For the person running the team. The most senior person in the room usually has nobody to think out loud with — not their team, because they're the boss, and not their owner, because that's who they're performing for. That's the seat I sit in.
Nobody gives the boss feedback.
Their team won't. Their owner is evaluating them. Six months in, nobody has told them the truth about how they're doing.
They set it. They bring the agenda — not a curriculum, the thing actually on their desk this week.
We work it. The decision, the person, the number, or the conversation they've been avoiding.
One commitment. Every session ends with one thing they'll do before we meet again, and I follow up on it.
Between sessions. Reachable for the call that can't wait two weeks. That's most of why this works.
Is this working? Is the company getting what it needs? What should we point at next quarter? Run within the confidentiality terms below — never outside them.
Two weeks tracking where their days actually go. Most new managers are still doing the job they were promoted out of, and it takes seeing it on paper to stop.
Twenty-three years carrying a number and running regional and national teams. Not a credentialed coach who read about the job — someone who has sat in the chair they're sitting in.
Whoever writes the check gets a quarterly read on whether this is working, without ever being handed something that was said in confidence.
Supplier and distributor. When their hardest problem is a partner relationship, I have actually sat in the other seat.
The sponsor hears whether it's working and what we're focused on. They never hear what was said.
Without that line nobody is honest with you, and the coaching is worthless. I state it in the first meeting with both people in the room, and I don't bend it.
Whether the engagement is on track, what we're working on at a theme level, and an honest answer on whether to continue. Never a transcript, never a quote, never a name attached to a concern.
Additional time bills at $250/hour, my standard rate, and is always approved by the sponsor first.
Tell me about the person and what changed — a promotion, a new role, a team they inherited. Fifteen minutes will tell us both whether this fits.