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21 top executive coaches you can learn from today
Sophia Lee, author

Sophia Lee

Writer, Culture Amp

Recently, we saw a question about executive coaching services on Culture Amp’s new online forum, People Geeks Answers. We thought this was an excellent opportunity to address precisely what executive coaching is and share recommendations from the Culture Amp network.

What is executive coaching?

For those unfamiliar, executive coaching is a relationship where a qualified professional works with leaders to help them achieve a variety of goals - whether it’s gaining more self-awareness or clarifying their career path. Finding a coach who understands your needs and has experience guiding other clients through the same challenges is essential.

Since selecting the right executive coach may feel daunting, we collected recommendations from 22 executive coaches to help you get started. Below, we share their areas of specialization, the locations they serve, and advice for those seeking executive coaching services.

1) Brandi Nicole Johnson

Brandi is an award-winning international speaker, facilitator, and coach. Brandi’s passion is developing the world's next generation of leaders and creating experiences that transform lives.

Locations: Brandi coaches clients remotely and across any time zone. She’s also open to traveling to clients for coaching intensives that mirror the format of a personal retreat which usually lasts one to two consecutive days.

Specializations: Brandi primarily works with individuals interested in making a career transition (whether it’s entering or exiting a role or industry), pursuing another leadership role, or experiencing some kind of leadership challenge.

Brandi’s Advice: “For those that are seeking out coaching services, I believe it's important to first assess your readiness for coaching. Coaching is not therapy.

Before hiring a Coach, Coachees should clarify why they want to be coached and how they believe a Coach could help support them in meeting their personal and professional goals. If Coachees have these insights, they will be better equipped to discern whether or not a Coach is a right fit for them at that point in their personal and professional journey.”

Coaching is not therapy. Before hiring a Coach, Coachees should clarify why they want to be coached and how they believe a Coach could help support them in meeting their personal and professional goals.

— Brandi Nicole Johnson

2) Anne Ospital

Anne is a certified Executive Coach in different countries and coaches in English, French and Italian. She focuses on building one-on-one relationships to help her clients face challenges, articulate their wishes and fears, and make them aware of what drives them to become fully engaged and purpose-driven.

Locations: Anne offers coaching services in person in her Paris office and remotely to any other location - mainly with U.K. and Italy-based clients.

Specializations: Anne’s specialization is change management through communication. Having worked in various countries, she also specializes in intercultural coaching, which is key today to excel in multicultural and complex environments.

Anne’s Advice: “The most important thing is that you feel inspired by your coach. Meet different coaches, follow your intuition, and choose the best one for you – you will feel excited and maybe even a bit scared, but this means that you are ready for the journey.

Your coach needs to fit with your style and values, understand you and your challenges and will shake up your thinking by taking you out of your comfort zone. The main benefit of coaching is that you will grow to become the best version of yourself, based on your uniqueness and strengths.”

3) Lindsay Fields

Lindsay is a thoughtful and accomplished people leader, executive coach, and leadership consultant. She has experience delivering strategic business impact in multiple industries including technology, media, healthcare, retail, and consulting. Lindsay leverages 15+ years of HR/OD/Coaching expertise to accelerate the competitive advantage of companies by optimizing their talent, teams, and organizations.

Locations: Lindsay is headquartered in Atlanta and offers both in-person and remote services nationwide.

Specializations: Lindsay specializes in working with men in tech. The reality is that men are still the vast majority in tech, especially in leadership roles, and she believes that to create better, more inclusive, happier workplaces for all people, we must raise the emotional and relationship intelligence of the majority.

Lindsay’s Advice: “Take the time to interview at least three coaches. Like anything, not everyone is going to be right for you. There are many flavors of coaching in the market, so it pays to discover how each coach would approach working with you.

For example, some coaches are very focused on helping you set goals and stay accountable to those goals but may not get into the deeper work or the root cause. No approach is better than the other. They are simply different, and deciding what works best for your needs and desires is up to you. The benefits of great coaching can include better boundaries, less conflict, happier relationships, clear direction on next steps, understanding our strengths, and many other benefits depending on the topic.”

