Bold Journey: Meet Lisa Pachence

Article published by: https://boldjourney.com/meet-lisa-pachence/

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lisa Pachence a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lisa, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

My purpose didn’t come from a carefully crafted plan—it found me.

Earlier in my career, I was working as a recruiter at Northwestern Mutual and was eventually promoted to Recruitment Director in one of the Manhattan offices. It was my first leadership role, and I suddenly found myself managing a department made up largely of people who were twice my age. Up until that point, I had been a strong individual contributor. Leading a team, however, was an entirely different experience—and to be honest, I didn’t do a very good job at first.

So I hired a coach.

At the time, in 2011, coaching was still relatively under the radar. But within just a few sessions, those conversations changed my life. Coaching introduced me to a kind of dialogue I had never experienced before—one rooted in reflection, personal responsibility, and possibility. It offered something powerful: the radical responsibility to choose how I wanted my life and leadership to unfold.

What surprised me most was how quickly it worked. In many ways, those early coaching conversations accomplished what decades of therapy and education had not—they made things click.

I realized I had discovered work I couldn’t ignore.

So I enrolled in a professional coach training program and began studying the craft. During that time, something important became clear. For years, I thought my purpose was to work in the nonprofit world and make a difference in education. Coaching helped me see another path—one that felt even more aligned.

I realized my deepest fulfillment didn’t come from being on the front lines myself, but from supporting the leaders who are… through Rigor, Responsibility, Purpose, and Balance.

Today, as a Master Certified Coach and founder of LP Coaching, I work with visionary founders, CEOs, and leaders who are doing meaningful work in the world. I often describe my role as the woman behind the woman—the trusted partner behind the scenes who helps powerful leaders think clearly, lead authentically, and create impact that ripples far beyond any one conversation.

Because when leaders grow, the organizations, communities, and people they influence grow with them. And that’s where I believe the real difference is made.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’m an Executive and Life Coach, a Master Certified Coach (MCC) with the International Coaching Federation, and the founder of LP Coaching. My work is centered on supporting high-performing leaders—especially female founders, CEOs, and entrepreneurs who are incredibly capable, visionary, and successful… but often exhausted, under-fulfilled, or at a crossroads.

Many of the people I work with have achieved the success they set out to create. They’ve built companies, led teams, and made a real impact. But somewhere along the way, they’ve also fallen into the pattern that many high achievers know well: success through self-sacrifice. They’re over-functioning, carrying too much responsibility, and quietly wondering, Is this really how it’s supposed to feel?

What I love most about coaching is that it creates space for conversations that almost never happen anywhere else. Coaching is the ONLY co-creative profession out there, while everything else is hierarchical – consulting, mentoring, teaching, advising, even parenting. It’s a place where leaders can step back, slow down, and look honestly at the big picture of how they’re living and leading (something we are not reliable to do for ourselves as humans). Coaches ask the questions that their clients don’t have the answers to yet, or that are uncomfortable, or that offer a brand new way of thinking. We explore questions like: What are you assuming? What’s familiar about the patterns you’re stuck in? What part of you learned that you had to do it all alone? And what might become possible if you chose differently?

Everything I do is grounded in the belief that everything is possible—but often the life or leadership someone truly wants sits just outside their comfort zone, automatics, defaults, and the many small ways we set up our lives to reinforce those habits.

One of the most meaningful, sourcing parts of my work now is coaching, training, and supporting other coaches. I created IGNITE Mastery, a mentor coaching program for trained coaches who want to reach the highest level of excellence in the coaching profession. It’s designed for coaches pursuing the Master Certified Coach (MCC) credential or those who want to dramatically deepen their presence, discernment, depth, and impact in the coaching conversation.

The coaching industry has grown tremendously over the last decade, and with that growth comes a real opportunity—and responsibility—to elevate the quality and professionalism of coaching in the world. IGNITE Mastery focuses not just on skill, but on the deeper internal work that allows a coach to truly become the instrument of their coaching. For more information, visit this site: https://www.coachingwithlp.com/ignite.

Because ultimately, coaching isn’t about having the perfect question or technique. It’s about presence, connection, and the ability to see someone clearly—even when they can’t yet see themselves.

And when that happens, everything can change.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Looking back, three things made the biggest difference in my journey: a commitment to deep self-awareness, the courage to take responsibility for my growth, and the ability to be in the “hard” with myself (and my clients!).

