Coaching for leaders
Coaching for you, as a leader.
You’ve stepped up, or you want the next job. Or your team isn’t where you need it, and you want to lead them better. Either way, coaching helps you get good at it quickly, and stay yourself while you do.
Six years at Google. Two at Amazon. CPO of a listed company. ICF-accredited coach.
Sound familiar?
“Too many priorities, and nothing quite finished.”
The job grew, and everything in it still feels urgent.
“I’ve got the seat at the table. I’m not sure I’m using it.”
The meetings are different, the people are more senior, and what worked last year isn’t enough.
“Everyone says I’m close to the next step. Nobody says what’s in the way.”
You keep hearing “soon”, and the gap never quite gets named.
“I’m accountable for it. I’m just not the one deciding.”
You were asked to take it on. The decisions that matter still get made somewhere else.
“Everything still lands on my desk.”
Your team is good, and somehow the hard parts all end up with you.
“My team isn’t where I need it to be.”
They’re not delivering what you need, and it’s starting to feel like their problem.
“The feedback stung, and I’m not sure which parts are true.”
A 360, a review or one blunt conversation, and now you’re second-guessing how you lead.
This coaching covers how you lead your team, too: how you set them up, what you ask of them and how you lead them, so they do their best work. If it’s one person on your team who needs to grow into their job, they can have coaching of their own. Coaching for someone on your team →
Every month this carries on costs you hours, and keeps the next step waiting.
What it looks like when it works
The few things that matter most get finished.
You go into the hard meeting knowing what you think, and you say it.
The next step up is in sight, because you know what it takes.
The decisions in your area are yours to make, and they stick.
Your team takes on more, so your time goes where it matters.
Your team does its best work, because of how you set them up.
You know what to change about how you lead, and what to keep.
The job starts to feel like yours.
How it works
Individual and confidential, so you can be open.
1
A Clarity Call
20 minutes, free and confidential: is coaching the right help, and is now the right time?
2
A Strategy Session
Free. A real coaching session: we go through what’s happening, what good looks like and what’s been tried. You leave with a plan for what to do next, whether or not it involves me.
3
You decide
If you’d like to carry on, we agree how we’ll work together and the goals, and you get a short proposal your company can approve. Then we start.
Neurodiversity: every brain works differently, so I shape the work around how you think best.
What we work on
Leaders usually start with questions like these:
In the bigger job:
How do I make my first months in a bigger role count?
What’s missing between me and the next promotion?
How do I lead people who used to be my peers?
How do I get people who don’t report to me behind a decision?
How do I take ownership when the big calls still wait for the founder?
What do I do with tough feedback about myself?
With your team:
How do I give the feedback I’ve been holding back?
How do I stop work coming back to me?
How do I get meetings to end with a decision?
What do I do with a good person in the wrong role?
Coaching stories
From functional leader to CTO
A Series C VP Engineering stopped opting out of everything beyond engineering, got engineering and marketing building strategy together, and rose to CTO.
Read more
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From "is this beyond me?" to knowing how she'll lead
A senior commercial leader facing a step up she worried was beyond her stopped grinding to prove herself and decided how she wanted to lead.
Read more
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From tiptoeing around resistance to leading as herself
A newly promoted head of people and operations, leading a restructure after deep budget cuts, stopped tiptoeing around resistant reports and chose to lead as herself.
Read more
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Whatever your title, from the C-suite to product manager, in a startup or a bigger company, the coaching works the same way.
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.
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.
Your company can pay
Most of the leaders I coach have it paid for by their company. Your manager or CEO will have questions; here’s how to answer them, and a message you can send. It also helps you set out what the coaching is worth to your company. How to get your coaching approved →
Know someone this would help?
Here’s a line you can send them:
Richard coaches leaders who’ve stepped up, or want to, so they get good at the bigger job and stay themselves while they do. It’s confidential, and the first call is free.
Here's the page: https://richardrussell.co/coaching/me
What it costs
The price depends on what we agree: the goals, how often we meet, and for how long. After the Strategy Session, you get a short proposal with the price, before anyone commits.
Paying for it yourself?
Yes, you can. If you’d rather keep it to yourself, or your company says no, it stays between you and me. Prices for individuals are different, and we agree them on the call. The steps are the same: a free Clarity Call, a Strategy Session, then you decide.
If you’re paying yourself, here’s a sum to try: where your career goes if you carry on as you are, and where it goes if it moves even 5% faster.
What clients say
“
Far beyond what I expected
[Most useful was] your emotional intelligence; the speed at which you were able to analyze what I was saying… Far exceeded what I had expected.
Coaching client
1:1 coaching
Next steps
Start with a free, 20-minute Clarity Call. Confidential, and no preparation needed.
Frequently asked questions
Will you report back to my manager?
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Is it in person or online?
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Not quite what you're looking for?
Running the company yourself?
Thinking of someone on your team?