4) Hsiang-Yi Lin

Hsiang-Yi is an executive and leadership coach, a strategic planning facilitator, and an organizational transformation consultant. Hsiang-Yi has helped executive leaders at Dropbox, Culture Amp, Open DNS/Cisco, and NerdWallet navigate leadership challenges and thrive in times of growth and transition. Before coaching, she spent 10+ years in operating and leadership roles at companies like Intuit, Yahoo, FedEx, and Silicon Valley tech start-ups. As a result, she deeply empathizes with the leadership challenges of rapidly scaling organizations.

Locations: Hsiang-Yi offers in-person coaching in Portland, OR, San Francisco, CA, Seattle, WA, and remote coaching globally. In addition to coaching individuals, she also works with teams.

Specializations: Hsiang-Yi partners with highly accomplished and results-oriented leaders who recognize that "what got them here will not get them there" and work with them to cross that chasm.

Hsiang-Yi’s Advice: “Coaching is a great vehicle to help leaders operate at their best – consistently. Like Olympic athletes, executives work with their coaches to help them perform at their best. Through coaching, one not only gains perspectives on navigating through current situations but also acquires the inner resources and builds the capacity necessary for long-term success.

One piece of advice: Be intentional about why you want to do this work. I often begin my work by asking some big questions, such as:

  • What is the “one big thing” you’d like to accomplish in our coaching together? Why is that important to you?
  • Why does being a good leader matter to you?

I believe that people achieve their highest potential when the what, how, and why are all present. Thus, I work with leaders to set an intention on the what, build capacity for the how, and gain clarity on the why.”

I believe that people achieve their highest potential when the what, how, and why are all present. Thus, I work with leaders to set an intention on the what, build capacity for the how, and gain clarity on the why.

— Hsiang-Yi Lin

5) Ken Whitters

Ken specializes in developing organizational and individual capability through training, consulting, and coaching. Specific areas of application in this regard are Leadership, Team Development, Personal Effectiveness, Resilience, Career Development, Communication, Strategic Thinking, Negotiation, Managing Change, Organization Culture, and Influencing Others.

Locations: Ken provides coaching services across Australia and Southeast Asia. He offers in-person coaching in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, and Brisbane and occasionally travels further as required. Ken also takes clients remotely via Skype, Zoom, or phone.

Specializations: Ken focuses on assisting leaders in realizing their own potential and achieving the same with their staff. The approach draws on the latest research from neuroscience and positive psychology but is also fundamentally practical, recognizing that leadership can be messy often.

Ken’s Advice: “When seeking coaching services, having an overall objective in mind is important. This will assist you in identifying the right coach for you. For example, if you are looking for career progression to the C-Suite, it could help to have a coach who has worked at that level.

Chemistry is also important. Coaching is only truly successful when the relationship between coach and client is developed on a foundation of trust. The coaching relationship can be short or long, depending on the value it is seen to deliver. While it generally commences with one or more clear goals that the client brings to the coach, after a few sessions, the value of the coaching shifts often shifts to a broader reflective space. There is no rule for the duration other than continuing perceived value.”

6) Jennifer Iannolo

Jennifer is a global speaker and empowerment catalyst. A lifelong entrepreneur, she is the Founder and CEO of IMPERIA™, an innovation incubator focused on women creating social impact projects around the globe. IMPERIA brings together women from 195 countries to develop their leadership and provide a strong sense of community, with programming based on Jennifer’s methodology of Self-Directed Empowerment™, which illustrates how one can become one’s own renewable, sustainable source of power.

Locations: Jennifer offers 100% remote services (by phone or internet call) and works with founders worldwide.

Specializations: Jennifer works primarily with post-Series A and female founders, but she has also worked with many men and co-ed founding teams. She comes in when it's time to grow and build a proper culture, infrastructure, and leadership development arc, and help the company transition from survival to thriving mode.

