This dissertation explores the lived experience of transformation in mentor-coaches trained and certified through the Center for Mentoring, Coaching, and Leadership Development (CMCLD). The CMCLD describes its training as a transformational process in which mentor-coaches adopt a listening mindset that becomes a lifestyle change. This dissertation utilizes Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) using two semi-structured interviews and a focus group with seven certified mentor-coaches trained at the CMCLD to explore how certification is currently experienced in personal and professional capacities. Data analysis produced five themes with multiple subthemes. The five themes include: the CMCLD training was transformational, transformation as a person and practitioner, transformation as a growth process, the relationship as a catalyst for transformation, and transformation as a narrative of death and rebirth. The findings include narrative accounts for each participant and a thematic cross-case analysis, which should be read in relation to each other. For the participants, the CMCLD certification operated in two ways. First, it offered participants an opportunity to self-reflect and make sense of their own experiences. Second, it taught them the skillset of compassionate listening, which enabled participants to hold space for others. For the participants, the connection between experiencing compassionate listening with a mentor-coach and learning to hold space for others as a mentor-coach was critical in the transformations they described. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]