Notes from the practice
Presence is a judgment other people form, not a trait a leader owns. What coaching can change in six months, what it cannot, and how to tell it worked.
Build an internal coaching bench or buy external coaches? A sourcing decision for heads of talent, with market fee data and the governance each model needs.
Three quarters of senior managers say their learning function disappoints them, and the shortlist never explains why. Six tests that tell a partner from a supplier.
A randomized trial found individual coaching better for goal attainment and group work better for knowledge. The choice is about the problem, not the price.
US companies spent $102.8 billion on training in 2025. Here is where a leadership development budget actually goes, using published market prices rather than a quote.
Companies spent close to $356 billion on training globally in 2015 and kept getting the same result. The failure is rarely the classroom. It is what the leader walks back into.