Jennifer’s Advice: “When it comes to finding a coach, the importance of experience cannot be understated. The marketplace is flooded with "coaches," so dig in to find out what they've done in their careers. What makes them qualified to coach you? What is their track record? Do they have a level of special knowledge in your field? Will they sign an NDA?

The next most important piece is fit. I choose my coaching clients very carefully because I'm looking for a certain type of human: An entrepreneur who wants to thrive in uncharted waters, crafting the future. This is not a casual arrangement to walk into, because you want to trust your coach with your business and personality details. My coaching contract has a confidentiality clause built-in so founders can feel comfortable telling me the details we need to discuss.”

7) Ann Mehl

Ann is a highly seasoned executive coach with a loyal following in New York, where she is known as one of the “go-to” coaches for CEOs in tech startup companies. She has logged over 5000 hours of one-on-one coaching and completed training and certification in the following modalities: Non-Violent Communication, The Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument, The Immunity to Change Model, and Tilt 365.

Locations: Ann partners with clients based in and outside of the U.S. She usually connects with clients over the phone or via Zoom and also meets with individuals in person at her office in Flatiron, NYC. She can work with clients at their offices, too, when needed.

Specializations: Ann serves several business owners, Founders, Co-Founders, and C-Suite executives. Entrepreneurs tend to be her focus. She also adores supporting female leaders through organizations she collaborates with within NY and NJ.

Ann’s Advice: “Before you reach out to a coach, take some time to review your intentions. Are you funding the work directly or is your company looking to invest on your behalf? If you could create the results you desired with your life/business/role, what specifically would you like to achieve?

I often suggest speaking to a few coaches before you commit to one. Gaining rapport as well as understanding a coach’s approach, is key. Look for someone who has a coach themselves and who is a deep listener. The process of coaching can be humbling as you’re often looking at ways you’ve been thinking and behaving, which could be getting in the way of your goals. Therefore, making space for self-reflection as you embark on the process is vital.”

The process of coaching can be humbling as you’re often looking at ways you’ve been thinking and behaving, which could be getting in the way of your goals. Therefore, making space for self-reflection as you embark on the process is vital.

— Ann Mehl

8) Laura Gates

Laura is a certified ICF PCC and Marshall Goldsmith coach with over 20 years of experience coaching and training leaders at organizations such as NASA, the Navy, Shell Oil, M+T Bank, and LexisNexis, as well as start-up venture-backed Silicon Valley CEOs and executive teams in tech, biotech, energy, and financial industries.

Locations: Laura lives and works in the SF Bay Area and sees clients from San Francisco to Sunnyvale. She also has clients throughout the US, Europe, and globally. She travels as needed and coaches clients remotely (via phone and video).

Specializations: Laura specializes in Executive Coaching, Women in Leadership, Succeeding in your Zone of Genius, Navigating Career Transitions. Laura has patented a methodology for Creativity and Innovation and facilitates teams to have honest conversations for alignment, vision, and strategy. She also coaches VC-backed startup CEO’s on their leadership.

Laura’s Advice: “A coach partners with you to help you think outside of the box regarding your current challenges, access your own inner wisdom, and define a path forward while holding you accountable to your goals and intentions of what you want to create. The investment of time and energy you put into your own learning journey is key to an impactful coaching engagement.”

9) Beth Hope

Beth is a fully accredited coach with the Academy of Executive Coaching (AoEC) and an International Coaching Federation (ICF) member. She has developed tools and techniques that she brings to her clients to build fundamental confidence and resilience and to help them go from feeling stuck and overwhelmed to pursuing and achieving their goals.

Locations: Beth offers her services over Zoom video call primarily or occasionally in-person in Central London coffee shops or client's offices (London only or travel expenses apply).

Specializations: Beth works with clients to build their authentic confidence and help them truly flourish in all aspects of their life including career. She works with men and women throughout all stages of their careers.

Beth’s Advice: “Coaching is a really powerful process if you are ready to work and make the changes you want. Be prepared to be challenged and see things in a new light. Work with a coach that you connect with as well as someone who is properly trained and accredited.

