As organizations confront rising complexity, uncertainty, and evolving workplace dynamics, the capacity to understand and productively use emotions has emerged as a critical leadership capability. Yet many professionals are trained to manage emotions without learning to harness them for strategic advantage. Francesca Oduoza, an International Coaching Federation Professional Certified 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 book 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 translate 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 timing of the release matters. As artificial intelligence and digital transformation reshape workplaces, Oduoza emphasizes that emotional leadership remains essential for navigating relationships, managing conflict and change, and making inclusive decisions. The handbook positions emotional leadership as a strategic unlock for effective leadership and personal growth. 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 ARC process moves readers from emotional awareness to purposeful action. 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, opening the door to new understanding. 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.
The framework has versatile applications, including addressing leadership challenges, navigating difficult relationships, overcoming limiting beliefs, coaching through conflict, strengthening team dynamics, managing stress, developing emotional intelligence, and understanding emotional contagion. The ARC™ approach aligns with most of the International Coaching Federation's core coaching competencies and ethical principles, and can be used in individual coaching, team coaching, leadership development programs, emotional intelligence coaching, workshops, and team development initiatives.
Written for leadership, life, and executive coaches; people leaders; HR professionals; educators; mentors; and anyone committed to developing others, the handbook supports both professional practice and personal growth. Early praise underscores its practical value. Marcia Reynolds, PsyD, MCC, author of Coach the Person, Not the Problem, described it as “a practical tool they may invite others to use to transform emotions that feel like blocks into insights and confident action.” Emmanuel Michael, SPHRi, a leadership and career coach recognized among the Top 100 Global HR Leaders, called it “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.
