I work with both Founders and CEOs, each of whom can face very different challenges in organizations of all sizes, so for me, the size of your organization isn't really an issue - what's much more important is that I clearly understand your current role (Founder/Owner; Founder with investors; CEO) from the outset so I can structure our coaching engagement accordingly.

Let's discuss this in a no-obligation call together to make sure you are entirely comfortable that I'm a good fit for you as a coach in your current role (and to answer any other questions you have): 

Not only does Les have extensive experience in all major NFP sectors (including charities, cause- and faith-based organizations, foundations, institutes and NGOs), he has personally held senior leadership positions in many NFPs, including:

• A large, fast-growing, multi-campus church network
• An innovative hospital, built and launched in a war zone
• A research think-tank specializing in economic analysis

You can check out the testimonials at the bottom of the main web page to hear from just some of the NFP leaders Les has been privileged to work with.

Let's discuss this in a no-obligation call together to make sure you are entirely comfortable that I'm a good fit for you as a coach in your current role (and to answer any other questions you have):

My CEO Coaching Program involves a commitment to a 12-month, fixed-duration engagement. 

Having said that, it is very important to me is to ensure that no element of 'dependency culture' develops in our relationship, and if it becomes clear at any time that I am no longer able to add real value to your leadership, I will always be the first to say so.

Let's discuss this in a no-obligation call together to make sure you are entirely comfortable with the duration and content of my coaching program before making any commitment (and to answer any other questions you have): 

While I'm always happy to structure the timing of our coaching sessions to meet your schedule and needs, through many decades of working with highly effective, busy CEOs just like you I've developed a default cadence for my CEO Coaching Program that provides for:

•  A 90-120 - minute introductory call, in which we get to know each other better, and set the initial goals of the coaching engagement. (Click here to read more about how this works. )
• One 45-60m coaching call every two weeks for the first six months. 
• One 45-60 minute coaching call each month for the remaining six months. 
• Unlimited support (on the honor system) between coaching calls by email, messaging and Voxer.

I've found this structure (more frequent calls early on, to gain early traction and fast wins, followed by calls with more intervening time at the back end in order to do some heavier lifting) best matches the natures of leadership challenges faced by most CEOs.

Let's discuss together this in a no-obligation call together to make sure you are entirely comfortable with the meeting cadence and between-session access to me when we are in a coaching relationship (and to answer any other questions you have):

  I work pretty much as detailed in the FAQ - virtually, primarily using Zoom and incorporating other communication tools.

About 60% of my coaching relationships are entirely virtual, with the other 40% consisting of CEOs in organizations for whom I provide in-person growth consulting services, and therefore get the opportunity to meet face to face from time to time.

If there is an opportunity to meet with you face to face, it is always one that I will take, as it definitely does enrich the relationship, but with today's technology, it's not the deal-breaker it once was.

Let's discuss this in a no-obligation call together to make sure you are entirely comfortable that a largely virtual relationship will work for you (and to answer any other questions you have): 

If the coaching relationship is solely between you and I (I.e. you hired me directly), then our relationship is 100%, entirely confidential - everything we discuss is absolutely and entirely between the two of us.

If on the other hand we're working together at the request of, or under the supervision of, anyone else (typically your board or a major investor), then they, you and I will together agree the degree of transparency, if any, that they should have regarding our coaching interactions.  

The most usual form of this is that I agree to give the third party periodic summary overviews of our coaching progress while keeping the detail of our discussions confidential.  

Let's discuss this in a no-obligation call together to make sure you are entirely comfortable with the confidentiality of our sidcussions (and to answer any other questions you have): 

I have coaching engagements where I'm coaching the CEO individually, and engagements where I'm coaching both the CEO and all or some of their leadership team. 

The distinction tends to rest on the nature of the overall coaching challenges. If those challenges are common to the entire leadership team (e.g.  transitioning to new ownership, coping with a change in underlying business model, moving from growth to scale, etc.), then coaching all or some of the leadership team can be very powerful.

If in doubt, it can make most sense to begin with solo coaching for the CEO, then reappraise the need to involve other members of your leadership team after 2 or 3 months when the scope and scale of the coaching challenges have become more clear. 

Let's discuss this in a no-obligation call together to discuss how best to involve your executive team in our coaching (and to answer any other questions you have): 

The CEOs that approach me for coaching are split pretty evenly between those who have a clear idea coming in to the relationship about what they want to work on, and those who are more motivated by an overarching sense of wanting to 'get to the next level' in their leadership.    

In the latter case, I have a CEO self-Assessment questionnaire that we use as a starting point to identify specific areas to work on (this is also available as a 360 assessment, so that other members of your leadership team can be polled, which I recommend), and I also use the pattern recognition that comes with working with hundreds of other CEOs to help identify the most profitable areas to focus on, given the CEOs history and background, and their organization's current stage of growth.

In both cases, an additional important role I play is in helping to identify clear real-world metrics that can be used to measure success during the coaching relationship. Read more about that here.

Let's discuss this in a no-obligation call together to understand more about how we agree the goals for our coaching relationship together (and to answer any other questions you have): 

In addition to helping you set clear, real world goals for any quantitive challenges we agree to work on together (we can whatever measurement terminology you're comfortable with - KPIs, OKRs, 'Rocks', WIGs - - I'm not tied to any particular  model), I like to press hard to find ways in which you can (at least semi-objectively) measure progress in the more qualitative areas we agree to work on.

Once those goals and associated metrics are agreed upon, we'll check in on them regularly throughout the coaching relationship at a cadence that is appropriate for each metric. In ay case, we'll have a mid-engagement check-in at the 6-month stage, and of course an end-of-engagement deep dive at the 12-month point.

Let's discuss this in a no-obligation call together to make sure you are entirely comfortable with how you will gauge the success of a coaching relationship with me (and to answer any other questions you have): 

I am always 100% up-front about my fees, which are publicly available here at all times.

I currently charge a flat rate  of $45,000 for a 12-month engagement, with no add-ons or hidden fees, payable in full at the outset of the engagement.

By the way, I ask for payment in full at the outset of our engagement in my role as an accountability partner to you - 

It's been proven to me over and over again that making your coaching investment upfront dramatically impacts your cancellation / no-show percentage on our calls, and the degree to which you are (literally) invested in the coaching sessions.

Let's discuss this in a no-obligation call together to make sure you are entirely comfortable with making this financial investment in your leadership development (and to answer any other questions you have):