Working Together
How I Work – 4 Fundamental Principles
1. Confidentiality beyond compliance. Most of what I learn stays in my head and is never recorded or written down.
2. No pressure. No strings. Good relationships don’t require coercion.
3. Full customization. I don’t use templates or programs. Every engagement accounts for your specific variables and nuances.
4. Trust creates velocity; bad fit creates drag. I optimize for fit because everything else depends on it.
Executive Coaching, Mind Meld & Strategic Advisory
For Executives, Founders, & Owners Navigating High Stakes Decisions and Building Sustainable Excellence
Overview:
I work with high achieving executives, founders, and owners as they navigate the rollercoaster of mountaintops and shitty experiences that mark the trajectory of high achievers.
Sometimes we are navigating a high-stakes decision with lasting consequences; at other times, we might be trying to deal with a comment that keeps rolling around in their head like the earworm of a really bad song. For owners who have put huge pieces of themselves and their efforts into building a business, any decisions on selling it, transitioning into another sector, or dealing with devasting loss is so much deeper than a professional move. Overall, I meet people where they are at, with what they need, and we move through it together. Sometimes we have incredible pivots and flashy success stories; sometimes it’s a partnership that helps feed someone oxygen when they feel like they’re losing their mind. Both the work and the relationship are dynamic so that you can trust and disclose on your own terms.
Starting Point of Common Topics:
- Life – ongoing personal and professional decision points
- Decisions about employees, business partners or organization
- Peak health and longevity
- Managing personal expectations and feelings of guilt/failure
- Stress management and resilience
- Growth decisions
- Artificial Intelligence – integration and change management
- Mindset-Belief Systems; ensuring usefulness and accuracy
- Taking care of ourselves versus disappointing others
- Personal identity and confidence apart from achievements
- Transitioning professional roles, buying, building, or selling businesses
- Choosing what is right for us after reading way too many leadership books
Investment – Most High Achievers choose to start at 16-25K/year, depending on scope and complexity. From there, clients who want to integrate me more deeply into their organization or broader ecosystem co-create the engagement based on trust, needs and preferences.
“I’d like to build a personalized business bill of rights. I’d like to gain tools/insight regarding navigating various professional and personal relationships. I’d like to deconstruct some of the ideas that I’ve held regarding my responsibilities as a leader and CEO. I’d also like a sounding board for future decisions.
For More Information, go to:
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Organizational Consulting & Team Facilitation
Executive Alignment, Strategic Retreats, M&A, and People Decisions
Overview:
Alignment on what we are trying to achieve is critical for organizational work. What we do together and how we do it depends on the context, culture, and the DNA of the organization. It is helpful for the C-suite team to know what they are trying to achieve, but if they don’t, surfacing and pressure testing that clarity becomes the first part of our engagement.
What we do together varies widely. A strategic retreat for a team in a pivotal moment looks markedly different from one designed to build cohesion in a newly formed team. M&A engagements swing on risk profile and desired outcomes. Even tools like personality and intellectual assessments can be powerful in some contexts and a wasted expenditure in others.
Common Components of Organizational Engagements
- Executive team coaching & alignment – Facilitating clarity and cohesion to drive traction)
- Co-Founder Coaching – Partners who already trust each other but want to optimize the relationship
- Down-to-Earth Team Building – focus on team-building within the work instead of as a separate activity
- Guided Dialogues that help executives or team members navigate gridlocked or incendiary issues
- Strategic retreats that reside within an annual system to maintain traction
- Meeting shadowing (Teams, M & A) – allows for a fast, efficient grasp of topics, people, and dynamics
- Succession planning & leadership transition
- Hiring, firing & promotion decisions
- Custom, non-commercial personality assessments and cognitive/intellectual profiles
- Human due diligence (Both behind-the-scenes & direct assessment across high-stakes people decisions)
- Multi-layered and cross-organizational change management
Investment Range – Mutually decided based on what we are trying to achieve. We often start with the immediate need and a monthly range that fits, then we iterate as we go.
Best Use of Me
System impact — through working with high-level leaders, group settings, or aspiring leaders. For the time and investment involved, this type of work allows me to address system gaps, risk, or optimization points, achieving a spreading effect with exponential vs. node-to-node impact.
Human due diligence — M&A, partnerships, high-stakes meetings where everyone focuses on their role, but no one is in the corner watching the whole room and the patterns.
Validation of people to fire. When you already know but need someone with clinical depth to confirm the read and help you execute well.
Worst Use of Me
Asking me to help with execution if I haven’t helped author the strategy.
Ongoing individual coaching of lower-level employees without system impact. I want to help, but it’s not a great way to leverage my talent. If orgs need this, I’ll always look into whether we can do something creative in a group setting to leverage the investment.
Repetitive conversations with no decision-making. My neurons die.
The Connective Layer
Highest value, but impossible to predict or promise separately. When I have visibility across and between layers, I see patterns, gaps, and, most importantly, impending train wrecks. It allows us to catch problems before they start or when they are small, making them cheaper to fix. On the upside, the context allows me to create or co-create initiatives that have a deeper, broader impact with the same amount of time and money.
“How many chances do we give this person?“
“I’d like us to have a better sense of how the departments impact each other. People get along well; we just lose traction because we’re moving independently.”
“We don’t have a strong leadership bench, so we’d like to develop potential leaders.”
Case Example: Org was in an industry prone to lawsuits. Traced roots to a segment of customers who were liabilities. Assessed and revamped sales materials to curtail the onboarding of those customers. Educated the sales team on flags. Suggested revamp of commission structure to address the conflict of interest that arises from avoiding the wrong customer.
Strategy & Fit Call
If the High Achiever personality and the the Working Together Approach resonate with you, feel free to request a conversation. These conversations are not typical “sales” conversations; rather, they are a two-way conversation to understand what you need. The brief application will ensure that there is potential for a good fit and allow a higher value conversation.
Note: If you’ve worked with executive coaches or organizational consultants before, the fit conversation often includes understanding what you expected, what you got, and what assumptions you might be carrying — because my work may or may not fit the frame you’re holding, and naming that early protects both of us.