What the work actually is
Most engineering managers who come here are not struggling with the craft. They ship. The block is somewhere else, and it is almost always one of five things:
- Visibility. The org is running on your decisions and the narrative credits someone louder.
- Authority. You hold the title and still get talked over, or around, in the rooms that decide.
- Scope legibility. You are already doing the next band's work; the packet keeps asking for "more scope evidence."
- Hard calls. A performance exit, a retention counter, a reorg you disagree with, and no peer to think out loud with.
- Exit timing. Whether the next move is internal or external, and how to run it without burning the current seat.
Coaching, training, and platform coaching are three different products
- Management training teaches a curriculum to a group. Good for first-time managers learning mechanics: one-to-ones, feedback, delegation.
- Platform coaching matches you to one of thousands of coaches, usually paid for by your employer. Convenient, and by design generic.
- This practice is one senior operator, retained individually, with a hard cap on active engagements. Every session is run personally. No matching, no swap-outs, no associates.
The distinction matters most when the conversation is about comp, a counter-offer, or whether to stay. A coach your employer pays for cannot be fully on your side of that table.
Which program fits which problem
- Leadership Identity Recode™ - $6,000 / 3 months · $10,000 / 6 months. For managers, directors, and VPs whose delivery is strong and whose authority or visibility is the block. Typical movement: one title band, 25–40% total comp growth inside 12 months.
- Executive Advisory - from $5,000 / mo · $13,500 / 3-month commitment, 3-month minimum. For sitting Directors, VPs, and CTOs who need a peer-level operator on call for reorgs, board narrative, comp, hiring, and firing decisions.
- Senior Landing Program™ - $2,997, From September 1st, $4,997. For engineering leaders who have decided to move. Done-for-you search, 90 days, 180-day landing guarantee, or I keep working with you free.
What it costs, in market context
Senior 1:1 coaching in the US runs roughly $500 to $2,000 per hour, or $5,000 to $25,000 per month for retained engagements. Executive coaching firms selling to enterprises routinely price six-month leadership engagements at $30,000 and up. The pricing here sits below that band deliberately, because the buyer is the leader, not a corporate L&D budget.
One line of context, and then we can stop talking about price: one quarter at the wrong level costs more than the engagement.
Who this is not for
- First-time managers looking for mechanics. Training is a better and cheaper fit.
- Anyone below roughly $120K total comp. The methodology is calibrated for senior seats.
- Anyone wanting a group program or a community. Every engagement here is individual 1:1.
- Anyone looking for someone to agree with them. That is what the current org is already doing.
How to start
A 15-minute call, confidential, no pitch. Bring the specific situation: the passed-over cycle, the reorg, the packet that came back. You will get a read on what is actually being tested, whether or not you ever work with me.