Solving For Joy

Meg (00:00)
I guess my starting point is that our only purpose in life is to promote the well-being of others and ourselves—whether it’s by making money, painting, or going for a walk. There is no other purpose. I think we’ve lost sight of that.

I’m normally a disruptor. I like vision. I like change, not stability.

Chrissie Ott (00:26)
You’re listening to Solving for Joy. I’m your host, Dr. Chrissie Ott, a multi-boarded integrative physician and professional certified life and career coach.

This podcast is about joy—what it means, how we find it, and the creative ways people are solving for it in their own lives.

I’m so glad you’re here.

Chrissie Ott (00:49)
Hello, friends, and welcome to today’s episode of the Solving for Joy podcast. I am super excited to bring you Coach Meg—Margaret Moore.

Coach Meg has touched almost every corner of the coaching world, especially healthcare and well-being. She started her career as a biotech executive across four countries, but since 2000, she’s dedicated her energy to building coaching communities that change lives.

She co-founded Wellcoaches, the Institute of Coaching, and the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching. If you’re a coach, there’s a good chance the standards you practice, the textbooks you studied, and the certification you hold exist—at least in part—because of her vision.

Coach Meg has authored The Science of Leadership and Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life, and has published widely in coaching psychology. She’s been at the forefront of developing tools like the Well-Being Coaching Inventory, helping us measure what really matters in whole-person well-being.

But beyond that, what strikes me most is how she brings science, leadership, and heart together to shape the future of coaching—building not just organizations, but communities of people who want to help others flourish.

Thank you for being here, Meg. It’s an honor to have you.

Meg (02:23)
Thank you, Chrissie. That was a lovely intro.

Chrissie Ott (02:25)
My pleasure. I like to open by asking: what’s bringing you joy lately? What’s brightening your days?

Meg (02:42)
Well, I’ve got big projects, and then I have my one fun project right now. After launching the book, I found some space to play.

I started thinking about AI—what I wanted to do with it—and I’ve been spending my days talking with Claude, Anthropic’s AI agent. I’d touched base with AI before, but it never felt deep. Lately, it’s become a genuine thinking partner.

I’m considering how we can make AI more aligned, more humanistic, and more safe—and how we can all use it for good. There’s legitimate fear and skepticism around AI, but also incredible opportunity.

In healthcare and coaching, I see so many ways it could help us grow. I don’t think it will replace us. Especially in healthcare, we need it to support human work, not erase it.

Honestly, if you’d asked me in July what I’d be most excited about in September, I wouldn’t have predicted this. I’m just enjoying the novelty and the opportunity.

Chrissie Ott (04:46)
Yeah—the brain loves a new challenge and a new question. And it’s funny that AI is your fun little side project. That tells me a lot about the size of pools you’re swimming in most of the time.

It’s so important to figure out how to harness AI for good and not just be at the receiving end of it. I have a question that might reveal my ignorance—is Claude a particular GPT?

Meg (05:16)
Yes. Anthropic is the company that created Claude. I’ve been drawn to it because, on paper, they seem more committed to safety and humanity than some of the other big AI models that are chasing commercialization.

They even have a philosopher in-house. Their energy is different. Claude feels authentically coach-like—it listens, reflects, and responds with care.

Chrissie Ott (06:03)
Nice. I’ll have to explore Claude myself.

Your new book came out in July—tell us more about that.

Meg (06:14)
Yes, that was an intense joy. I didn’t plan to write The Science of Leadership. The publisher, Barrett-Koehler, did a title survey, and 67% of over 400 people chose that title.

I initially resisted—it felt too bold—but in the next two months I worked around the clock, reviewing hundreds of studies and letting the science drive the narrative. By July, the editor said, “You’ve done it. This is the book on the science of leadership.”

It was a stretch but a gift.

Part of the joy was connecting with researchers, understanding the top echelon of scientists and journals, and realizing how it all connects back to coaching.

