I'm Ariel Wilkins and this is Coaching Real Leaders, part of the HBR podcast network.

I'm a longtime executive coach who works with highly successful leaders who've hit a bump in the road.

My job is to help them get over that bump by clarifying their goals

and figuring out a way to reach them so that hopefully they can lead with a little more ease.

I typically work with clients over the course of several months, but on this show, we have a one-time

coaching meeting focusing on a specific leadership challenge they're facing.

Today's guest is someone will call Allie to protect her confidentiality.

She's far along in her career and has a good sense of her own leadership style and strengths, as well as her long-term goals.

I would say I'm really at a pivot point in my career.

I've been really at a point of wanting to accelerate my scope of responsibility.

I do lead a large team currently.

Still, I know that there's more that I'm capable of, the more that I want to do and continue to grow.

To really sea level level executive space.

Allie landed in her current position as a result of trying to balance a dual career household

and due to organizational circumstances beyond her control. Her spouse was recently offered

a role that they didn't think he should turn down, but it also meant de-prioritizing Allie's trajectory.

It's truly an amazing opportunity and probably a job that would only come around once or twice within his career.

We've been able to balance our family careers pretty well, and this was, I would say, unplanned.

So I think we were discussing that it was my turn to go after another scope of responsibility

and unfortunately it really feels like a pause on my career progression.

The added complexity is my current company is going through a massive restructure.

So the majority of leadership roles that I was identifying as my next step no longer exists in my

...