#36G - Happy Minute - Toast to Kelly Liu of Coaching Corner
2 of clubs! Toast to Kelly Liu, her work at Coaching Corner and the deep power of belief. Slightly expanded from the standard one sixty second format.
Authors’ note: Happy Minute Toasts can be found each Friday at 4:59p PT. Join Us!
Rocking Two of Clubs Happy Minute!
In 2025, I’ve heard certain themes from the Happy Minute/Echelon community’s aspirations for the year: balance, care, growth and goal realization. So it seems fitting that we honor those who walk alongside us on that journey to help us dream bigger, because sometimes it’s scary to dream big for ourselves. This week is an ode to coaches and yes we’ve talked about Coaching Corner (CC) already. But because here at LiC, we are committed to getting to understand and see each other, individually, on a deeper basis, we’re going to learn about one specific coach.
This week we’re toasting
, herself a coach and co-founder of Coaching Corner (first mentioned at LiC here), a growing and impactful community of coaches, for coaches.
In its first year, CC has built world-wide connection between over 130 coaches, held 50 hybrid virtual/in-person events and helped each other countlessly through coaching swaps and mutual support, through slack, phone and real-life conversations.
As far as helping one another and building community goes, like sisters from another mister, doesn’t this sound familiar, happy minutiaens?
We all know the power of a great coach. From little league to the majors, from first jobs to the C-suite. I remember when I was a young cellist and was told by my mom that “even Yo-Yo Ma has a coach,” when I refused to accede to a teacher’s exhortations to practice.1 David McColl gave an awesome toast to his coach, Richard, just a few weeks ago!
Don’t take my word for it. Perhaps its best summarized by one of those ancient and great Greek Philosophers, John Obi-Wan Gandalf Ted Lasso, who said2:
To me, [coaching] success isn’t about wins and losses. It is about helping these young fellas be the best versions of themselves, on and off the field. And it ain’t always easy. But neither is growing up without someone believing in you.
It’s easy to default to self-reliance, that Emersonian ideal that tells us we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, or breeches as they called them in the 1840s and, ahem, transcend into existence solely on our own. I get it, self-actualization is honorable and much can be gained from a considered self-reflection. But it’s hard and frightening to offer and receive belief in others. It takes courage to rely on and be relied upon. Despite what your tenth grade English teacher might have taught, you might want to know that Emerson wasn’t always sage. He once wrote that travel is a “fool’s paradise.” I mean I feel like Florence, Argentina, or anywhere else might be a nice place to visit this time of year.
Ted’s right, belief is not always easy. It can be incredibly challenging, yet Kelly believes in people. This is what Kelly has done with her colleagues and partners as an engineer and product manager. It’s what she does when she’s coaching her clients. It’s what she does in her experiments to create mutually nourishing and random connections with strangers in downtown Redwood City, because she believes in belonging. It’s how she approached playing on her club ultimate team, writing her substack and her art. And it’s what she does with all of CC, and maybe even herself, because the best coaches, too, can harbor self doubt.
In 2025, Kelly and her co-founders
and are continuing to advance CC’s mission to “Empower a community of coaches to reach the next level for their business, together.” Coaches for coaches.That sounds like a mission to realize human potential: in fellow coaches and in their clients. It’s a a mission to realize dreams. And I can’t wait to see what she and all of CC continue to build this year! And today we get to bring two communities, Happy Minute and Coaching Corner, together, as if we swiped right on a Tinder profile for believing in one another!
On the Echelon thread, I wrote that my 2025 word is velleity: a wish not strong enough to be realized into action. But maybe with the belief of coaches like Kelly, I will. And maybe you’ll make the leap to share your expertise and wisdom with others. Maybe you’ll join CC as well!
Cheers to you Kelly and all of the amazing coaches at Coaching Corner and to all the impactful coaches and mentors in all of our lives!
Coaching Corner work: Dream Bigger
To be fair, my mom had decent insight as she was good friends with his sister, Yeou-Cheng Ma, when they were at Harvard together. Auntie Yeou-Cheng was/is a ridiculously amazing violinist.
Which apparently to actually “quote the great UCLA college basketball coach, John Obi-Wan Gandalf: It is our choices, gentlemen, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." is actually from Harry Potter. Game within the game baby!
Go Kelly and Coaches Corner!! You are doing such important work, looking forward to working more closely with you!
Such a happy title!