The Leadership Mirror

2. Make Space for Strategic Solitude 

One of the most overlooked benefits of executive coaching is the protected space it creates. CHROs’ calendars are often consumed by back-to-back meetings, urgent escalations, and emotional triage. It can be rare to find even a moment of uninterrupted thought. Coaching offers something increasingly scarce in senior leadership: deliberate solitude. 

This kind of solitude isn’t about disconnecting or escaping. It’s about creating space for higher-order thinking. Coaching gives CHROs the chance to step out of the swirl of day-to-day demands and step into a structured environment for reflection, pattern recognition, and long-range planning. It is a rare opportunity to slow down in order to speed up. 

Strategic solitude helps CHROs refine how they think, not just what they think about. That results in clearer decision-making, faster execution, and better alignment — outcomes rooted in structured reflection, not reactive effort. In a role where influence often matters more than authority, being able to process, prepare, and align behind the scenes becomes a leadership asset. Coaching can sharpen that muscle by offering a dedicated time and space to rehearse conversations, unpack decisions, and consider broader organizational implications. 

What could get in the way? Busyness. For many CHROs, carving out time for coaching can feel like a luxury or a lower priority. There is always one more meeting or one more crisis. The paradox is that without this space, CHROs are more likely to be reactive than strategic.  

When leaders regularly access structured solitude through coaching, they not only protect their time  — they elevate their thinking. The work becomes less about keeping pace and more about setting direction. 

3. Process the Emotional Labor of Leadership 

CHROs carry a unique emotional burden inside organizations. They are often the ones holding space for others, managing layoffs with dignity, and supporting executives in crisis. This work is meaningful, but it comes at a cost. 

Executive coaching can serve as a release valve for that pressure. It offers CHROs a confidential space to process the emotional complexity of their role without needing to perform, protect, or persuade. More than just venting, this kind of processing can sharpen self-awareness, support emotional regulation, and reduce the risk of burnout.   

In fact, a Deloitte survey found that a larger share of C-suite leaders report feeling overwhelmed, lonely, and depressed compared with the broader workforce. Coaching can be a buffer against that toll, offering a space to reset emotionally and return with resilience. It allows CHROs to surface what they may be suppressing, name what they are carrying, and return to their work with clearer perspective and steadier energy. 

What could get in the way? There is an unspoken belief that CHROs need to be the most composed person in the room. That belief can create a reluctance to admit stress, fatigue, or weariness, even in private settings. Some may worry that acknowledging the weight of the role is a sign of weakness or poor resilience. 

But emotional labor, when left unprocessed, compounds. It leaks into decision-making, communication, and presence. Coaching can help CHROs metabolize that load in a way that is both human and strategic. It is not about collapsing under pressure. It is about making sure the pressure doesn’t build unchecked. 

4. Be Coachable and Create Psychological Airspace  

At the executive level, skill is not usually the limiting factor. What separates those who grow from those who plateau is often coachability. This doesn’t mean compliance or politeness. It means a willingness to be challenged, a readiness to self-examine, and enough internal space to reflect without defensiveness.  

For CHROs, this can be especially tricky. They are often the coach in the room, the one guiding others through transformation. When the roles reverse, it can feel unfamiliar. Letting someone else lead the developmental conversation requires humility and openness that may not be exercised regularly in the role.  

Coaching works best when there is psychological airspace — room for curiosity, discomfort, and the unexpected. When CHROs approach coaching as a strategic container rather than a transactional session, they give themselves permission to be more than the expert. They become learners again, and that shift can reignite growth.  

What could get in the way? The higher up a leader goes, the fewer people are willing to give them honest feedback. Over time, this can create a false sense of clarity or confidence. The leader may unconsciously resist feedback that challenges their established narrative.  

Without psychological airspace, coaching becomes shallow. The work stays on the surface, and insights rarely translate into lasting change. But when CHROs show up with a posture of learning rather than proving, coaching can become one of the few places where they are seen, stretched, and strengthened.  

5. Find a Trusted Sounding Board  

Leadership at the CHRO level often comes with fewer safe places to talk candidly. Even with close peers or board members, there can be dynamics that make full transparency feel risky.  

A well-matched executive coach becomes a trusted sounding board, providing a space where CHROs can think out loud, test ideas, challenge assumptions, and say the things they cannot say anywhere else. This is not about emotional reassurance. It is about having a thought partner who is agenda-free, committed to your growth, and willing to meet you with both challenge and support. The quality of that dialogue depends on trust, and when it works, it creates a rare space for unfiltered reflection at the top.   

What could get in the way? Sometimes coaching feels performative. The CHRO is assigned a coach as part of a package, or the relationship never quite reaches a level of safety and challenge. In those cases, the sessions can become routine check-ins or extended status updates rather than meaningful developmental work.  

Trust takes time, and chemistry matters. A strong coach-coachee relationship is not just about credentials or frameworks. It is about whether the coach can hold space, ask hard questions, and understand the nuance of the role without needing to be the expert in it. When CHROs find that match, they often describe it as a rare and indispensable part of their leadership toolkit.  

6. Sustain Yourself for the Long Run 

Sustainability in leadership is not just about avoiding burnout. It is about cultivating practices that keep a leader connected to purpose, energized by the work, and resilient through cycles of change. Coaching helps CHROs pay attention to what drains them and what restores them. This is especially important in a role where the margin for emotional fatigue is thin. According to the Deloitte survey, 26% of executives report symptoms consistent with clinical depression, and almost 70% say they are seriously considering leaving their roles for well-being reasons.   

What could get in the way? For many CHROs, self-care can feel self-indulgent. Putting themselves on the agenda seems like a luxury they cannot justify. There is always another fire to put out and another leader to support. But when the leader burns out, everyone feels it. That’s why it’s important to not only embrace coaching yourself, but to share your own coaching journey to encourage other leaders to reap the benefits.  

For example, after Annette Wooters, the former CEO of the Far West Division of HealthTrust Supply Chain, found success with an executive coaching experience, she had the members of her executive team go through the same process.  

“They loved the coaching, and it helped that I was incredibly transparent with my team about my own coaching,” Wooters said. “I shared with them what my weaknesses are, what my growth areas are, and what I learned from my coach.” 

Coaching the Coach  

The CHRO role is one of the most complex in the C-suite. It requires business fluency, emotional acuity, strategic foresight, and an unwavering sense of steadiness in the face of organizational turbulence. And yet, the very leaders who build the systems to grow others often overlook their own developmental needs. 

Coaching is not a cure-all. It is not a signal of struggle or a sign that something is broken. It is a tool — a structured space to think, reflect, and evolve. When CHROs enter that space with clarity, vulnerability, and a strong coach relationship, they often find themselves better aligned, more energized, and more deeply rooted in their leadership.  

“Coaching has helped me tell better stories. It’s given me new language and frameworks that I now use to guide other leaders through tough decisions. Whether it’s from a coach or a mentor, that kind of perspective is gold,” said John Ferguson, SHRM-CP, former CHRO of NASCAR. 

The image of the barefoot CHRO may be familiar. Too often, people leaders walk forward without the same resources that they diligently provide to others. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Coaching is not about taking time away from the role. It is about investing in the clarity and capacity to do it well.  

Leadership is personal. Growth is optional. And leaders deserve to wear the shoes they’ve spent their careers fitting for others.  

Bob Goodwin is the president of Career Club, where he works with senior executives to elevate leadership performance and align business strategy with people outcomes.