Coaching for founders and their leaders
The job just
got bigger.
Coaching for founders and the leaders around them, while they grow into it. For someone on your team, or for you.
Six years at Google. Two at Amazon. CPO of a listed company. ICF-accredited coach.
Someone on my team
You hired them for a reason. Now the job has grown around them, and you want them to grow with it.
Read on ↓
I’ve stepped up
You’ve taken on a bigger job, or you want the next one. You want to get good at it quickly, and stay yourself while you do.
Read on ↓
Running the company yourself?
Everyone likes them.
The team likes them. You like them. The work still isn’t landing, and you’ve spent a month deciding what to do about it.
The senior hire who hasn’t settled.
They were great somewhere bigger. Here, it’s harder than either of you expected, and neither of you is saying so.
Promoted for being great at the work.
They were brilliant at the job. Now the job is the team, and they’re still doing the old one.
The feedback you haven’t given.
You’ve held it back to be kind. It’s building up, and one day it’ll come out all at once.
Product and engineering pulling apart.
Your product managers and engineers want different things, and both sides bring it to you.
Or is it you?
The meetings are different, the people are more senior, and what worked last year isn’t enough.
What people bring to coaching:
Being told to take ownership, while the big calls still wait for the founder
The first few months in a bigger role
Leading people who used to be your peers
Giving feedback that lands, without wrecking the relationship
Handing work over, and having it stay handed over
Getting a decision out of a meeting of twelve people
Too many priorities, and nothing quite finished
Hearing tough feedback about yourself, and deciding what to do with it
Paying for this yourself? Book a call, and we’ll talk about the price on the call.
How it works
Individual and confidential by default, so the person being coached can be honest.
1
We talk
A free 20-minute Clarity Call, then usually a Strategy Session, where we go through what’s happening, what good looks like and what’s been tried, and you leave with a plan.
2
They decide
If it’s coaching for someone on your team, I meet them first. They decide whether they want to work with me. Coaching only works when the person wants it.
3
We agree the goals, then coach
We agree the goals in a few written lines. Then sessions every week or two, over a few months.
If you’d like to stay closer to it, we add short three-way check-ins, where they tell you how it’s going and the two of you agree next steps.
Neurodiversity: every brain works differently, so I shape the work around how you think best. You don’t need a diagnosis, or to tell me anything.
A Series C VP Product whose job was at risk stopped defending his team against the CEO, partnered his peers, and became one of the strongest leaders there.
A Series A Director of Product Management narrowed a sprawling strategy to one clear focus, and drove the decision with the whole company instead of carrying it alone.
“
Each time when we talk, I have the feeling I am looking into a mental mirror… this is truly valuable, as it gives ideas of what else I can do differently to unblock something, or go around and move on.
Coaching client
1:1 coaching
More coaching stories
From burning out to leading from her strengths
A global head of department with ADHD swapped burnout and self-criticism for leading from her strengths, and has moved from telling her team what to do to coaching them.
From lone researcher to the leader his team rallies around
A deep-tech research lead, on employer-sponsored coaching, went from holding ideas back until they were finished to becoming the point of clarity his team works around.
From adrift at the top to a goal worth chasing
A senior executive at a European sustainability think tank, on employer-sponsored coaching, had reached the top of his ladder and felt adrift. He named a goal worth chasing.
From second-guessing to deciding with confidence
A Series A founder and CEO turned a strategy on paper into one focused bet, stopped second-guessing his own judgement, and had the hard conversation he’d circled for weeks.
If you were sent this page
Someone thinks you’re worth investing in. You decide whether to work with me, after a free first conversation. What you say in coaching stays between us.
And you?
When I coach someone on your team, it can help to coach you as well.
The quickest change often comes from both sides: how they’re set up and what you ask of them. And the person who asks about someone else often gets just as much from the coaching.
We’ll talk about it on our first call. It’s entirely your choice.
Extras, if they help
We can start with 360 feedback or a strengths profile, and repeat the 360 at the end so everyone can see what’s changed.
Who you'll be working with
You’ll work with me, every session. I don’t hand clients to associates.
I spent six years at Google, then two at Amazon, where I led a 100-person organisation, and I was CPO of a listed company. Since then I’ve worked with over 200 leaders, and I’m ICF-accredited.
If I’m not the right coach for someone, I’ll say so, and point you to someone who is.
Sending this to someone?
Here’s a line you can paste:
Richard coaches leaders as their jobs get bigger, whether it’s a new senior hire, someone just promoted, or the founder. It’s confidential, and the person being coached decides.
If you invest in a founder, or sit on their board, and their leaders are growing into bigger jobs, introduce us.
Want coaching for yourself, paid for by your company? Here’s how to get it approved →
Next steps
1
Book a call
A 20-minute Clarity Call. Free, confidential, no preparation needed.
2
Then a Strategy Session
Free. We talk about you, or the person you have in mind, and you leave with a plan.
3
A clear proposal
The goals, the set-up and the price, so you can decide.
Frequently asked questions
Will you tell me what's said in the sessions?
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Can HR, or someone else, be involved?
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Will you assess them, or tell me whether to keep them?
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What if they don't want coaching?
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I’d like my company to pay. What do I send my CEO?
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How is it set up, and who pays?
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Can you coach our whole leadership team?
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Is it in person or online?
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Can I have coaching just for myself, without my company involved?
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Not quite what you're looking for?
The whole leadership team needs to agree something?