What do you do when life hands you six months to live—not once, but three times?

In this episode, Tom LeNoble joins Frog Talk to talk about what it really means to lead with clarity, serve with humility, and live with intent. From the early days at Facebook (back when there were just 40 employees) to his current role leading the Academy for Coaching Excellence, Tom’s story is one of constant reinvention.

We dig into:

• Why coaching is misunderstood—and why it matters more than ever

• The power of removing the “hay” in your life to find your “needle”

• What most leaders get wrong about mentorship and influence

• Why Gen Z isn’t lazy—they’re just trying to find their way, like everyone else

And what happened when he looked into the eyes of a server and saw a pilot

Key Takeaways:

1. Coaching is about being, not fixing. Tom’s ontological approach to coaching focuses on how leaders are being—not what they’re doing wrong.

2. Purpose takes clarity, not just passion. Through his "haystack method," Tom helps people remove the noise to find what’s been buried under assumptions, expectations, and fear.

3. Leadership shows up in micro-moments. Whether coaching an executive or encouraging a server to step into his full potential, Tom sees leadership as a moment-to-moment responsibility.

4. You don’t need a title to be a leader. Tom’s influence on his team at Facebook—many of whom are now VPs and founders—came from presence, mentorship, and being someone worth learning from.

5. Resilience is a muscle. After being told multiple times he wouldn’t survive, Tom built a life and career defined by risk, recovery, and serving others more deeply than ever.

Guest Details:

Tom LeNoble is the CEO of the Academy for Coaching Excellence and a leadership coach with a career that spans Facebook, Palm, Walmart, and beyond. He’s worked across operations, HR, and customer service—bringing depth to every team he's touched. He’s a resilience coach at the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship and the host of the Opening Pathways podcast. His coaching approach, shaped by surviving multiple life-threatening diagnoses, cuts through the noise and helps leaders find clarity, purpose, and their own voice. Philanthropy is at the core of his work, particularly in support of first-generation students, underserved communities, and the arts.

Chapter Markers:

00:00 – Opening banter: Midwestern geysers and mispronunciations

01:58 – Intro to Tom LeNoble: From Palm to Facebook to philanthropy

03:00 – Growing up with love, not much else

05:30 – From ICU manager to bartending to tech

08:00 – Climbing the corporate ladder at MCI

09:30 – Why serving first-gen students fuels Tom’s purpose

11:30 – Joining Facebook when nobody knew what it was

13:30 – Culture shock: graffiti, no phones, and building trust

15:45 – Building a team, mentoring early talent

19:20 – The Facebook reunion: “The kids turned out alright”

21:30 – Becoming a coach while being told he had 6 months to live

24:30 – The coaching method rooted in ontology

27:00 – What the Academy for Coaching Excellence teaches

29:30 – Why coaching went global—and how it’s now more accessible than ever

33:00 – “Inspirator”: what Tom calls his life’s work

35:30 – The party metaphor: we all want the same things

42:00 – Helping people find clarity when they feel stuck

45:00 – Two coaching stories that changed lives

47:00 – Why most leaders avoid performance conversations

49:00 – The power of performing arts in team building

50:00 – “Would it be okay if life got easier?”

Keywords:

Tom LeNoble, Nader Safinya, Frog Talk podcast, Academy for Coaching Excellence, coaching leadership, ontological coaching, Facebook early days, coaching vs therapy, Gen Z leadership, resilience coaching, philanthropic leadership, personal development, first generation college students, startup culture, performance coaching, nonprofit leadership, growth mindset, coaching certification, emotional intelligence in leadership