Episode 13

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Published on:

28th Feb 2022

How To Practice Presence At a High Level w/ Aaron Tabacco

Are you able to support your employees fully when they disclose something personal to you? Are you able to be fully present for them in these moments or does it sometimes feel a little awkward? Aaron Tabacco, PhD, RN is an Executive Coach and the Director of Staff Experience in the Department of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco. A former professor of developmental pediatrics, Aaron transitioned into his current line of work three years ago, becoming a thought leader in the development of holistic workplaces, leadership development, DEI efforts, and internal institutional workforce research. He is a highly-skilled public speaker and communicator having been featured at numerous public and private professional engagements in his areas of speciality. Aaron has several professional publications in the US, Europe, Japan, and online, and is a graduate of the UC Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute at the Berkeley-Hass School of Business. Additionally, Aaron has engaged in high stakes healthcare and higher education conflict mediation for families and professionals over a thirteen-year period. He's a father of three young adult sons who live in Portland, Oregon. Aaron currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Join Amy and Aaron in this episode as they delve into how you can best support your employees during difficult times and be fully present for them.

In this episode, you will learn:

  • How being a nurse helped Aaron to harness his skills of being present
  • The four domains of thinking you should adopt when someone is sharing difficult things with you as a leader
  • How you can put your own ego to the side and truly be present for your employees

Quote from the show - ''My first rule of thumb, especially as you're building skill with really practising presence, is to remind yourself that you're probably going to say it best if you don't really say anything at all. ''

About the host:

Amy Lynn Durham is the Founder of the executive coaching firm Create Magic At Work.

Amy has spent years in the corporate world successfully managing hundreds of employees for private and publicly traded companies. Amy designed Create Magic At Work™ to bring a variety of services and strategies to aid in supporting healthy leaders & workplaces through:

  • Private Executive Coaching
  • Speaking Internationally about Ways to Support & Create Healthy Workplace Cultures
  • Experiential Workshops & Products

Connect with Amy:

Connect with Aaron Tabacco - LinkedIn

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About the Podcast

Create Magic At Work®
Spiritual Intelligence, Conscious Leadership, and the Future of Work
Create Magic At Work® is a leadership podcast exploring spiritual intelligence, conscious leadership, and the future of work. Through conversations with visionary leaders, coaches, authors, and entrepreneurs, the show examines how leaders can navigate uncertainty, cultivate self awareness, and create workplaces that are both high performing and deeply human.

Many episodes explore themes such as transformational leadership, intuition in decision making, organizational change, and the inner work required to lead well. The show also introduces frameworks rooted in spiritual intelligence, including SQ21, the Archetypes of Change, and the Edgewalker philosophy. These perspectives help listeners understand how people respond to transformation and support leaders in walking the edge into quantum leadership, where business decisions ripple outward for the greater good.

Listeners of Create Magic At Work® are leaders who want to edgewalk rather than sleepwalk through their work and life. They want to bring their full selves into the spaces they inhabit, including their spirituality from a faith neutral lens. Many are founders, coaches, and professionals seeking deeper meaning in their work and lives.

If you care about leadership that blends strategy, spiritual intelligence, and the courage to walk the edge during times of change, you're in the right place.

About your host

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Amy Lynn Durham

Amy Lynn Durham is the founder of the executive coaching firm Create Magic At Work® and Magic Thread Media™, a curated boutique podcast network of conscious voices. She is an executive coach and leadership advisor who works with senior leaders and organizations navigating complex change.

A former corporate executive turned executive coach, Amy blends grounded business experience with a deeper exploration of spiritual intelligence and quantum leadership. Her work helps leaders expand beyond traditional leadership models to consider the ripple effects of their decisions on people, culture, and the future.

Amy believes magic at work is not a metaphor. It emerges when leaders go beyond emotional intelligence and cultivate spiritual intelligence, learning to lead from their higher selves rather than from their ego. Through her work, she helps leaders develop the awareness and presence needed to make wise, compassionate decisions even when under pressure while maintaining inner peace.

She is the host of the globally recognized Create Magic At Work® podcast, where she interviews visionary leaders, authors, and change makers exploring spiritual intelligence, conscious leadership, and the future of work. The show often features what Amy calls “voices from the edge” — leaders and thinkers who challenge conventional ideas about leadership and human potential.

Amy is also the author of Create Magic At Work® and Creating Career Magic: A Daily Prompt Journal, and is a sought-after speaker and podcast guest known for bridging modern business challenges with spiritual intelligence, relational wisdom, and practical leadership insight.

Across all of her work, Amy’s mission is to help leaders make wise, compassionate decisions even under stress while envisioning workplaces where people and performance thrive together.

UC Berkeley Certified Executive Coach • ICF Certified Coach • Certified Spiritual Intelligence Coach (SQ21) • Archetypes of Change Facilitator • Edgewalker Facilitator