Hello!
Glad you're here.
If you're reading this, we're going to have our first conversation soon.
I put this together as a way of communicating, in writing, some of the most frequently asked questions I receive in hopes of making the most of our call together. My intention is to give you a sense of my general philosophy and approach and provide some context for what it might look like to work together.
Feel free to bring any questions that arise to our upcoming conversation or you can email them to me here.
I put this together as a way of communicating, in writing, some of the most frequently asked questions I receive in hopes of making the most of our call together. My intention is to give you a sense of my general philosophy and approach and provide some context for what it might look like to work together.
Feel free to bring any questions that arise to our upcoming conversation or you can email them to me here.
How did you get into coaching?
In a nutshell, I'm in my fourth career now. I've been an engineer, consultant, program manager, and people manager. Through all my experiments and transitions, I figured out that while I'm comfortable with innovative technology and strong as a program manager, what I truly love is the human aspect.
I discovered that my best days always involved helping other people grow and become better leaders and human beings. I also realized that I thrive on authentic, meaningful relationships and conversations geared toward hard topics that help people evolve and succeed.
In 2019, a mentor of mine encouraged me to check out this thing called "professional leadership coaching." I had no idea what she was talking about, but I took a chance on one class of formal coach training and I was blown away by how much it resonated with my personality and values. I knew I had found an aspect of my calling. I quit my high-paying tech job, dedicated a year to formal education and training to become certified in the two most rigorous and respected coaching certifications globally (ICF and CPCC), and launched my private practice as a coach.
For more about my story, see my about page.
I discovered that my best days always involved helping other people grow and become better leaders and human beings. I also realized that I thrive on authentic, meaningful relationships and conversations geared toward hard topics that help people evolve and succeed.
In 2019, a mentor of mine encouraged me to check out this thing called "professional leadership coaching." I had no idea what she was talking about, but I took a chance on one class of formal coach training and I was blown away by how much it resonated with my personality and values. I knew I had found an aspect of my calling. I quit my high-paying tech job, dedicated a year to formal education and training to become certified in the two most rigorous and respected coaching certifications globally (ICF and CPCC), and launched my private practice as a coach.
For more about my story, see my about page.
What is your coaching approach/style?
I don't believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to coaching; instead, I take a heavily personalized approach to honor each individual's goals, needs, values, and circumstances.
To me, coaching is a creative partnership that helps you build awareness, accelerate growth, and implement sustainable changes.
Creative partnership: We are partners. I seek to build and cultivate a symbiotic relationship built on trust, mutual respect, collaboration, and growth. I’m committed to supporting and challenging you to become who you want to be and to having fun together. We get to intentionally design how we work together and will learn from each other along the way. As we get to know each other better, we continually adjust our partnership to serve you better and adjust for what's happening in your career and life.
Build awareness: Awareness is the cornerstone of learning and change. Any goal, professional or personal, requires us to first understand: Where are we now? Where are we going and why? What resources do we have? What does success look like? Awareness involves deep introspection, a willingness to uncover and question your beliefs and worldviews, and an acknowledgment that you can choose different beliefs if you choose to. A big part of our work will involve redefining success for yourself.
Accelerate growth: If you're reading this, you've inevitably experienced changes in your life, big and small. Some of those changes "happened to you", while others "you decided upon". Change is constant, and I don't doubt that you can reach your goals on a long enough timeline. To me, working with a coach helps us to better see and understand ourselves (our values, blindspots, beliefs, stories), clarifies the essence of what we want and why, and helps drive accountability for change.
Implement sustainable changes: Taking action is a large part of our work together. We focus on applying the learnings and insights we discover and consistently move forward toward the career and life you want. Often, I'll ask you to make commitments between our sessions that move you closer toward your goals. These can include everything from journaling assignments to building daily exercise or meditation habits to initiating a difficult conversation with a coworker.
Will you tell me what to do?
You are the expert on your life. I believe you are naturally creative, resourceful, wise, and whole. You bring the agenda, I bring my expertise, frameworks, and presence. My role is to serve as a guide, challenger, and supporter of your goals and growth. I typically refrain from offering prescriptive advice, first prodding you as to what you feel is important and digging in there, but I will draw on my experience if and when it's appropriate.
You own all of your commitments. It's important that you take full responsbilioty of the actions you commit to during our work together. At the end of our sessions, I'll often ask you what you want your next steps to be. I also frequently make suggestions based on what I'm observing and learning. As always, you get to decide what you commit to. I love the metaphor of a waiter: I may offer you coffee or tea, and you might say, "Actually, I'll have dessert instead." You own your choices, AND I will definitely push you to take on smaller or bigger things depending on the context.
We always prioritize learning and action. Yes, we will have tangible goals to achieve, but the real value is in the learning: about yourself and about other people in your life. When we work together, we orient toward learning as the ultimate measure of progress. Practically, what this means two things: Looking forward, our high-level objective behind every action is to gain learning. Journaling. And if something doesn't happen as expected, either within your control (say, you didn't complete what you committed to) or out of your control (you were passed over for promotion this time), our goal is always to harvest the learnings, distill insights, decide what to keep, integrate them, and build upon them moving forward. In this way, we are always improving, always better than yesterday.
