The B2B Podcast Index
Index
All categories
MarketingSalesSaaSFinanceHROpsLeadershipCustomer SuccessAI & DataProductStartups & FoundersRevOpsEngineering & DevTools
MethodologySubmit
Best of:MarketingSalesSaaSFinanceHROpsLeadershipCustomer SuccessAI & DataProductStartups & FoundersRevOpsEngineering & DevTools
An independent project byFame
SearchBest episodesGuestsInsightsMethodologySubmit a podcast
Index/Leadership/The CEO Sage
The CEO Sage artwork

The Relaunch & What This Actually Is

The CEO Sage · 2026-06-01 · 27 min

0:00--:--

Key moments - from our scoring

Substance score

16 / 100

Five dimensions, 20 points each

Insight Density6 / 20
Originality5 / 20
Guest Caliber0 / 20
Specificity & Evidence3 / 20
Conversational Craft2 / 20

Kris Plachy, a CEO coach with 30+ years in leadership and life coaching, relaunches her podcast under a new name and philosophy. She spent nearly 15 years building her previous show "Leadership is Feminine" (nearly 400 episodes), but realized her conversations needed to evolve. Drawing on Celtic wisdom traditions - particularly the concept of the crone as a phase of wisdom - Plachy positions herself as a "sage" for other sages: high-performing women entrepreneurs who have achieved external success but may lack internal alignment and personal agency. Her work now focuses on in-person coaching and helping women navigate life and business intersections where wisdom must precede strategy. She explicitly rejects podcast industry pressures (better cameras, lighting, polished backdrops) that disproportionately target women, choosing instead authenticity over production value. The podcast serves dual purposes: processing her own ideas through verbal articulation and offering women a space to explore their inherent wisdom rather than seeking external instructions or expert answers.

Key takeaways

  • →A sage CEO accepts full responsibility and ownership for herself, moving beyond blame and victim narratives to identify the simplest path forward in any challenge.
  • →Women can achieve massive external success - running multimillion-dollar companies - while still abdicating personal agency in relationships, partnerships, and their own lives, requiring intentional rewiring.
  • →The wisdom you need to solve your current problems already exists within you; the work is recognizing it through reflection and honest self-assessment rather than seeking answers from others.
  • →Authenticity and alignment matter more than polished production in creating meaningful connection, and women should refuse industry expectations that don't serve their values.
  • →Celtic wisdom traditions teach that women in their 50s enter the 'crone' phase - a time of recognized wisdom when others naturally seek guidance - which parallels the professional evolution of successful female founders.

Topics in this episode

CEO coachingFemale entrepreneurship and foundersCeltic wisdom traditionsCrone phase (life stages)Personal agency and empowermentLife and business intersectionsWisdom over strategyAuthenticity in podcastingIn-person coaching modelPodcast industry standards and expectations

Questions this episode answers

What is the difference between Leadership is Feminine and The CEO Sage?

Leadership is Feminine focused on leading and managing teams and is now complete; The CEO Sage shifts to guiding women at life and business intersections where personal wisdom and alignment are necessary before strategy, working primarily with high-performing female founders and CEOs.

Will Kris Plachy continue the old Leadership is Feminine content?

No, she considers that body of work complete and is not adding to it, but all previous episodes and digital content remain available for anyone who needs team leadership guidance.

What does Kris Plachy mean by a 'wisdom cocktail'?

It refers to the unique synthesis of intellectual learning, intuitive knowing, lived experience, and skills that a woman accumulates over her life - her personalized body of wisdom that she can draw upon to solve problems.

Why did Kris Plachy take a break from podcasting?

She needed time to reset because she recognized her conversations needed to change and didn't want to bore herself or her audience after 15 years in business and thousands of hours of content creation.

Will The CEO Sage podcast be in-person or virtual?

Kris states all her work will be in-person going forward because she believes certain things can only be experienced in the presence of other women and through rich conversation in person.

What our scoring noted

Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.

