As organizations grapple with growing complexity, uncertainty, and workplace challenges, the ability to understand and work productively with emotions has emerged as a critical leadership capability. Yet many people are taught to manage emotions without learning to harness them for strategic advantage. Francesca Oduoza, an International Coaching Federation (ICF) Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and leadership coach, addresses this gap in her new book, The ARC of Progress: A Coaching Handbook for Emotional Leadership — Transforming Difficult Emotions into Purposeful Action.
The handbook introduces the ARC™ Framework—Acknowledge, Reflect, Convert—a repeatable process that helps coaches, leaders, and professionals name their emotions, understand what those emotions reveal, and turn that insight into intentional decisions and meaningful action. "Emotions are not simply barriers or distractions; they are signals," Oduoza said. "Much like a warning light on a car's dashboard, an emotion can alert us that something beneath the surface deserves our attention. The choice isn't whether to feel. It's what you do with what you feel."
The announcement matters because it positions emotional leadership as a strategic unlock at a time when AI and digital transformation are reshaping workplaces. Oduoza emphasizes that emotional leadership remains essential for navigating relationships, managing conflict and change, and making inclusive decisions. By examining emotional responses and the meanings and assumptions behind them, readers can create space for clearer judgment, stronger relationships, and choices aligned with their values, goals, and circumstances.
The book guides readers through a clear, interconnected process: Acknowledge & Accept helps readers recognize and make space for their emotional reality with honesty and compassion; Reflect & Reframe explores the beliefs, interpretations, and stories shaping the emotional experience; and Convert & Commit turns emerging insight into intentional action that lays the foundation for sustainable behaviour change. Coaches and leaders can apply these concepts through thematic coaching domains, guided visualizations, practical prompts, and reflection exercises.
Inside, readers will find foundational concepts of emotional regulation and their influence on personal and leadership effectiveness, real-life stories and relatable metaphors, action-oriented prompts for navigating emotional contagion, structured coaching domains and emotionally focused demonstrations, hundreds of prompts and reflective questions, and practical exercises for individuals, teams, and groups. The framework has versatile applications, including addressing leadership challenges, navigating difficult relationships, overcoming limiting beliefs, coaching through conflict, strengthening team dynamics, managing stress, and developing emotional intelligence. It aligns with most of the ICF's core coaching competencies and ethical principles.
The handbook is written for leadership, life, and executive coaches; people leaders; HR professionals; educators; mentors; and anyone committed to developing others. Early praise comes from Marcia Reynolds, PsyD, MCC, author of Coach the Person, Not the Problem, who calls it "a practical tool they may invite others to use to transform emotions that feel like blocks into insights and confident action," and from Emmanuel Michael, SPHRi, a leadership and career coach recognized among the Top 100 Global HR Leaders, who describes it as "a transformational tool for anyone committed to elevating human performance, emotional intelligence, and personal mastery."
Released on September 15, 2026, The ARC of Progress is available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book through Amazon (including Kindle), Barnes & Noble, Indigo, Rakuten Kobo, and Smashwords. Formats vary by retailer. Oduoza, who holds an MBA and more than 20 years of leadership experience including senior roles in banking, also brings a conflict-coaching perspective from a certificate in mediation and conflict resolution from Harvard Law School's Program on Negotiation. Learn more at https://francescaoduoza.com.