My stealth project for years has been mapping what I call the multiplicity of mind—a structured approach to how our drives, traits, intelligence, character, and values interconnect. There are nine threads, nine parts of us that code for everything.

Now I’m exploring how to bring that framework into AI—so that it can be more whole, more human.

Chrissie Ott (11:01)
I love it. That level of sharing is so yummy to my brain. In order to make a map, think about how much improvisational travel one has to do.

In your journey with clients, with leadership, with founding—how many places you’ve gone to make the map you now share. It feels like such a capstone project in a career.

Meg (11:38)
Yeah. I always had this sense that I was meant to come up with some kind of model.

When we started Wellcoaches in 2000, there wasn’t a coaching curriculum suitable for healthcare. So I started seeking out the science behind it—positive psychology, motivational interviewing, neuroscience.

That search led to the foundation of Wellcoaches, the Institute of Coaching, and eventually the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching.

All of that work eventually came together in the multiplicity of mind model.

Chrissie Ott (14:46)
Yes—structure, patterns, repetition.

Meg (15:10)
Exactly. It’s complex but consistent. And just like the elements of chemistry, I think the mind reflects the same structure that created life itself.

Chrissie Ott (16:09)
It’s bringing the universal out of the particular—finding the particular in the universal, and the universal in the particular—which is a poetic approach to everything. And true.

Meg (16:16)
Yeah. That’s what gives me joy—playing in that space.

I spend an hour every morning talking to my nine parts. I know them well. Each represents different systems of the body and mind.

Normally I’m a disruptor, but right now my stabilizer—the part that values safety and balance—is stepping forward.

Chrissie Ott (18:08)
“Joy is thunder.” That’s a statement to feel and resonate with. And I hear what you’re saying—this is a moment for stabilization, even for those of us who tend toward disruption.

When you spend that hour each morning talking to your nine parts, how does it overlap with Internal Family Systems (IFS)?

Meg (18:38)
IFS teaches you to talk to your inner parts—your conscious mind speaking to your subconscious. It’s a skill of creating space for the quieter voices.

Over time, I’ve learned to tune into those frequencies, to let each part speak. Eventually, when all voices are heard, you reach the integrative voice—the one that holds wisdom.

Every morning I work with whatever’s unsettled—sometimes from dreams, sometimes from daily challenges—until I find equanimity.

It’s about turning the unsettled into insight, the particle into wave, the stuck into flow. That natural integration produces a little dose of joy every time.

Chrissie Ott (21:58)
It’s such a specific look at healing—and I love the intricacy of it.

Meg (22:04)
Yes. Healing isn’t always about trauma—it’s about transforming whatever’s depleting joy back into joy.

When clients realize they don’t have to stay stuck in irritation or agitation, that there’s a natural path back to balance—that’s where the hope is.

Chrissie Ott (22:57)
One of the things you’ve done this past year is develop the Well-Being Coaching Inventory, a validated tool to measure coaching outcomes. That’s huge for the profession. Tell us the big “why” behind it.

Meg (23:49)
The nine capacities in The Science of Leadership are the same nine sources of well-being—and also the main approaches to coaching. It’s one unified model.

My starting point is this: our only purpose in life is to promote well-being for others and ourselves.

The system we need now is one that brings prosperity and well-being together, rather than consuming well-being to grow prosperity.

In healthcare, we must measure what matters—and well-being is the master measure.

So, we reviewed about 30 well-being assessments and distilled them into 47 straightforward questions. The tool is now validated and available open access through the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine.

At WellcoachesNetwork.com, you can complete it online and receive your own report instantly.

Chrissie Ott (35:13)
I love that. I’ve done it myself and plan to introduce it to attendees at the Physician Coaching Summit in November. It’s incredibly useful, and the validation makes it reliable.

Meg (35:19)
Yes—and we’re not selling it. It’s meant to be shared widely. There’s nothing branded or flashy about it—it’s just what works. What are the main things you do with your mind, your body, your life that create more joy and peace of mind?