Insight Density

6 / 20

The episode is primarily a relaunch announcement and personal manifesto with heavy reliance on abstract concepts ("wisdom cocktails," "sage knowing," "the vessel") rather than concrete insights. While the speaker touches on themes of release and life phases, there is minimal actionable intelligence - mostly philosophical musing without the kind of specific, non-obvious claims that would educate a B2B operator. The majority is throat-clearing and personal narrative rather than densely packed ideas.

there are three distinct phases that women are believed to go through in that culture. And that is the matron, the, the maiden, which is prior to children and I guess marriage, the matron, which is once you've had children and you are raising them, and then the crone, which is in your 50s.
the answers to solving whatever the present day external moments are that present themselves to you, they live within you. They are not going to be found in another person.

Originality

5 / 20

The episode relies heavily on recycled frameworks and well-worn wisdom literature (Bill George's 'True North' on life phases, Celtic crone symbolism, vague spiritual concepts). The core argument - that women need inner wisdom before external strategy - is not novel. There is no contrarian thinking, no first-principles reasoning, and no counterintuitive insights that would distinguish this from dozens of similar coaching-space content pieces.

True north by Bill George. And he talks about that the 20s and the 30s are about, you know, gathering and collecting and making and doing and right like all of this establishing of who we are. And then as we move into our 40s, we start to release, we start to let go
there are three distinct phases that women are believed to go through in that culture

Guest Caliber

0 / 20

This is a solo episode with no guest. The speaker is Kris Plachy, a self-described CEO coach with 30+ years in coaching and personal life coaching, but no specific operating credentials, exits, scale metrics, or evidence of having built or run a material business are provided. This is a pure thought leader monologue, not a practitioner sharing hard-won experience.

I am a CEO coach. I have worked with high performing, highly successful female entrepreneurs and founders for a decade or more.
I have been in the leadership coaching and personal life coaching space for 30 plus years.

Specificity & Evidence

3 / 20

The episode contains almost no concrete data, named examples, metrics, timelines, or dollar figures. The speaker references personal anecdotes (buying a house at 53, throwing away possessions) and historical Celtic practices, but provides no specific client examples, business outcomes, revenue figures, or measurable results. Everything remains abstract and vague - "thousands of people," "thousands of hours of content," no specifics.

I have worked with thousands of people. I have recorded thousands and thousands and thousands of hours of content
Three years ago when I turned, the year I turned 53, we bought a new house and I literally threw almost everything I owned away or gave it away.

Conversational Craft

2 / 20

This is a solo monologue with no guest, no interviewer, no push-back, and no genuine dialogue. The speaker talks *at* the audience rather than *with* them. There are no follow-up questions, no productive disagreement, no probing depth. The format is essentially a TED talk or personal essay read aloud, which inherently limits conversational craft. No opportunity for the host to test claims or deepen exploration.

Well, hello. How are you? I'm so happy to be back.
I miss talking to you. I miss talking to you. You. Yes, you.

Conversation analysis

Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.

Most-used words

women19sage13help12wisdom10life9love9podcast7space7woman6change5thousands5together5knowing5drawn5practices5forward5

Episode notes

If you followed Leadership is Feminine®️ , this is going to feel different. Better, actually. Kris takes a beat to explain why she needed to hit pause on the podcast, why she's back, and why the conversation has changed altogether. Turns out, after 15 years in this work and thousands of hours of content, she had some things to sort through. Specifically, what does she actually want her life to look like now? This isn't a philosophical question for her. It's a real one. In this episode, you'll hear about: -Why she restructured her entire life at 53, including moving houses and letting go of almost everything she owned -How she's evolved her approach to coaching and why it requires being in the room with women -What a "wisdom cocktail" is and why you've already got one brewing inside you -Why the path forward for you isn't someone else's instructions, it's your own discover The core of what Kris is building here is space for women who already know the answers to their biggest questions live inside them. Not in a book. Not in someone else's playbook. In them. Because here's the thing. You didn't build a multi-million-dollar business by following instructions.

Full transcript

27 min

Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.

Well, hello. How are you? I'm so happy to be back. I took a little break, y', all, and I sprung it on.

For those of you who have been longtime listeners, I sprung that on you. I just sort of said, hey, I'm taking a break. This is the end of Leadership is feminine as you've known it. And I did that for a lot of reasons.

