond perceived limits and embrace the power of choice. Learn more at www.debrakasowski.com.

Embracing the Late Adopters: Why True Leadership Means Uniting Every Team Member

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Every season, whether it’s the Toronto Blue Jays chasing the World Series or the Edmonton Oilers aiming for the Stanley Cup, a familiar dynamic appears.

Fans joke about the bandwagoners, “those who suddenly show up in team jerseys, cheering loudly despite not knowing every player’s name or the stats behind the season”. Some long-time fans roll their eyes, thinking, Where were you all season?

Yet, when those “bandwagoners” join, the energy and excitement multiply. Suddenly, there’s a collective belief—an entire city, sometimes a nation, uniting with one heartbeat.

This dynamic offers a powerful lesson for leaders about how to build true buy-in for change.

In every organization or movement, there are early adopters, the ones who see the vision instantly. They do not need convincing. They are all in, sleeves rolled up, ready to make it happen. These are your champions — the people who set the tone and build the momentum.

Then there are the late adopters — those who hesitate, observe, or even resist. The skeptics. Not because they do not care, but because they need to see it work and feel the value and results before they commit.

In leadership, it can be easy to get frustrated with the late adopters. To think, “Why can’t they see it? Why don’t they believe yet?” But here’s the truth: when the early adopters are thriving, celebrating small wins and creating positive ripple effects, that energy becomes magnetic.

Just as late-season fans do not want to miss out on playoff buzz, your late adopters are drawn in by what they see others experiencing.

That is not a weakness — it’s human nature.

Leaders succeed not by shaming or dismissing others, but by embracing them when they are ready to join. Meeting people where they are and welcoming newcomers with the same enthusiasm as early supporters builds unity. When everyone cheers together and belief spreads, real momentum is created.

So the next time you’re leading change, ask yourself:

  • What can I do to keep my early adopters inspired and visible?
  • What story, success, or experience might spark curiosity for the late adopters?
  • How can I make joining the “team” feel inviting rather than intimidating?

Whether it’s in the boardroom or the ballpark, the goal is to build a culture where everyone feels invested in achieving success.

And when that happens? You do not just have a few believers—you build a movement everyone wants to join.

Debra Kasowski is a two-time TEDx speaker, executive coach, three-time bestselling author, and host of The Millionaire Woman Show podcast. With a background in healthcare leadership and a passion for personal mastery, she helps high-achieving professionals silence self-doubt, lead with confidence, and take bold, intentional action. Currently pursuing her Master’s in Organizational Leadership, Debra blends real-world experience with evidence-based strategies to empower others to live and lead with purpose. A triathlete and resilience advocate, she inspires others to push beyond perceived limits and embrace the power of choice. Learn more at www.debrakasowski.com.