Curtis Martin said, "It's not what you achieve in life, but who you become as a person due to those achievements."
I bring all of me. Yes, I’m an ICF-certified and CPCC-certified coach, but I’m also a trusted advisor, program manager, product developer, martial artist, father, husband, son, brother, meditator, skydiving coach, community leader, and more. You’re getting my 37+ years of lived experience, 15+ years of corporate and startup experience, and hundreds of hours of professional coaching experience. I draw on all of these parts depending on what you want or need.
I'm not attached to being right. Part of my superpower is leaning on my intuition. That means that sometimes I'll have a question, idea, image, or phrase pop into my mind. I will strive to share this with you immediately in service of our conversation. I am not attached to being right; meaning, you might say, "Leland, it's not quite that, it's actually this." And that's perfect. Just because I'm wearing the "coach" hat doesn't mean I'm correct. The wrong things I may put forth almost always lead us closer to what's true, so feel free to disagree, push back, and question me. That's the whole point of a thought partner.
You own all of your commitments. It's important that you take full responsbilioty of the actions you commit to during our work together. At the end of our sessions, I'll often ask you what you want your next steps to be. I also frequently make suggestions based on what I'm observing and learning. As always, you get to decide what you commit to. I love the metaphor of a waiter: I may offer you coffee or tea, and you might say, "Actually, I'll have dessert instead." You own your choices, AND I will definitely push you to take on smaller or bigger things depending on the context.
We always prioritize learning and action. Yes, we will have tangible goals to achieve, but the real value is in the learning: about yourself and about other people in your life. When we work together, we orient toward learning as the ultimate measure of progress. Practically, what this means two things: Looking forward, our high-level objective behind every action is to gain learning. Journaling. And if something doesn't happen as expected, either within your control (say, you didn't complete what you committed to) or out of your control (you were passed over for promotion this time), our goal is always to harvest the learnings, distill insights, decide what to keep, integrate them, and build upon them moving forward. In this way, we are always improving, always better than yesterday.
Curtis Martin said, "It's not what you achieve in life, but who you become as a person due to those achievements."
I bring all of me. Yes, I’m an ICF-certified and CPCC-certified coach, but I’m also a trusted advisor, program manager, product developer, martial artist, father, husband, son, brother, meditator, skydiving coach, community leader, and more. You’re getting my 37+ years of lived experience, 15+ years of corporate and startup experience, and hundreds of hours of professional coaching experience. I draw on all of these parts depending on what you want or need.
I'm not attached to being right. Part of my superpower is leaning on my intuition. That means that sometimes I'll have a question, idea, image, or phrase pop into my mind. I will strive to share this with you immediately in service of our conversation. I am not attached to being right; meaning, you might say, "Leland, it's not quite that, it's actually this." And that's perfect. Just because I'm wearing the "coach" hat doesn't mean I'm correct. The wrong things I may put forth almost always lead us closer to what's true, so feel free to disagree, push back, and question me. That's the whole point of a thought partner.
How would you describe your holistic approach?
We integrate both inner work (mindset and beliefs) and outer work (behaviors and actions) to strengthen your personal and leadership skills that will continue to serve you after our work is complete.
Room for all of you. Sometimes, people think they need to show up to coaching sessions being all "rah-rah" positive. While there's room for that, there is also room for parts of you that may be feeling frustrated, angry, sad, upset, or anything else. I believe in welcoming all emotions, giving them room to be heard, acknowledged, and even loved. What I have discovered is that if we allow ourselves to FEEL our emotions, they part that is emotionally uncomfortable subsides more quickly, allowing us to see more clearly what is bothering us. Said another way, the fight-or-flight response when we get triggered is often said to "hijack" or brain, and the half-life of this hijacking is greatly diminished when we allow, rather than resist, strong emotions. So there is always space in our partnership for all parts of you. Separating the FEELING of our emotions from ACTING on them is key to become more self-aware, managing ourselves better, and responding from a thoughtful (rather than reactive) place. Also, strong emotions often reveal when one of our values has been stepped on, which can often point us to deeper insights about what matters to us.
No topic is off-limits. So far, I have yet to encounter a topic that is not welcome. I am honored to listen and make room for what is raw, real, and uncomfortable. That is the work.
Room for all of you. Sometimes, people think they need to show up to coaching sessions being all "rah-rah" positive. While there's room for that, there is also room for parts of you that may be feeling frustrated, angry, sad, upset, or anything else. I believe in welcoming all emotions, giving them room to be heard, acknowledged, and even loved. What I have discovered is that if we allow ourselves to FEEL our emotions, they part that is emotionally uncomfortable subsides more quickly, allowing us to see more clearly what is bothering us. Said another way, the fight-or-flight response when we get triggered is often said to "hijack" or brain, and the half-life of this hijacking is greatly diminished when we allow, rather than resist, strong emotions. So there is always space in our partnership for all parts of you. Separating the FEELING of our emotions from ACTING on them is key to become more self-aware, managing ourselves better, and responding from a thoughtful (rather than reactive) place. Also, strong emotions often reveal when one of our values has been stepped on, which can often point us to deeper insights about what matters to us.