The biggest one was that I knew my conversation with you needed to change, and I didn't know what I wanted that to look like. I didn't know if that was because I wanted to be completely off the webs altogether to just start writing to, you know, I really, honestly, after being in a, Having a business, now I'm, I'm almost into my 15th year. I have worked with thousands of people. I have recorded thousands and thousands and thousands of hours of content, and the last thing I ever want to do is either myself get bored with what I'm talking about or be boring, right?

Like, oh, God, what is she talking about? Like, what is she doing? And, and so I needed. I've needed a little time, and there's some themes that continue to resurface for me.

And so that's why I decided to. I mean, I guess we're going to call this a relaunch, but it has a new name, so there's that. Because the conversations will be different. And for those of you who have found this podcast, this actual episode, and you've never heard of me, talk to me anything in your life before.

Hi, I'm Kris Plachy. I am a CEO coach. I have worked with high performing, highly successful female entrepreneurs and founders for a decade or more. And I have been in the leadership coaching and personal life coaching space for 30 plus years.

I had a very successful and incredibly well published. I think there's almost 400 episodes of a previous podcast called Leadership is Feminine. But this podcast, this chapter, this next series of lessons is different. This is me serving you as the CEOs Sage.

You see, there are unique postures that women who are compelled to pursue a vision must learn how to embrace. And those postures come with a level of learning, both intellectual learning and intuitive learning, so that we can evolve into our sage self. A sage version of you, right, is the woman who is well known for what she does, who has a level of success and achievement that is significant in her orbit, whatever that orbit is. And sage knows there's always more to know.

I work with those women, women who, who see life as a quest, as a, as a journey, as an Adventure as a challenge, and who know that inherently the answers to solving whatever the present day external moments are that present themselves to you, they live within you. They are not going. The answers are not going to be found in another person. Try as you might, the only way that they are found in relation to another person is through what I call the cocktail of wisdom that comes together when we connect.

So my role in your life is to share with you observations, insights, conversations I have with other clients, my own intuitive knowing, my own challenges and the process through which I navigate those, what I have witnessed in others, and for you to recognize that there is a sage knowing within you. You know, my, my heredity, my. My ancestry is rooted in Scotland and Ireland, primarily a lot of European, but primarily Scotland and Ireland. And so I'm quite drawn to Celtic wisdom, practices, et cetera, even shamanism, for my own knowing, for my own illumination.

I'm not a religious person, but I have a lot of. Connection to the energy of spirit and how we're all connected and, and how lessons continue to present for as long as we need before they are learned. And so I love, I love cultural practices that ground us back to what is the truth, which is the earth, the land, the. The products of the land, trees, flowers.

I, I just believe. I. That's why I'm so drawn to Polynesian culture. I'm so drawn to Native American culture.

I'm so drawn to Celtic practices and ritual for the same reason they are of the earth. So I'm telling you all of that because there are three distinct phases that women are believed to go through in that culture. And that is the matron, the, the maiden, which is prior to children and I guess marriage, the matron, which is once you've had children and you are raising them, and then the crone, which is in your 50s. And it's a terrible word, or it has become a terrible word.

It's become associated with, with witches and all sorts of things. But really what crone means is that you are now in your age of wisdom. And it is a time where others historically would seek women out for their wisdom, because by the time you reach your 50s, you. You have gathered a body of work.

Whether you're a creator of work or not, it doesn't matter. You have a point of view. You have an assimilation of wisdom and knowing and ideas and learning and skill. And for the.

Who are in your world, you are for them. And in the Celtic practices, there is a croning ceremony where we, well, where we recognize women who achieve this position. In their communities because it is to be heralded. A woman in her crone years is the woman we seek.

And so my work around Sage is to guide my clients through this process of self discovery so that they develop their own wisdom cocktail, their own knowing, because there is such grace and peace in achieving that. You know, our, our younger years and our aspirational years and our years of collecting. I remember one of the biggest books that. One of the books that had a huge influence on me was True north by Bill George.

And he talks about that the 20s and the 30s are about, you know, gathering and collecting and making and doing and right like all of this establishing of who we are. And then as we move into our 40s, we start to release, we start to let go, we stop accumulating and we start releasing. And it. And in the 40s, it is a, it is a oftentimes a quite a confusing time because we've collected so much.

We have collected so much and it all feels so important. But is it? And then we move into our 50s and I. This is like been my trajectory.

