When Betsy Arthur-Goodwin first came to NC State’s Leadership Coaching for Organizational Performance (LCOP) program, she brought a full life with her.

She had years of experience in wilderness and outdoor education. She had already earned a graduate degree in leadership. She was newly married, helping raise a teenage stepdaughter and building a life that included two dogs and a career rooted in helping people grow.

She also carried something less visible: a lingering sense of self-doubt.

“Self-doubt has been a quiet and persistent companion most of my life,” Arthur-Goodwin said. “She whispers loudest in the moments that matter most. The LCOP was one of those moments.”

Now a program advisor for LCOP and a fall 2025 alumna of the program, Arthur-Goodwin describes her path to the program as anything but linear. Before LCOP, she had already navigated major personal and professional transitions, including the end of a first marriage, a return to graduate study and years of work in environments where leadership had to be practiced in real time.

In the backcountry, she learned that credentials alone do not carry a group forward. Leadership required presence, trust, adaptability and a willingness to learn through uncertainty. Years later, that same desire for meaning, challenge and human connection brought her to LCOP.

“What I found inside this program was beyond what I expected,” she said. “I expected rigor. I found rigor and radical humanity. I anticipated learning coaching frameworks. I learned those too. More importantly, I learned what it looks and feels like when a human being is truly held, seen, heard, valued for all they are.”

One of the most formative moments came during her first recorded coaching session. Being recorded felt vulnerable and intimidating, she said. But during the review, her mentor coach named something in her that she had struggled to trust in herself.

“My mentor coach, Rene Sonneveld, told me I had incredible presence and to lean into it.”

For Arthur-Goodwin, that feedback became more than a note on coaching technique. It was a moment of recognition.

“I’ve spent much of my life in a negotiation with my own sense of self-worth, wondering what I brought into a room, an expedition, a team was enough,” she said. “He named something real in me that day.”

That kind of experience, she said, reflects what makes LCOP distinct. The program is not only about learning coaching models or earning a credential. It asks participants to practice, receive feedback, build trust and grow in their capacity to support others.

“LCOP operates from a belief I have come to hold deeply: people are creative, resourceful and whole,” Arthur-Goodwin said. “The program doesn’t fix anyone. Coaching, real coaching, creates conditions for people to access what they already carry, and to grow into the leaders they already are.”

Throughout the program, she found that the work reached beyond professional development. One class exercise helped her examine her relationship with her father, whose aging and health challenges had left her worried, frustrated and unsure how to respond.

During a coaching demonstration, she explored the situation from different perspectives before landing on one she named “Grace.”

The exercise helped her see her father not only through her fear for his safety, but through an understanding of the work, purpose and identity that had shaped his life.

“That transformation, acceptance of seeing someone for who they are, is what this program makes possible.”

For Arthur-Goodwin, LCOP reshaped her understanding of leadership. It is not about having all the answers or being the strongest voice in the room. It is about being in relationship with others, with oneself and with whatever unfolds.

“Presence. Empathy. Listening. Trust. Values. These aren’t soft skills,” she said. “They are the foundation of every meaningful relationship, every team that works together, every leader who earns genuine commitment from the people around them.”

Today, Arthur-Goodwin brings that perspective to her role as LCOP program advisor. Her work now allows her to support prospective and current students as they consider whether the program fits their own goals, questions and seasons of growth.

Her experience as an alumna gives her a direct understanding of what students may be carrying when they arrive.

She knows they may come to LCOP seeking a credential, a career shift or a stronger leadership toolkit. She also knows the program may meet them at a deeper level, helping them clarify who they are, how they lead and how they want to show up for others.

“That shift, which started with a single marketing touchpoint, didn’t just change my career trajectory,” Arthur-Goodwin said. “It changed my life. It was this deep human impact that led me to my current role. I want to help find more people like me who understand leadership is also a commitment to lifelong learning.”

Arthur-Goodwin believes programs like LCOP matter now because leaders are navigating uncertain conditions, changing workplaces and questions that do not have easy answers. In those environments, she said, the strongest leaders are not always the ones with the clearest script. They are the ones who know themselves, stay present under pressure and create space for others to grow.

“What I’ve learned from the backcountry, from years of working with people in challenging environments, from LCOP, is that the leaders who navigate uncertainty best are not the ones who have it most figured out,” she said. “They’re the ones who know themselves.”

As both an alumna and advisor, Arthur-Goodwin now helps others take the same step she once took.

She came to LCOP looking for growth. She left with a clearer sense of herself as a coach, leader, advisor and person. Now, she helps others find their own way into a program that, for her, opened more than a professional door.

“The LCOP gave me the gift of shifting my mindset, of how I hope to show up in the world.”