Executive coaching

 One leader, already performing at a Director level, had recently moved into a VP position reporting directly to the CEO, given the visibility and high-stakes nature of the work. Taking on enterprise-level responsibility at that altitude meant learning fast, in full view, with the CEO watching decisions unfold in real time rather than through a layer of insulation most new VPs get.

Our work together focused on this leader designing a new way to lead: one built on questions instead of answers, on trusting their team to solve problems instead of absorbing that responsibility personally, and on standing behind a new compensation structure that wasn't popular. They wanted to be liked. Getting comfortable with being right instead of liked was transformational in their relationship with team members, and it changed how the team perceived accountability for results.

This leader moved from a marketing/comms management role into a director role for a Fortune 100 organization, supporting a C-suite operations executive: writing speeches, shaping a public voice, and learning to think and communicate the way the executive did. They reported to a VP whose priorities pulled in a different direction, more focused on message control than the executive's appetite for bold positioning. Navigating between two conflicting minds, while trying to align with the broader direction of the business, meant constant judgment calls about whose priorities took precedence.

Our work together focused on this leader designing new approaches to influencing outward and upward, and finding the common ground both leaders actually shared. This leader set a respectful but concrete boundary with each: this role exists because of a specific expertise neither of them had. Once that boundary held, both the executive and the VP started bringing this leader into decisions earlier, instead of after the fact.

A VP of sales inherited a large team, many of them new to B2B sales, unable to clearly articulate what the company actually sold. Their own managers onboarded new hires with no consistency between them, each running their own version of ramp-up. Not helpful with a CEO mandating quick alignment on sales process and approach.

Our work together focused on this leader designing an approach to build consensus among their management team, so they operated with the same priorities and focus, and to engage the learning and development team in building sales training at scale, around skills-driven learning methods rather than generic content lectured to all. Reps could articulate the value proposition consistently soon after, and new hires ramped faster because every manager was now teaching from the same playbook.