Coaching is an investment in terms of money, time, and dedication, be prepared for that. It is the best investment and a life-changing one (if you are ready). To find a coach, ask for recommendations from others, look at LinkedIn, reach out and ask to have an initial chat to see if you are the right fit for each other. Coaching should be a great, groundbreaking process, so invest in the right coach for you and enjoy it! It's the hardest work but the best work of your life.”

10) Rachel Constable

Rachel is a coach, facilitator, and consultant who assists individuals and organizations in navigating challenging spaces and phases. Her goal is to help her clients close the gaps between where they are and where they truly want to be.

Locations: Rachel mainly offers services on the phone or video (Zoom, Google hangouts, etc.) She occasionally meets clients in person and is based in Burlingame, California.

Specializations: Rachel coaches people who are open, curious, and ready to experiment with new ways of living and working.

Rachel’s Advice: “At times, many of us lose track of what we really want and are unsure of how to show up with our team, friends, and family. Coaching is a place to be present, speak freely, untangle thoughts, and gain clarity. I believe my clients have the answers within them, and my role is to help uncover their wisdom through questions and challenges and cheer them on as they experiment with new ways of living in their daily lives.

When selecting a coach, go with someone you feel a connection with - listen to your gut and intuition. Choose someone who points you in directions that lead to new perspectives and encourages you to step outside of your comfort zone. That is where you'll find meaningful change and growth.”

Choose someone who points you in directions that lead to new perspectives and encourages you to step outside of your comfort zone. That is where you’ll find meaningful change and growth.

— Rachel Constable

11) Michael Dolan

Michael is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) through the International Coaching Federation and a Certified Integral Coach® through New Ventures West in San Francisco, where he serves as adjunct faculty and mentors new coaches. He uses his 15 years of management experience to help successful professionals get out of their way by enabling them to develop and maintain higher levels of self-awareness to create a bigger impact and experience greater satisfaction in their work and life.

Locations: Michael works with clients mainly in the U.S. and does a fair amount of travel for this work, but he’s also happy to work virtually with video when needed. He is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Specializations: Michael’s sweet spot supports leaders who are blocked by an underlying issue of lack of balance, stress, or poor self-management. He offers a unique combination of workflow coaching and leadership coaching.

Michael’s Advice: “These days, working with a coach to help you develop as a leader and human being is becoming increasingly common. We all need this support, especially as we mature in our professional roles and have more responsibilities and relationships to manage.

A great coach can be an invaluable partner in your self-development by helping to illuminate your blind spots and unconscious personality patterns and guiding you with new practices which, over time, integrate into who you are and how you show up as a leader. I recommend taking some time to research the level of experience, style, and testimonials of each coach you consider, and interview at least two or three to get a feel. Trust your heart and your gut in making this decision.”

12) Kate Snowise

Kate is a Life & Executive Coach who helps dedicated individuals feel aligned at a soul level so they can create the lives they crave. Her online coaching mixes psychology with old-school wisdom. She received her MS in Psychology in 2008 and worked for several years as a Corporate Psychologist before setting up her own coaching practice.

Locations: Kate does most of her coaching via video-conferencing calls remotely with U.S.-based clients. She also offers in-person sessions in Minneapolis, MN.

Specializations: Kate specializes in Emerging Leadership, Career Planning, and Stress & Resilience Coaching. She utilizes a lot of theories from the field of Positive Psychology in her coaching process.

Kate’s Advice: “Nothing beats a personal recommendation. That is an excellent sign if you know someone who speaks highly of a coach after working with them. If you don't have that luxury, do your homework and look for professional coaches with a background that feels good to you (as Coaching is still an unregulated industry).

Read testimonials, check them out on LinkedIn, and listen to podcasts if they have one. But above all else, connect with the Coach and get a feel for them. Coaching is a personal process, so the coaching relationship is essential to success. You need to feel comfortable with your Coach.”