1. Self-awareness

Coaching—and leadership more broadly—begins with self-awareness. It’s a key component that differentiates itself from other professions, because we cannot change what we’re not aware of. Early in my career, I had the same blind spots many high performers have. I was driven, capable, and results-oriented, but I wasn’t aware of how my patterns, fears, or internal narratives were shaping the way I showed up.

Developing self-awareness and new insights (shining lights on my blind spots) changed everything for me. It allowed me to differentiate between my Self—who I am at my best—and the survival mechanisms I had developed on the path of life that led me to success, even if they were limiting and exhausting.

My advice for anyone early in their journey is simple: invest in your inner work. Whether it’s coaching, therapy, supervision, or intentional reflection, the more you understand yourself, the more choice you have in how you lead your life.

2. Radical responsibility

One of the most transformative ideas I encountered early on was the concept of radical responsibility: the understanding that while we can’t control everything that happens to us, we are always responsible for how we respond.

That shift is incredibly empowering. It moves you out of blame, frustration, or helplessness and into agency. It’s a relief that no matter what happens to us and around us, we always have a choice in how we respond.

If someone is early in their journey, I’d encourage them to regularly ask themselves a powerful question: What part of this situation is actually mine to own? When you start there, everything becomes workable.

3. Nurture your stamina.

Our consumerist culture celebrates quick wins, overnight success stories, and viral moments. We romanticize ease, comfort, and convenience. But the truth is this: most meaningful growth, transformation, and mastery comes from staying engaged in the messy middle – the part where things feel too long, uncomfortable, slow, uncertain, or “not right”.

I firmly believe this – we choose our hard. Comfort is a myth. And often, we HAVE to experience pain, suffering, discomfort, inconvenience, etc before we’re able to reinvent our relationship to that commitment and choose something different (like ease, peace, surrender, joy, fun, experiment) in the face of the hard. We HAVE to get out on the field to practice imperfectly, do our wind sprints, and get bruised before we can Play Pro.

I’ve been running LP Coaching for 14 years now as an entrepreneur. That’s TWICE the amount of time I’ve spent in any other profession (I was in Recruiting and HR for 7 years before that). Given that 82% of trained coaches close their business permanently after two years, I’m asked this question often, “What’s your secret to growing and sustaining a successful business?”

Often, I’ll have a professional and poised response (more on that below). But sometimes, if I’m feeling sassy, I’ll say, “The REAL answer? It’s because I can do hard things longer than most people.”

One of the most important lessons I keep learning, personally and professionally, is that you cannot do this alone.

Whether it’s pursuing MCC, building a business, or evolving as a leader, stamina is strengthened in partnership with others.

My own “secret sauce” has always been this:

-A community of peers who keep me grounded and sane (“hands on shoulders”)

-A guide or mentor who is several steps ahead of me (a champion who stands for me)

-A willingness to stretch myself beyond what’s comfortable (a clear, inspiring commitment)

Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?

Without question, the person who has helped me the most is my own coach.

One thing that surprises people is how many coaches in the world don’t actually have a coach themselves. In my opinion, that’s a real missed opportunity. Coaching is powerful work, and if you’re going to hold space for other people’s growth, you have to be willing to do your own.

Over the years, my coach (and I’ve had 5-6 of them in the past 15 years) has been the person who helped me work through the deeper layers that shape how we show up in leadership and life—the underlying wounds, the inherited beliefs, the limiting stories, and the old habits that quietly drive our behavior. Without that space to unpack and examine those patterns, I don’t think I could sustainably do the work I do today.

Coaching gave me a place to pause, reflect, and grow in ways that are difficult (or even impossible) to do alone – because we don’t know what we don’t know until someone else shines a light on it. It helped me see what was familiar about the patterns I was repeating and gave me the courage to step outside of them. And that’s where real change happens.

I also believe it’s not enough for a coach to simply have a coach. The best coaches work with someone who is doing their own deep work as well—someone who is continuing to grow, question themselves, and evolve.

Growth doesn’t stop once you reach a certain level of success or experience. If anything, the responsibility to keep doing the work becomes even greater – the longer we’re in this work, the more our defaults will exist and strengthen, and the greater our need to interrupt them becomes. That’s something I take seriously in my own life and practice.

Because at the end of the day, the quality of the space a coach holds for others is always limited—or expanded—by the work they’re willing to do within themselves.

Contact Info:

Website: https://www.coachingwithlp.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachingwithlp/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CoachesCreatingCommunity/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisapachence/

Image Credits

Robyn Graham Photography