As a Chief Wellness Consultant and performance-wellness coach, Daryl Appleton has made a significant impact in various fields, including professional sports, business, government, finance, medicine, and entertainment. Her specialty lies in working with mid-career executives and specialists, helping them work more efficiently and effectively through self-awareness, strategy, and scientific methods. She is often referred to as “the real-life Wendy Rhoades” from the Showtime show “Billions.”
In this interview feature, Daryl shares her journey, the challenges she has faced, particularly as a mother of twin daughters, and the success stories that have shaped her approach to coaching. She provides insights into her work at Brown University’s General Surgery department, where she has developed a comprehensive wellness program focusing on self-awareness, self-governance, and self-improvement.
Can you please introduce yourself, your business, and your specialization as a coach.
My job is to help high performers get out of their own way so that they can do their job.
Currently, I am the Chief Wellness Consultant at Brown University’s General Surgery Program and have contracts centered around performance-wellness (the lens in which I interpret and see well-being) and leadership with organizations and individuals in the fields of professional sports, business, government, finance, medicine, and entertainment.
My specialty is in working with mid-career executives and specialist who are looking to work more efficiently and effectively through self-awareness, strategy, and scientific method.
As a coach, what are some of the biggest challenges that you have faced in your journey?
My twin 3-year old daughters. Having kids has absolutely changed the way I see the world and the lessons and strategies I give my clients “trying to do it all”. I have truly learned that there is no such thing as work-life balance but instead there needs to be a sway and alignment to work-life integration.
Can you share a success story or a significant achievement in your coaching career?
I started working with Brown University’s General Surgery department 5 years ago. At the time their wellness program consisted of yoga and meditation, and it was not landing. When I stepped into the role, leadership and I collaborated on an operational definition for wellness in surgery (which if you know any surgeons you know how well “wellness programs” go over with them).
Here we were able to create a full-bodied program that viewed wellness through the lens of self-awareness, self-governance, and self-improvement for individuals and the team at large. Five years later we have a full bodied curriculum focus on the gamut of performance, wellness, and leadership strategies for residents, jr attendings and senior attendings at every stage of the career. This also includes a newly formed Leadership Lab, Mentorship Program, didactic lecture series, executive coaching, division retreats, and research efforts to continue to expand and improve. It has been truly a collaborative effort between hard and soft science to focus on addressing burnout and non-technical skill development in the world of medicine.
How do you measure the impact of your coaching on your clients or teams?
At Brown we do robust research efforts that include qualitative and quantitative inquiry which also includes focus groups, and longitudinal studies.
What advice would you give to other women aspiring to be leaders in the coaching industry?
When I was fresh out of college, my boss told me that “what I wanted to do didn’t exist” and “I would be better sticking to what I knew”. You are allowed to Frankenstein together a career that doesn’t exist but works for you and the people around you. Keep pushing ahead and innovating in a direction that you can make an impact in.
What are your future goals for your business and brand? What is your vision through coaching?
Looking ahead, my team and I are actively working on expanding our performance wellness curriculum both virtually and in-person to medical programs who do not have the funds to hire a Chief Wellness Consultant/Officer. The hope this would also include training for future coaches and executives looking to bring their expertise or transition in the medical field for leadership and/or coaching in healthcare.
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