Episode 279: Karen Davis, How to Get the Most Out of Coaching
Motivated to Lead Podcast - Mark Klingsheim
Release Date: 05/08/2025
Motivated to Lead Podcast - Mark Klingsheim
This week, we interviewed Ken Sher, who is an Executive Coach, Career Coach, Keynote Speaker, and, most recently, an author. Ken spent more than 25 years at Johnson & Johnson in leadership roles across Sales, Marketing, Recruiting, Training, and Leadership Development. Through his experience, Ken has seen that technical skills alone don’t make leaders successful. The best leaders are compassionate, authentic, and know how to build strong, trusting relationships that help teams thrive. He brings these lessons to life in his book, What’s TRUST Got to Do with It? Transforming Leadership,...
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This week, we interviewed Dr. Andrew C. Denton, President of Crown College. Andrew is the 17th president of Crown College. His vision, directed by the Lord, is for Crown to be the boldly Christian college of the Midwest. He provides a high level of vision, strategy, and execution to Crown while remaining deeply committed to leading Crown to be a boldly Christian, academically excellent college that fosters a lifelong, authentic community. Since beginning his presidency, Dr. Denton has led Crown through nearly $ 20 million in capital investments across campus, including the...
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This week, we interview Amir Abolfathi. Amir is an experienced innovator and medical device executive with a proven record of building and scaling successful enterprises. He was a founding team member of uLab Systems, Tusker Medical (acquired by Smith and Nephew), and Sonitus Medical. Amir also served for 6 years as an Officer and Vice President of R&D at Align Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN), the creator of a unique, invisible orthodontic product. Previously, Amir was the first member of the senior management team at Embolic Protection Inc. (acquired by Boston Scientific), where he...
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This week, we revisit our interview with Pam Fox Rollin. Pam coaches executives and top teams in Silicon Valley and globally. Pam also facilitates technology and healthcare organizations to succeed in strategic transformation, executive development, and culture change. Her bestselling books -- Growing Groups into Teams and 42 Rules for Your New Leadership Role -- are described as indispensable for leaders at all levels. Pam and her team at Altus Growth Partners work with highly capable people to take on their next round of leadership and strategic growth. Pam’s MBA is from Stanford...
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This week we revisit our interview Joe Mandato. Joe holds a Doctor of Business Administration degree from Case Western Reserve University, where his research focused on the evolving role of boards in ensuring effective corporate governance. He was a 2011-2012 Fellow of Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Initiative and served as Co-Chair of Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Coalition. He is a Managing Director at DeNovo Ventures, Senior Advisor at Apercen Partners, Advisor to Sonder Capital, and 15-year Lecturer at Stanford University. He has served on more than 20 public and...
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This week, we revisit our interview with Fouad Al Noor. Fouad is the Co-Founder and CEO of ThinkSono. Prior to ThinkSono, Fouad was an entrepreneur with Entrepreneur First, where they created a medical software startup. Fouad has also worked as a Research Assistant at Imperial College London, where they worked on the design of data logging and battery optimization circuit for a portable EEG sensor. This device is used to help with sleep monitoring using brain signals. Before that, Fouad worked as a Software Engineer at SAP, where they worked on front-end UI for a large...
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In this week’s episode, we revisit our interview with Shawn McCormick. Shawn has 30 years of financial expertise and operational experience in the medical device and life sciences industry. Most recently, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Aldevron, a private equity-backed CDMO. Shawn joined Aldevron in 2020 and remained until February 2022, following the sale of the company to Danaher, Inc. in 2021. He served as the Chief Financial Officer of Tornier N.V. and Tornier, Inc. from September 2012 until the completion of the merger with Wright Medical in October 2015. He also served as...
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This week, we revisit our conversation with Keith Grossman. Keith has been a leader in the medical technology industry for more than 35 years. He was the Chairman of the Board of Nevro Corporation (NVRO) until April 2025, having previously served as President and CEO from 2019 to April 2023. Prior to Nevro, he was named President and CEO of Thoratec Corp. (THOR) for the second time in 2014. He led the company’s return to growth, a 2.5x increase in company value, and its $3.4 billion acquisition by St. Jude Medical in 2015. He previously served as the CEO, President, and Director of...
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In this week’s episode, we revisit our interview with Karen Long, a Managing Director at KCK (Med Tech) Group. KCK focuses on capital investment in commercial and growth-stage medical device companies. Karen has been with KCK since January 2018, when she joined as Executive-in-Residence. Karen serves as Board Director in many KCK portfolio companies as well as Independently. Prior to KCK, Karen was President and CEO of Nuelle, a women’s consumer health company incubated at ExploraMed, a Silicon Valley medical device incubator. Nuelle was acquired in 2017. Karen has spent over 20 years in...
info_outlineMotivated to Lead Podcast - Mark Klingsheim
This week, we revisit our conversation with Todd Henry regarding his book, The Motivation Code: Discover the Hidden Forces That Drive Your Best Work. Todd Henry is an author, speaker, and consultant who equips leaders and teams to unleash creativity and perform at their best. He is the founder of Accidental Creative and host of the long-running Daily Creative Podcast, with millions of downloads worldwide. Todd has written seven acclaimed books, including The Accidental Creative, Die Empty, Herding Tigers, The Brave Habit, Daily Creative, Louder Than Words, and The Motivation Code....
info_outlineThis week, we interviewed Karen Davis. Karen is a seasoned executive coach, speaker, and author with over 25 years of leadership experience in the B2B tech sector. She brings nearly two decades of coaching mastery to high-performing executives, entrepreneurs, and fellow coaches.
Karen is the co-author of How to Get the Most Out of Coaching: A Client’s Guide for Optimizing the Coaching Experience, a go-to resource for making coaching more effective and transformational.
Known for her intuitive and heart-centered approach, Karen helps leaders uncover blind spots, reclaim clarity, and make bold, aligned decisions.
She lives and works near Boulder, Colorado, drawing inspiration from nature, travel, andher vibrant family—including her life partner, adult children, and her beloved dogs, Jax and Pepper.
Learn more at KarenDavisCoaching.com