Three years ago when I turned, the year I turned 53, we bought a new house and I literally threw almost everything I owned away or gave it away. I started all over and it. And people were marveled, like, what are you doing? I'm like, no, this has to happen.

There is a whole new part of me that's coming here and this person does not want any of this. Whatever all this is. She doesn't want any of it. The stuff, the commitments, the activities, none of it.

And that's when I started pulling off of social media and I started pulling down as much zoomy stuff and right. Like I just really recognize like what I want is to help in my business. I want to help. And the, and the way that I know how best to help you is to help you.

Which is why all of my work will be in person going forward. We have to connect you guys, we have to get back together. We have to experience the, the things that can only be experienced in the presence of other women. And if you've been a follower of mine, you know, I'm not like a.

I'm not going to be dancing around in circles and I don't know, not that there's anything wrong with that, just not my jam. I just love really rich conversation and that's, that's what I, I host with my clients. So this space, the CEO Sage, Is where women who are at the point in Life, whether you're 32 or 52. That you recognize, you're ready to acknowledge that, or you've always known that the path forward for you is not someone else's instructions, that you were born a whole human with all of what she needed.

And the path forward is discovery. It's alignment. It's telling the truth, it's release. It's honoring you.

Because you are the asset. You are. You are the vessel that makes all of it go. And in so many of our cases, our vessel, who we are, we are the asset.

But we can become depleted, numb, enraged, bitter, apathetic. And that isn't because there's anything wrong. It's because we need to build a new bridge to help you rediscover the core wisdom and truths of who you are. And once you do, you can live within yourself with so much clarity, so much power, so much agency.

So, as the CEO's sage, my job is to be the sage for the sages. When you listen to my words and you identify with them, you know, there are very few places you can go where you feel held, where you feel like you can let go, that you can drop, that you can say, I don't know, where you don't have to hold all the answers, where everyone isn't looking to you as the expert. I hold that space for women like you. And through these episodes, lessons, I will bring you wisdom, ideas, and insights for you to kind of think about.

And I also want to be very clear and honest that I. I've returned to the podcast for two really important reasons. First of all, I was journaling this morning, and I was doing the whole, like, who, what, why, how, when? Right.

I don't know if I did that in order, but that's how I wrote it. And I was asking, like, who am I for? What do I do for them? You know, why do I do it?

And I actually wrote I am for myself. And that might sound a little weird coming from a coach, I suppose, but I really wrote it. And I realized that for whatever reason this lifetime of mine, I am. I am constantly fed ideas.

It's, it's, it's, it's fun and horrific, overwhelming to be, to always have a new way of thinking about something. And I love to write, but writing is slow for me. I'm not going to stop writing, but I love to process and verbally process what I want to share. It's faster and honestly feels better to me.

And I miss talking to you. I miss talking to you. You. Yes, you.

And so the podcast is the way for me to Actually help myself. And what I wrote was, if. If by doing so I help others, then this. There is magic here.

And the second reason is that the only way I know how to truly help you is to help you, is to help you. And so what I want is, as you listen to this, if we haven't worked together and you think, ooh, this might be the time that we need to do this, I want you to know that. And I think this is the best way for you to imagine what it would be like if we were in a room together in person. Which is ultimately what I would love, is that women, you join the other women I work with who are.

Who are transformative women, they. They change their lives, they change other people's lives, and they have an insatiability about. There isn't an end date, there isn't an expiration date on personal growth for them. I want you to feel the feeling of it.

And this, to me, is the best way I know how to do that. And it's funny, you know, one of the other things, when I stopped the podcast back in December, there's so growth. Podcast growth is insane right now. And it's getting very polished.

You know, there's. There's a lot of people now who. Who don't even really watch TV. They just go on the YouTube and they watch everybody.

And I. And I. I've had a lot of people I've talked to who are like, you need to have better cameras, you need to have better lighting, you need to have a better backdrop. And I'm not here for that.

And I get it. If that. If that helps more people be attracted to my message, fine. But I'm not doing it.

I watch other podcasts. This is just a rant. The male podcasts, those dudes look like ass. I mean, can we be honest?

They don't try to get ready. They don't have gorgeous lighting, they don't have a gorgeous backdrop. They have on a T shirt and their hat on backwards. And the expectation of women in this space is very different.