No topic is off-limits. So far, I have yet to encounter a topic that is not welcome. I am honored to listen and make room for what is raw, real, and uncomfortable. That is the work.
Logistically, how do we work together?
Typically, I'll work with people in 4 or 7 month engagements, meeting twice a month for 55-minute coaching sessions. After hundreds of hours of coaching with dozens of clients around the world, I've learned that this cadence tends to be the most effective as a starting point. I've also coached people every week and occasionally coached for 30 or 90 minute sessions instead. It depends on your goals and how quickly you'd like to (and can) progress.
Between our coaching sessions, I am also available to you via text and email if anything comes up. I become part of your inner circle of trusted advisors and supporters, there when you need me.
In addition to our coaching sessions, I also budget 1-3 hours per week of offline, asynchronous work such as responding to your journals, keeping you accountable, synthesizing various assignments, etc.
At the beginning of the engagement, I'll send you my discover worksheet which you can think of as an intake form. It provides an opportunity for self-reflection looking back at your past, where you are now, and where you think you want to go together. Most people budget 2-3 hours to complete this. We then have a 90-minute "Design & Discovery Session" where we discuss how we'll initially work together and discuss your responses as input into the context and content of our work.
24 hours prior to our sessions, I will send you a pre-session check in with several questions with the intent to make the most of our synchronous time together, such as "What would you most like to focus on tomorrow?" and "Where would you like to be at the end of our session?" I've found that this helps you to bring a focused topic or theme to our conversations.
To support our work, we’ll use a secure, personalized, online coaching platform to:
Between our coaching sessions, I am also available to you via text and email if anything comes up. I become part of your inner circle of trusted advisors and supporters, there when you need me.
In addition to our coaching sessions, I also budget 1-3 hours per week of offline, asynchronous work such as responding to your journals, keeping you accountable, synthesizing various assignments, etc.
At the beginning of the engagement, I'll send you my discover worksheet which you can think of as an intake form. It provides an opportunity for self-reflection looking back at your past, where you are now, and where you think you want to go together. Most people budget 2-3 hours to complete this. We then have a 90-minute "Design & Discovery Session" where we discuss how we'll initially work together and discuss your responses as input into the context and content of our work.
24 hours prior to our sessions, I will send you a pre-session check in with several questions with the intent to make the most of our synchronous time together, such as "What would you most like to focus on tomorrow?" and "Where would you like to be at the end of our session?" I've found that this helps you to bring a focused topic or theme to our conversations.
To support our work, we’ll use a secure, personalized, online coaching platform to:
- Track action items and metrics
- Send automated reminders via email and/or text
- Store all worksheets, journals, and files
- Capture ad hoc notes and takeaways
How many clients do you work with?
I work with a maximum of 12 clients at a time. This benefits both of us. I am able to provide a depth and intensity of my presence that I wasn't able to when I was coaching over 30 people at once. It also allows me to keep myself nourished and balanced. One of the best compliments I've ever received is, "I feel like I'm your only client." That is how I strive to have each person feel.
What is the value/benefit that coaching truly provides?
Personally, as a direct and ongoing recipient of my own experience with my coaches and mentors, I can say wholeheartedly that I would not be the same person without these people in my life and in my corner. Beyond the many professional and personal goals I've achieved, what I truly value is how I have increasing access to an inner place of peace, wisdom, creativity, courage, and calm that guides me through life's many ups and downs. Please see my writing as an ongoing journal of my own growth.
For the amazing people I work with, feel free to peruse their comments on my impact page. If you'd like to speak with any of them about what it's like to work with me, let me know and I can put you in touch.
The magic happens between sessions. The time we spend on a call together can be transformative, but the real application of that work is between sessions, when you're at work or with your loved ones, and you choose to implement what you committed to. That is the real impact of our work together -- the conscious choices that you make to become a better person, day in and day out.
For the amazing people I work with, feel free to peruse their comments on my impact page. If you'd like to speak with any of them about what it's like to work with me, let me know and I can put you in touch.
The magic happens between sessions. The time we spend on a call together can be transformative, but the real application of that work is between sessions, when you're at work or with your loved ones, and you choose to implement what you committed to. That is the real impact of our work together -- the conscious choices that you make to become a better person, day in and day out.
How can I get the most out of the experience?
Some parts will be hard, others uncomfortable. My role is to both challenge and support you in your growth to unlock more and more of your potential. In my experience, the best progress/results will be determined by the extent to which you:
- Have a growth mindset, meaning being curious and open about your current mental models and beliefs
- Are committed to taking action, doing the work, and leading change
- Willing to be vulnerable and go deep when appropriate (by yourself, with me, and with others)
- Willing to create space to reflect, think, and explore (both inside and outside of our sessions)
- Have a growth mindset, meaning being curious and open about your current mental models and beliefs
- Are committed to taking action, doing the work, and leading change
- Willing to be vulnerable and go deep when appropriate (by yourself, with me, and with others)
- Willing to create space to reflect, think, and explore (both inside and outside of our sessions)