Lead from presence, not performance.
Transitions shake the ground under you. They challenge who you are, not just what you know.
When everything around you is shifting — roles, relationships, priorities — the right kind of support helps you cut through noise, stay anchored, and move forward without selling yourself out.
I do not offer pre-packaged solutions or tactical hand-holding. The work we do together lives in the tension of real-time context, communication, conflict, cross-cultural dynamics, decision-making, and the pressure that sits underneath all of it.
If you are in a moment where the old ways of leading are no longer working, we can look together at what is actually happening — and what needs to shift.
This is depth-oriented coaching. If you are looking for personal branding, operational efficiency consulting, or performance mentoring, I am likely not the right fit.
What I offer
Every engagement is tailored, but these are the primary ways I partner with leaders and teams. We will clarify scope and fit together before we begin.
1:1 Transitions Coaching
You are stepping into something new — a bigger role, a more complex team, a high-visibility mandate. And you are feeling the drag of doubt, friction, and fog.
Most executives struggle in their first 12–18 months. Not because they lack skill, but because the game changes fast. Power dynamics shift. The rules are unwritten. What worked before no longer works now.
- Building influence early, before the politics fully surface.
- Navigating cultural and relational landmines in real time.
- Leading through uncertainty without losing your center.
- Managing your internal transition, not just the external one.
Leadership Resilience Coaching
You have been holding a lot — pressure, decisions, people, vision. You are the one others count on. But lately, it is getting heavy. There is friction where there used to be flow. You are moving, but it is not clear where from — or toward what.
This is not simple burnout. It is an inflection point. What used to work — pushing through, taking it all on — is no longer working now.
- Leading without defaulting to over-responsibility.
- Making clean decisions without panic or people-pleasing.
- Rebuilding internal steadiness when the path feels unclear.
- Reclaiming clarity, not just control.
Co-founder Partnership Coaching
Co-founder friction does not always explode. Often, it erodes. You feel misaligned, avoid hard conversations, or quietly wonder whether to recalibrate or part ways.
- Naming what has shifted — especially what no one is saying out loud.
- Rebuilding trust, or deciding whether it is time to move on.
- Designing a path that respects the business and the people building it.
Cross-cultural Leadership Coaching
Working across cultures is not just about sensitivity. It is about navigating trust, decision-making, and conflict when the rules are invisible — and very real.
I have spent 25+ years working across Asia — China, Korea, Japan, Thailand — and have seen how quickly things fall apart when cultural friction is ignored.
- Reading the real dynamics, not just what is being said.
- Building influence when your natural style does not match the room.
- Navigating unfamiliar decision processes and expectations.
- Managing tension and misalignment across cultural norms.
Team Realignment Coaching
When trust erodes, roles blur, or tension takes over, team performance stalls. This work helps leadership teams reset by confronting what is real, surfacing what is unspoken, and aligning around what matters now.
See the patterns. Shift what matters.
When teams get stuck, it is often about behavior, not strategy. The Harrison Assessment helps surface blind spots, overused strengths, and performance risks. We then coach toward the behavioral shifts that actually move the needle.
- Communication breakdowns.
- Role ambiguity and misaligned expectations.
- Behavioral patterns that quietly undercut performance.
Map the tension. Lead with insight.
Hogan assessments reveal what most teams miss: how personality traits, derailers, and values collide under stress. We use that data to map underlying tension and coach toward more resilient, intentional leadership.
- Understanding personality-based friction.
- Anticipating derailers when pressure spikes.
- Aligning team values with real decision-making.
- Designing team behaviors that hold under strain.
When culture gets fuzzy, realignment gets real.
Culture drifts when pressure rises or no one is naming what matters. This engagement helps teams reconnect with their true values — not just aspirational ones — and translate them into clear expectations and everyday leadership.
- Defining shared values that reflect who you are now.
- Naming behavioral expectations that support those values.
- Aligning as a team around the culture you want to lead and live.
High-stakes Conversation Prep
Some conversations change everything — how you are seen, what happens next, whether trust survives. We prepare you to show up grounded, clear, and ready to lead through the tension.
- Preparing for conversations where the stakes are high and the script is not obvious.
- Mapping triggers, power dynamics, and emotional terrain in advance.
- Managing your internal state so you can stay present under pressure.
- Turning tension into traction — not fallout.
Executive Presence Coaching
Presence is not a performance or a personal brand. It is alignment between who you are, how you show up, and how you are perceived — especially under pressure.
We may use tools like the Bates ExPI to assess your presence across dimensions like character, substance, and style, then work to close the gap between intention and impact.
- Showing up with clarity, authenticity, and influence.
- Navigating visibility in high-stakes roles and rooms.
- Moving from technical expert to strategic, trusted leader.
- Balancing authority and warmth across cultures and contexts.
Creative Reconnection Coaching
You used to feel lit up by ideas. Now it is mostly output, responsibility, and holding things together. This work helps your life and work feel like they belong to you again.
Who This Is For
- You miss parts of yourself you sidelined for work.
- You feel productive but not deeply engaged.
- You have creative impulses but no energy or structure for them.
- You find yourself wondering quietly: “Is this it?”
What We Do
- Create honest space to name what you miss and what you want more of.
- Spot the patterns that shut aliveness down.
- Design small experiments that bring creativity back into your week.
- Work with your resistance instead of fighting it.
- Integrate work, identity, and creative energy instead of choosing between them.
What Starts To Shift
- Feeling less numb and more engaged day-to-day.
- Restarting or deepening a creative practice.
- Making cleaner decisions about what to keep, shift, or let go.
- Showing up with confidence that matches your values.
Format
Curious If This Fits?
If you are high functioning on the outside and quietly hungry for something more inside, we can explore whether this is the right container for you.
What clients say
Read full reviews at Testimonial Index
“Working with Michael was one of the best things I've done for my personal and professional development. Michael's approach is grounded in mindfulness, empathy, and self-inquiry. I rely daily on the tools and techniques that Michael taught me and would be lost without them.”
— Rob Cromwell, CVP Engineering, Microsoft AI
“Michael's coaching has helped me make decisions that have saved our company many months of time and many millions of dollars. He has many super powers, but the two I've been most impressed with are 1) his ability to ask questions that allow people to realize where they are getting in the way of their own decision making, and 2) his ability to coach people through difficult conversations. He's a pleasure to work with.”
— Brett Granberg, CEO, Vannevar Labs
“Michael is a wonderful coach - his depth of knowledge is expansive and always has the perfect resource to share or point me to in the right moments. He is a master communicator and as a perfect blend of frank and empathic himself, he is exceptional at teaching tactical ways to convey candor with care. Though he is keenly attuned to the emotional art of leadership, he is also rigorously quantitative and scientific in his approach, bringing validated scales, tools, and methods into our sessions for tangible, measurable change.”
— April Koh, CEO & Co-Founder, Spring Health
“Thank you, Michael, for your extraordinary coaching and consulting work. You have provided us with invaluable, ongoing support in helping us realign people and processes to harness cultural differences. Through your services, we have gained new and enlightening perspectives on how to better achieve our strategic objectives.”
— Raymond Yoon, Chief Strategy Officer and SVP, Samsung Electronics America
Ready to lead without the noise?
If the pressure is real and you want a partner who knows how to navigate complexity, we can explore whether this work is the right fit.