13) Larissa Conte

Larissa is the Founder of Wayfinding.io and specializes in facilitating aliveness and alignment across personal, interpersonal, and organizational scales to cultivate power that serves. With over 10 years of diverse experience in the energetics and mechanics of transformation, she helps leaders and teams develop refined sensing and listening, shed what no longer serves, and dynamically steward greater creative connection in their lives and organizations.

Locations: Larissa offers in-person and remote services from San Francisco, and she travels for select client work ranging nationally and internationally.

Specializations: Larissa specializes in executive rites of passage, power literacy, ego dynamics, inclusive leadership, systems transformation, and ceremony design.

Larissa’s Advice: “When seeking a coach, understand the core principles and beliefs that inform how they coach and see the world. Because the greatest opportunity in coaching is to gain a wider view of yourself and reality, which is only served if you align with your coach's overall ontology and methodology.

I also suggest that you evaluate the person's lived experiences that give them the legitimacy to be in a coaching role. Not only what they've done in the business world but what they've encountered in their life, what they've learned from those experiences, and how relevant those learnings are to your own journey and needs. Lastly, like in all relationships, it ultimately comes down to the feeling, so it's worth connecting with a couple of coaches to see whom you resonate the most with.”

14) Matthew Laffer

Matthew is a three-time entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO of Goalspriing, reinventing coaching for the modern workforce to help people and companies reach their full potential. He has a successful track record of building great companies that foster healthy living and an enhanced quality of life for people worldwide.

Locations: Matthew offers phone, video conference, and unlimited messaging services worldwide.

Specializations: Matthew specializes in working with new leaders in private, venture-backed startups.

Matthew’s Advice: “Hire a coach who has done more than once what you are trying to accomplish.”

15) Dara Blumenthal, PhD

Dara is committed to helping people and teams expand who they are and what they can achieve. She draws on her experiences as a sociologist, Developmental Coach, Integral Facilitator®, cultural theorist, a scholar of identity and embodiment, educator, mind-body awareness practitioner, Usui Reiki Master, meditator, and organization designer in her work with individuals and teams.

Locations: Dara offers services both in-person in New York City and virtually via Zoom. She sometimes travels to work with teams and individuals as part of their ongoing work together.

Specializations: Dara’s coaching specialization is in holistic identity development. It is a whole-person, whole-life Integral approach that includes embodiment, mindfulness, and adult developmental psychology.

Dara’s Advice: “Coaching is all about the relationship and where you can go and how you can experiment in that relationship. People are often drawn to work with me because I take an organic discovery approach instead of a goal-oriented one. These are different types of growth, and when you're looking for a coach, it is useful to have at least a general sense of the type of work you're ready to do, how much uncertainty you're up for, and all of the facets of your life that may potentially benefit from your work together.

Personally, I work with people deeply over no less than six months. When first starting a relationship like this, I generally make myself available to multiple meetings upfront to discern if we're a good fit to do good work together.”

16) Sue Heilbronner

Sue is a speaker, startup CEO, investor, mentor, adjunct professor of entrepreneurship, conscious leadership coach, co-creator of the Leadership Camp training program for high-potential leaders, former federal prosecutor, and a direct and fearless catalyst for change. She is an authentic, conscious leadership resource for leaders and teams interested in reaching their highest potential and biggest vision.

Locations: Sue works extensively in Denver/Boulder, Bay Area, and Chicago. She travels internationally to meet with clients and conducts a portion of all coaching engagements over video conferences.

Specializations: Sue has deep experience as a business operator and investor in tech, so the lion’s share of her work is in that sector. Sue’s venture fund, MergeLane, focuses on companies that must have at least one woman in leadership, so she always has many female clients. She has also worked extensively with successful family businesses that are navigating generational changes.

Sue’s Advice: “The first question to ask around securing a coach is “Do I really want a coach?” Many people are advised to hire a coach or feel pressured because others in their leadership peer group are getting great benefits from their coaches.

