From Performance to Authentic Leadership Presence - Cheryl Martin
What if the real breakthrough in leadership isn’t about learning new skills but unlearning old patterns of performance? In this conversation with host Meredith Bell, Cheryl Martin shares her journey from being a high-achieving consultant to guiding leaders into deeper alignment with their authentic selves. She opens up about the personal experiences that shaped her early leadership and how her own emotional growth sparked the creation of “Emergence,” a leadership program designed to help seasoned professionals reconnect with who they truly are. Together, we explore the difference between showing up as confident versus being confident and how that subtle shift transforms everything.
Through stories of her clients, as well as her own journey, Cheryl illustrates the power of identity work, embodiment, and reflection. She explains how vulnerability and curiosity can create trust and how leaders who feel stuck often need to look beyond strategy to what’s going on beneath the surface. Whether you’re leading a company or coaching others, you’ll be inspired by Cheryl’s honesty and clarity about what it takes to lead from a place of wholeness. This is a powerful reminder that real change starts from within.
About the Guest:
Cheryl Martin is a strategic change consultant, executive coach, and facilitator who helps leaders and organizations navigate transformation at every level, from enterprise shifts to personal leadership breakthroughs. Cheryl brings over 15 years of experience working at the intersection of business strategy and human development, supporting clients through change that is not only complex and systemic, but deeply human.
She’s worked with organizations of all sizes guiding leaders through executive transitions, cultural evolution, and leadership recalibration. Cheryl brings a rare blend of strategic intelligence, psychological depth, and lived experience to her work — guiding clients beyond external success toward the internal congruence they’ve quietly been craving. At the heart of Cheryl’s work is a belief that real leadership isn’t found in tools or titles, it’s found in presence, identity, and deep alignment. Her work is grounded in the belief that transformation isn’t about pushing change, but making space for what’s already present to surface.
Her present focus is working with leaders and her signature program, Emergence–Your Leading Edge, a group coaching experience that helps seasoned leaders reorient their leadership around who they’ve actually become, moving from performance-driven patterns to a more aligned, self-trusting presence. She will also offer the program in retreat form.
Why is the program and the outcomes important now? Leadership norms are shifting from command and control to connection and congruence. Leaders need more than tools, they need inner capacity and presence to meet complexity. Emergence helps leaders meet this moment for themselves and those they lead. It helps leaders come back to center after years of navigating pressure, expectations and pace. It’s a curated sequence of transformation where insight becomes integration.
Website: https://www.CherylJMartin.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylmartin10
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cheryl.martin.716970
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cheryljmartin009
About the Host:
Meredith is the Co-founder and President of Grow Strong Leaders. Her company...
The Ultimate Coach Podcast
Expand your state of Being to fall more deeply in love with life, with yourself, and with the possibility of an extraordinary life - a life of abundance, daily miracles, loving relationships, personal breakthroughs, powerful creations, and peace in the here and now.
Our mission is to provide you with experiences of Being through people coming together and conversing. However, please do not listen to this podcast about our guests. Please listen about you. Listen about Being. When you do, we promise, your experience will be remarkable.
Join us every other Thursday, as your hosts Meredith Bell and Ipek Williamson share inspired conversations with individuals whose lives have been impacted directly or indirectly by the book The Ultimate Coach written by Amy Hardison and Alan D. Thompson. When you hear something that you feel will help, heal, or add value to someone in your life, please share the episode and also leave a review.
Remember, this is a podcast about Being. This is a podcast about you.
Please do not listen to this podcast about our guests. Please listen about you. Listen about Being. When you do, we promise, your experience will be remarkable.
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- Latest episode: 2025-07-17
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