Exec coaching - my experience after the first session
I have been hearing about exec coaching being a superpower for a long time now. During an interaction with a US-based partner at a VC fund, I was surprised to learn that even young founders or professionals in the US find coaching very powerful. I was always a bit skeptical. For me this sounded like 'professional therapy' and in my head, I did not need it. I have been working for 11 years with 'tier 1' organizations, full of smart folks. I reported to the top founders and spent regular time with them, so was learning every day. Twitter, Medium, Youtube already have everything blah blah blah.
When we started leap.club and were collecting feedback from potential users, we were surprised to see the demand for exec coaching. When we launched the membership, we (read - I) was surprised again to see that coaching was our most popular benefit (my bet was on something else). We ran another survey with ~100 founding leap.club members and again there was a lot of demand for coaching.


I finally had my first coaching session this week and were the takeaways were powerful. So much so that I HAD to blog about it and share with everyone about the entire experience. So here goes -
I had a couple of 'vibe check' conversations before booking a proper session. The coaches are comfortable with this and you can choose who you want to work with and vice versa.
Coaches are usually folks who have had successful careers and are now passionate about working with others and help them succeed. They might/might not come from your industry and I don't think that matters in the long run. Many of them will have globally recognized certifications as well.
The first session was a longish 2-hour session.
I had some pre-work and I made sure I finished the tasks without being distracted with other stuff. You have to give it the time and mind space it deserves. Don’t just show up and try to wing it.
I entered the session without any biases which is rare for me. I was keen to go with the flow. You gotta trust the process.
The coach and conversations were warm from the start - being able to talk about your deepest aspirations, insecurities, driving factors in a non-judgment zone was great.
Since this was an intro session, we spoke about my past experiences, my broader aspirations, my core values.
I regularly think about the above points but in a very scattered way. This was the first time I cut out all the noise and understood how the dots connect.
I had some clear takeaways on what my 1-3-5 year aspirations are and what values drive those aspirations.
The big learning for me was that the answers will always come from me. We often look at mentorship/coaching as quick answers to all our problems. And get impatient if we don't hear the things we want to hear (my friends and co-workers will tell you how insanely impatient I am). Coaching is a process and you have to give it time.
Focus on the larger dots and how they influence the smaller decisions of your life.
I now plan to dive deeper and have a session at least once a month, which is the recommended frequency.
Coaching traditionally has been expensive (my friends will also tell you how I hate spending money) and reserved for the CXO’s. We at leap.club are trying to democratize this and our coaches charge an exclusive rate for members. We have 50+ of the best, handpicked coaches on leap.club that our members work with.
Remember, this is an investment you make in you. And the upside of unlocking your full potential and living your best professional life makes it worth it.
We didn't come this far to only come this far.
- Anand