And I refuse. So. But at the time, I was like, I don't want to play this game, man. And so, you know, part of the sage's business, part of this, the work of a sage, is to filter out.

That is to get out of the have to's and the what if everybody else is. And. And I always know when I'm in the fray of that, when I can't separate myself from what other people are doing and what I should be doing and what they think I should. I can.

I'm human. We all have this dance. That's when I know something needs to change because I'm feeling drawn to participate in a way that is not healthy for me. But I don't know what the healthy is.

And so what I know now is that the leadership is feminine. Body of work exists for anyone who wants help on how to lead and manage a team. And that body of work exists and so does all of the digital content that I've created over the years to support it. If that is the work that someone needs, I want them to have it.

I am not removing it. I'm not taking it down. It all exists, but it is complete for me. It is.

I have nothing more to add in that space. My work is to guide women who are at intersections of their life and business, or just life, where they know a new level of wisdom is necessary before any strategy. We're so quick to want to know how to do something before we've even really thought about why we're asking the question. This space will be reserved for us to talk through the natural intersections that we experience as women with a lot of responsibility, potentially a lot of power and influence, a lot of desire for results for women who have, even in their incredible success, abdicated or given away their own personal agency in their marriages, in their partnerships, in their businesses.

Just because a woman is running a kabillion dollar company doesn't mean she's confident in herself and it doesn't mean she knows how to live in her life as an empowered woman. I've seen it so many times and I want to, I want you to hear me, that as your sage, I am telling you that if there are parts of your life where you are abdicating your own authority, that can change. And if I dare say we need it too, for you and for the rest of us. Because at the end of the day, none of us can get where we want to go when some of us are still stuck in thinking or in behaviors that compromise what's possible for you.

So a sage CEO is a woman who accepts that responsibility and ownership for herself. She is beyond blame. She is beyond seeking reasons why this is the way that it is. And instead she says, this is the way that it is.

And I would like to progress through out, over drop, let go of it. So I will be dropping thoughts for you to think about, practices for you to consider questions that I'm considering. But it's a place where we can meet. And what I want most is for us to meet in a space that is honest, authentic, and perfect for the right women.

If you have gotten this far, maybe that's true for you. And if you've gotten this far, you're like, oh, goodness, no, it's okay. But if we're there together, I'd love for you to subscribe to this new edition. And if you know other women like you who might love this, please help them know that this exists.

I am. I'm a referral queen. I don't love to use some of the current channels. I've tried, but I'm really pre.

I really prefer a great referral. Thank you. Spending thousands of dollars on an ad. And so this is just my invitation that if you know other women who.

Who you think, ooh, this could be savory for them, please pass it on. So until then, till the next episode. I hope you are well, and I invite you to look at those wisdom cocktails that you already have, those things that you already know. Because if you're facing a challenge right now, if you're facing something that you just can't see your way out of, I want you to ask yourself a question.

And that is that if I could see what I already know through the lens of someone else's eyes and ears, what would I tell myself is the simplest and straightest path forward? Because it always exists. The trouble is, sometimes we don't like what that involves. But there is always a simple and straight path forward.

Ask that, and then decide. Are you willing. Are you willing to take it to the next one? All right, friends, thanks for joining me.

Related episodes across the Index

Other episodes covering the same guests and topics, from across The B2B Podcast Index.

  • The CMO as a Strategic Thought Partner | Chris Milone, A Place For MomBuilding Better CMOs and Marketing Leaders · on CEO coaching69 / 100
  • Leadership Lessons from a CEO Coach | Ft. Surabhi ShenoyManage Better with Anshuman Tiwari · on CEO coaching62 / 100
  • Success Leaves Clues: Ep278 - Energy First, Growth Follows with guest Mark MacLeod, founder of Limitless CEOSuccess Leaves Clues with Robin Bailey and Al McDonald · on CEO coaching

More from The CEO Sage

All episodes →
  • Your Thriving Matters to Everyone29 / 100
  • Get What You Want38 / 100
  • What If It Could Be Better?49 / 100
  • Stop Looking Outside45 / 100
  • The Courage to Stop A New Chapter in Leadership and Life
Explore the best B2B Leadership podcasts →
All The CEO Sage episodes →