For the whole of my work as a coach, I have cared deeply about my clients.

Maybe too deeply. I would carry their goals, feel their setbacks, and quietly hope they’d make the choices I knew would help them succeed. And when they didn’t? I felt it.

That’s when I learned one of the most important lessons in coaching: You can care deeply… without carrying it personally.

Great coaching lives in that tension—detached, but deeply caring.

In Certified Flourishing Coaching, we teach that this isn’t cold or distant. It’s actually what creates the safest, most empowering space for growth. When a coach becomes too attached to outcomes, agendas start to form. Subtle pressure enters the conversation. And the client can feel it.

But when you’re grounded and non-attached:

• You listen more fully
• You ask cleaner, more powerful questions
• You trust the client’s capacity instead of overriding it

This is deeply aligned with ICF core competencies—especially maintaining presence and trusting the client as resourceful and whole.

Detachment doesn’t mean you don’t care. It means your care is strong enough to give people space to think, wrestle, and choose for themselves.

And that’s where real transformation happens.

At its best, coaching isn’t about directing someone’s life—it’s about creating the conditions where they can lead their own.

If you’d like to grow in this kind of coaching presence and build your skills through an ICF-accredited pathway, check this out: https://discover.certifiedflourishingcoach.com/icf

From the Tla’amin Nation on the Sunshine Coast in B.C., to the Mi’kmaq peoples of Atlantic Canada, to James Smith Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, to the O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation in Northern Manitoba, to the Samson Cree Nation and Sucker Creek First Nation, and over thirty others, Abe Brown has been fortunate to work with First Nations communities from coast to coast to coast. Abe Brown, MBA, CMCT, CPHSA is the Coach’s Coach and is an Entrepreneur, Professional Speaker, International Best-Selling Author, and High-Performance Leadership Coach. He is the founder of Certified Flourishing Coaching™ and the Flourishing Coaching Program™, and the CEO of Wellness Innovate Corporation. Abe is also the author of the Certified Flourishing Coaching™ Programs, which is an accredited ICF Coach Training Provider. Abe is known as the Coach’s Coach and is people-first. He is passionate about supporting people, entrepreneurs, businesses, and non-profits to thrive. Flourishing people produce flourishing relationships, businesses, and workplaces, along with high performance and profound positive impact. Abe is also passionate about workplace mental health and changing the world by changing the workplace. Along with the team at Wellness Innovate, Abe is the creator of Flourishing Workplace™. Abe has started or led several businesses and non-profits into the tens of millions of dollars and has worked in the entrepreneur space, corporate space, and non-profit space at Senior Executive levels. As President of one of the largest Life & Executive Coach Training and Certification organizations in the world for 13 years, Abe trained and certified thousands of Life and Executive Coaches in over 20 different countries. Abe is focused on coaching leaders, executives, and entrepreneurs towards high-performance, resilience, and over-the-top results in both life and business. Abe has also been a professional speaker for over two decades, having spoken in 4 continents and over 20 countries, to audiences of tens of thousands. Abe and the global team are pioneering the very first evidence-based coaching model that taps into the psychology of flourishing with a certified coaching practitioner lens. Abe earned a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Calgary Haskayne School of Business and a Master in Education and Counselling. Abe is also a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coaching Federation (https://coachingfederation.org/) and was a registered therapist for 9 years.