Hold off if you are not ready to be in an intimate, vulnerable coaching engagement. If you’ve passed the hurdle of knowing you want to find a coach, I recommend you speak with three people your network has recommended. Evaluate the quality of the coaches’ listening, the willingness of the coach to build a relationship with you in that first call, and the personal style of each candidate. Great coaches help you look at the shadow, your blind spots, with an open, honest heart. Choose the person you think is most likely to give you that, especially if that thought, as you read this, brings on a giant wave of nausea.”

Great coaches help you look at the shadow, your blind spots, with an open, honest heart. Choose the person you think is most likely to give you that, especially if that thought, as you read this, brings on a giant wave of nausea.

— Sue Heilbronner

17) Kate Bednarski

Kate is the Founder of 5 Stepping Stones, through which she partners with business, financial and creative leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, and actors on their paths toward authenticity and wholeness. She works with people longing to work and live true to their whole authentic selves, engage in the right work, experience meaning, and ascend to their highest state of being.

Locations: Kate is a digital nomad traveling the country in her camper van. So she “sees” all her clients virtually. When she’s at her home base in the Catskill Mountains in New York, she sees people for group work at her home once a month.

Specializations: Kate focuses on a transpersonal approach, meaning she supports her clients’ whole selves. Her clients tend to be executives, C-level entrepreneurs, and creative leaders who desire to be authentic in work and their lives. Many of her clients seek Kate’s services as they are going through a big transition in life.

Kate’s Advice: “Most importantly, find a coach with whom you resonate and relate strongly. Feel into it with your heart and gut...not only your head.

I’m a coach because I had a wonderful coach when I became the President of a company during my corporate career. That relationship changed my life and opened up my self-awareness and vulnerability in a way that would not have been possible without her sage guidance and direct feedback. Coaching makes us better people, helps us see our blind spots and move through them, and work with our shadow parts to transform them into strong personal attributes. Bringing a coach on your personal support team is one of the strongest moves you can make to assist you on your life journey, career to clear, expand and transform...and it’s a lot of fun, too.”

18) Bobbi McPherson

Bobbi serves as a Personal Development Coach for Women In Balance, offering women’s retreats in incredible destinations to allow women the opportunity to reboot, rebalance, and recharge. She uses her 30 years of experience in Human Capital Management to relate to her clients' needs and effectively coach them - meeting them where they are in the challenges they face.

Locations: Bobbi offers her services in person, through video chat, or by phone. Her current client base includes all three modalities, with clients in Colorado, Chicago, Manhattan, and Omaha, NE.

Specializations: Bobbi specializes in women in leadership roles or women solopreneurs getting started launching their businesses.

Bobbi’s Advice: “My best advice for people seeking out coaching services is to be discriminating and trust your intuition, the fit has to be right to get the most out of a coaching engagement. Asking for references from current or past coaching clients is also a good idea.

I also suggest that anyone seeking coaching services should inquire as to what coaching training or certification the coach completed and then explore their methodology - there are various approaches out there. Formal training or apprenticeships are important, as some skill is involved in this growing craft.”

19) Melissa Marot, PhD

Melissa is an organizational psychologist and clinical neuropsychologist interested in neurosciences. She has experience working with various psychological needs – transition and change, leadership, team effectiveness, stress and burnout, building resilience, communication, and other workplace challenges.

Locations: Melissa offers in-person services at The Mind Room in Victoria, Australia. She also regularly works with clients who are nationally or internationally based. Remote and across time zone sessions can be easily managed and booked through The Mind Room.

Specializations: Melissa has a specialist interest in well-being and performance at work. She has many years of experience working with people and organizations, including individual coaching, workshop facilitation, and consulting around leadership, transition, and change.

Melissa’s Advice: “Coaching psychology creates meaningful and sustainable change, where you have the chance to reflect and proactively work to develop well-being and performance. Working with a psychologist provides the opportunity to work with evidence-based strategies and approaches to explore and identify challenges/opportunities, and achieve goals for growth and development. To find the right coach, explore what might be the best fit for you, and ask lots of questions! Some could be:

  • What are the coach's credentials and training, especially regarding their experience with your industry?
  • What do you want to explore in coaching?
  • What is the typical coaching process? What happens in a typical coaching session?
  • What would you like to know about me? What would you like me to know about you?
  • How do you handle confidentiality?

