Executive Coaching Case Study - Confidence

Building Confidence and Executive Presence

This executive coaching case study explores how coaching helped a senior leader develop the confidence to contribute beyond her functional expertise, strengthen her presence in global leadership forums, and position herself for broader enterprise leadership roles. Identifying details have been anonymised to respect confidentiality.

The client is referred to as “Rachel”.

Read more about confidence at senior level in technology leadership.

Background

When I first met Rachel in November 2025, she shared a concern with me around her participation in global leadership forums. Although she was well regarded within the organisation and strongly supported by her boss, she noticed her role in these meetings was confined to her subject matter expertise. She noticed others in her peer group contributed more readily on topics beyond their remit whereas she generally listened, even though she had an opinion and a clear perspective on what was being discussed.

She was frustrated because she wanted to broaden her remit and be considered for roles that required enterprise leadership. And yet, something was holding her back. What’s more, the leadership team's dynamics reinforced this position, so when issues outside her domain did come up, her boss naturally turned to others in the room. Nothing about this interaction was hostile or exclusionary; it was simply the pattern that had developed over time.

Coaching challenges

During coaching, it became clear the barrier wasn't a lack of insight or strategic awareness. The real constraint was more subtle. Rachel was sensitive to how her peers, especially her boss, might judge any contribution she might make that ventured outside her domain. Without even consciously realising it, she was waiting for implicit permission.

Thus, coaching challenge that followed was about a change in mindset. She recognised a strong need to be validated in the room, and this heavily influenced how confident she felt in herself and what she contributed in meetings.  

Building self-awareness and challenging limiting beliefs

When this insight surfaced, a new question emerged. Instead of asking herself what others expected of her, she began asking whether her experience and judgment were enough to participate in the conversation. The answer was an emphatic “yes”.

The way in which Rachel showed up in these high-stakes meetings did not change immediately; her discomfort speaking outside her traditional remit was tangible, but once we had loosened the limiting belief that was holding her back, she was able to break it down.

Developing confidence through practice

Rachel treated the next leadership forum as a chance to develop. Before the meeting, she reviewed the agenda and identified moments where she might share thoughts outside her remit. She reminded herself that the goal wasn't perfection, but practice. She set a goal of noticing what happened with curiosity, rather than, as she had been doing, with judgement.

She observed one peer was fairly dismissive of a one of her contributions. She told me, in the past, a remark like this might have triggered irritation or self-doubt, galvanising her instinct to retreat back into the safety zone of her functional territory. But this time her reaction was different. She noticed the comment, held it for a moment, then moved past it. She reasoned it said more about her colleague than herself, which helped her stay focused on what she wanted to contribute.

Letting go of over-preparation

Later, she reflected and concluded her contribution could have been delivered more smoothly, but as we talked it through in coaching, she recognised that other people’s contributions weren’t especially smooth either, and what she had been doing was holding herself to a standard that she later identified as neither necessary nor helpful. She, thus, started to loosen her hold on over-preparing and rehearsal and, in doing so, became more authentic and, perhaps ironically, more confident. The more important change, however, was that she began participating in the conversation as a peer rather than waiting for her boss or anyone else for that matter to invite her to contribute.

Executive coaching outcomes and results

Through the small development interventions Rachel identified through our coaching, she learned to trust that her opinion was as valid as anyone else’s. That there was a reason she had her place around the exec table. As soon as they let go of over-prepping, their natural personality shone through, fuelling a self-perpetual confidence.

Lasting change through executive coaching

Rachel’s experience illustrates how executive coaching can help senior leaders recognise and challenge the internal beliefs that limit their contribution, even when they have the experience, expertise and credibility to operate at a broader level.

By learning to trust her judgement, tolerate discomfort and participate without waiting for validation, Rachel began to take her place as an enterprise leader rather than limiting herself to her functional expertise.

If you're a senior leader looking to strengthen your executive presence, build confidence and broaden your leadership impact, executive coaching with Vicky Pike can help. Read more about executive coaching here.