Christina Foxwell knew something was not quite right; she just could not exactly put her finger on it. After working exhaustively, coaching and training executives in the area of management and leadership skills in Australia, she was not seeing the results she was hoping for.

After a long and comprehensive reflection, it occurred to her that the issue was not related to the trainer or the trainees; it all came down to what the training was focused on. Traditional leadership training was centred around hard skills and a logic-centric approach. What was missing, she determined, was leadership training that incorporated empathy and other “soft skill” emotional qualities.

In 2012, Christina Foxwell took this newfound insight and founded Ignite Purpose, a professional coaching operation based on the notion that people are central to the success of every organisation. At Ignite Purpose, Christina Foxwell seeks to help businesses reach their full potential by helping employees reach theirs.

Rather than denying the importance of skills and logic, Christina Foxwell believes that, at its core, skill is derived from a logical and emotional connection. Those two facets have to come together for an individual to truly find wisdom.

The results of this approach speak for themselves. Since launching Ignite Purpose in 2012, Christina Foxwell has helped several huge businesses such as Clorox, Newscorp and GSK to improve their overall leadership capabilities.

Christina Foxwell discussed with WiFB’s Ramia El Agamy and LiquidGold’s Susanne Bransgrove the disconnect between theory and practice of leadership best practices, the difference in coaching men and women and coaching to bridge the generational divide.

This episode of Conversations with Women in Family Business is co-produced with Susanne Bransgrove, director of LiquidGold Consultants.