Chrissie Ott (36:22)
A lot of your career has been about bringing coaches together. What’s different for coaches when they’re in conversation with peers versus working alone with clients?

Meg (36:42)
The communities I’ve helped build each have their own personality.

Wellcoaches feels like family—warm, compassionate, creative. You can feel that energy in every coach we train.

The Institute of Coaching is broader—bringing together leadership, life, and health coaches around a shared love of science. That science gives us stability and multiplies our creativity a hundredfold.

And the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching—that was a huge collaborative effort among founders from across the field. We came together, set aside competition, and created shared standards and competencies.

All three of those communities live on as my legacy, and I feel proud of the ripple effect they continue to have.

Chrissie Ott (46:05)
It’s so worth doing. I’m envisioning the ripples—how these institutions continue to impact people who impact people, out into infinity.

What a sacred thing to ground and recognize—and yes, to name it legacy with a capital L.

Meg (47:48)
That’s how life works. You serve because you can, because it’s needed—and eventually, you’re served in return. It’s a calling, not an easy path, but a joyful one.

Chrissie Ott (47:50)
It’s culminatory. It’s acknowledging what’s mine to do here.

Meg (48:42)
Exactly. If you live long enough, you get the joy of resting on your accomplishments and using them for something even bigger.

Chrissie Ott (49:11)
My coach training was with Martha Beck’s Wayfinder program. She teaches the four stages of change, the fourth being enjoying the fruits of your labor.

I’m notoriously unskilled at resting there—so it’s nice to see that reflection modeled in you.

Meg (49:48)
Yes. Anything worth doing is hard work. You can’t change the world on 40 hours a week.

It’s demanding, especially for women balancing family and purpose. But if you’re built for the long climb, it’s incredibly satisfying.

Chrissie Ott (51:18)
What a wonderful conversation. Meg, thank you for all you’ve done—and continue to do—to build the legacy of coaching, to ground it in science and compassion.

Meg (51:22)
Thank you, Chrissie. You took me as deep as I’ll go. I spend a lot of time serving others, and you gave me space to serve myself today.

Chrissie Ott (52:21)
That touches my heart. One of my underlying tenets—my own encapsulated personal mission—is may I be of joyful service. That’s the guiding principle, and to draw it out in others.

Meg (52:32)
Yes—to draw it out. Because good work feels good.

Chrissie Ott (52:46)
Yes. To more good works for all of us.

Chrissie Ott (52:58)
A heartfelt thank you to Coach Meg, Margaret Moore, for being with us today and for reminding us that leadership, coaching, and wholeness are not separate paths—they’re the same road, walked with intention.

Next week, I’m joined by someone whose path could not be more unexpected or inspiring: Dr. Sheri Rosenthal, a former podiatrist who left medicine to study for eight years with The Four Agreements author, Don Miguel Ruiz.

If you’ve ever felt the pull to pivot—or wondered how to turn a whisper from your soul into a thriving business—you won’t want to miss this one.

And speaking of transformation, the Physician Coaching Summit is coming up soon—November 6th to 8th at Civana Wellness Resort and Spa in Carefree, Arizona. Full Moon Yoga Nidra kicks us off the evening of November 5th.

This is your invitation to pause, reconnect, and invest in your own healing alongside some of the most brilliant, soulful physician coaches in the world.

We’re less than 40 days out, and our discounted room block is shrinking. The event is CME-accredited, so yes—go use that CME if you haven’t yet.

As always, a gentle reminder: I’m a doctor, but not your doctor. Nothing you heard today should be considered medical advice. Please consult your own trusted providers.

Deep gratitude to our producer, Kelsey Vaughn, and to my partner and supporter in all things, Su.

May we stop resisting what wants to bloom and trust that the next right step will find us when we’re ready.

I’ll see you next time, friends.