Are you a climate tech founder working through hyper-growth and facing a daunting jump in the what your company needs from you?
I offer practical coaching to help you make that jump, develop consistent leadership habits, and work through the head trash that comes with the structural loneliness of your role.
“Dai has had a tremendous impact on my growth as a leader and my performance in my role. He has an uncanny ability to see the forest for the trees, and while he’s always there for me he’s also not afraid to challenge my mental models and the stories I’m telling myself. Dai has helped me build a consistent approach to how I manage and lead while coaching me through the toughest people situations that crop up.”
The first time I took on a CEO role I had an executive coach. There was no doubt I needed one — it was often a lonely experience and I was being stretched to lead and manage people in ways that I never had before.
Yet I didn’t get what I hoped to out of that coaching relationship. It often felt like therapy with no accountability for progress. I would leave our coaching sessions on Wednesdays with some new big-picture reflections, but not clear on what to do differently on Thursday. So I grew the harder way — more slowly, and through trial-and-error with bigger, higher-consequence mistakes along the way.
If you find yourself stepping up and feeling outside of your comfort zone as a leader, you may want the same kind of coach I wish I’d had when I needed it most:
An experienced practitioner—whose core experience lay in managing teams and running businesses—to help me achieve tangible developmental goals rather than engage in open-ended quasi-therapy, and to offer actual advice in addition to asking good questions
Someone who would not just show up with empathy and support, but who would challenge me and hold me accountable
A coach who would go beyond theories of management and leadership to guide me through cycles of on-the-job practice as I build new habits
I’ve now reached a point in my career where I can pay it forward by doing exactly that kind of coaching. I’ve led high-performing organizations and co-founded several startups that are now serving thousands of customers.
My approach is practical and grounded in my own entrepreneurial experience. I get immersed in leaders' lives, serving as a thought partner and confidant in a way that cuts across the professional and the deeply personal.
I generally start by coaching an individual CEO/founder but that sometimes bridges into team-level engagement of various kinds. I help leaders navigate a range of common challenges such as:
Improving leadership team dynamics, upgrading the caliber of a leadership team, and evolving org design
Holding people accountable and working through interpersonal conflict
Rethinking uses of time and calendar management habits
Taking a more intentional approach to people management that combines vulnerability with high expectations and radical candor
If this sounds like a potential fit, the best way to explore is to set up a free exploratory chat and then speak to clients of mine about their experience working with me.