The coach is there to broaden your perspective, develop skills and strategies, support you, and push you out of your comfort zone.”

20) Songya Kesler

Songya is a consultant and coach accredited by AOEC, MITT, Happy Ltd, and LEVEL7. With a balanced creative-analytical mind, she helps individuals to develop essential leadership skills and self-awareness to uncover who they are and what they want so they can lead with certainty and authenticity.

Locations: Songya offers her services in person in Berlin and remotely via Zoom.

Specializations: Songya specializes in Leadership in Startups & Scale-ups, Leading in Volatile/Uncertain/Ambiguous/Complex Environments and High-Performing Teams.

Songya’s Advice: “Coaching can be a transformative experience if you come forward fully ready to embrace what might emerge. My most rewarding coaching relationships are ones where the client chose coaching, not where they were forced.

There are many different approaches to coaching that suit different needs, and finding the right coach might feel overwhelming. Look for someone with experience and with whom you have the right amount of rapport. Ask open-ended questions to each potential coach to find someone who is credible and experienced and someone who you trust enough to show up as your full self. There should be a balance of discomfort (for growth) and comfort (for deepening) and a safe container where you can play, experiment, and make mistakes.

Some questions you might ask: Why did you become an executive coach? What is your typical client profile? Think of a time when you questioned your efficacy as a coach - what happened?

Coaching can be a transformative experience if you come forward fully ready to embrace what might emerge. My most rewarding coaching relationships are ones where the client chose coaching, not where they were forced.

— Songya Kesler

21) Katee Van Horn

Katee is an international keynote speaker, proven coach, author, and strategic leader. She focuses on building diverse and inclusive teams. Katee listens to your professional and personal needs to help build a plan to maximize your success.

Locations: A lot of Katee’s coaching work is done virtually. She is located in Phoenix, Arizona, and can also meet in person for those who are local.

Specializations: Katee specializes in working with women new to leadership or looking to move to the next level. She has also been asked to step in when someone has been accused of sexual harassment or misconduct to reinforce the messages of the company code of conduct.

Katee’s Advice:

  1. “Think about professional athletes. A coach is not going to do the work for you. They are there to help you uncover the right solution. You have the tools inside of you. They help to bring these out.
  2. Coaching is all about the relationship. You need to establish trust if you want to drive a great relationship.
  3. Understand their approach to coaching. They may have a specific formula they use or are more of a free-flowing process based on the circumstances/needs of the clients.
  4. Know that your coach will push you and ask you to do things that will stretch you to be better. This will help you improve.”

22) Leigh Morrison

Leigh is a coach with over a decade of experience who supports people, teams, and organizations through major transitions – whether that’s concerning their careers, leadership development, or any other changes focused on the alignment of life and work. Leigh uses a re-calibration model that addresses values, beliefs, choices in behavior, and processes to drive different outcomes.

Locations: Leigh offers coaching services in person from Melbourne and Sydney and can work remotely or travel to other locations.

Specializations: Leigh specializes in individual coaching across areas of career development; facilitating teams and training people to build cohesiveness, effectiveness, and improve communication skills; and helping organizations align their employees to the business’s purpose, vision, and objectives.

Leigh’s Advice: “A great coaching relationship all comes down to chemistry, like all other important relationships in your life. No one wants to drag themselves to work together! Be clear on your intention for coaching, and then co-create how you work together. Being able to bring your whole self to coaching conversations helps - life inside and outside the workplace impact and influence one another. A great coach will offer you their presence and guide you to build your own awareness and position you to be in a place where you take action and stay aligned with your values.” 

Empower your own development with an executive coach

It’s encouraging to see the rise in demand for executive coaching services as company leaders invest more in their self-development. We hope these recommendations help you get started on the path to improving your life, career, and outlook as well.

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