Step into a bigger role and influence your way.
1:1 executive coaching for leaders who want to influence the bosses, peers, and teams they depend on for success — without becoming someone else to do it.
The bigger the role, the easier it is to stop acting like yourself
You just landed the biggest role of your career.
Exciting? Absolutely. Intimidating? A little. The learning curve is steep, and the expectations are higher. You'd rather get ahead of the growing pains than wait for the first round of hard feedback.
Six months in, and the feedback is, “We need more from you.”
You know exactly which meeting they meant. You had things to say, but you held back. Someone else commanded the room, and your silence got interpreted as having nothing to add.
You were promoted over people who knew you before.
Yesterday, peers. Today, direct reports. The title changed overnight, but the dynamics didn't. You want to establish authority without becoming weirdly formal, distant, or bossy.
“Jen is as perceptive as they come and somehow manages to unearth the hidden, scary places you need to grow into while being a total delight to work with.”
The pressure to prove you belong does weird things to your brain.
Some leaders get louder and start playing the Big Bad Boss. Others hold back when they should step forward. Others go chameleon, borrowing everyone else’s moves because they’re never quite convinced what comes naturally to them is enough.
None of it feels natural. And other people can tell.
There’s a difference between expanding your range to meet the moment and performing a version of leadership you don’t quite believe in.
You become more influential when you’re more yourself, not less, with a wider range.
You say more of what you really think, read what the room needs, and adjust your approach without losing your point of view.
Here's how it works
From proving yourself to influence that feels natural, in four phases.
01 Set your goals
Speak up earlier. Build trust with a new team. Stop replaying meetings afterward. Repair a relationship with your boss. We start by naming what you want to do differently, how you want others to experience you, and what success would look like. Then we score where things stand today so we have something to measure against.
02 Build your range
We map the relationships that matter most and start expanding the range of moves available to you. You learn to notice what’s happening in you, what’s happening with the other person, and what’s happening in the room — so you have more choices in how you respond, even when the pressure is on.
03 Use it on real work
No hypothetical leadership exercises. We use what's already on your calendar. The tough feedback conversation. The big presentation. Managing up. Navigating resistance. Making an ask you've been putting off. We unpack what's happening, explore your options, and choose something to try. Then you put it to work and we learn from what happens.
04 Track what changed
We regularly revisit your goals and score them again. What feels easier? Which relationships have improved? Where are you still getting stuck? You'll see what's changing, what's working, and where to focus next. Not just hope coaching is making a difference.
Testimonials
About the founder
Hey, I’m Jen.
I got interested in influence long before I had a name for it.
At 23, I became a director responsible for 40 people and immediately started borrowing other people’s versions of leadership.
I borrowed my GM’s anger. I borrowed a coworker’s wink until, one day, someone looked at me and said, “Did you just wink at me?”
Mortifying.
What I didn’t understand then was that the pressure to prove you belong can make you act less like yourself at exactly the moment you most want to look capable.
I went chameleon.
Enterprise software sales started pulling me back toward myself. I had to influence people far more tenured than me without having authority over them. That taught me to listen for what people actually cared about, build trust quickly, and ask for what I wanted without making the other person feel pushed.
That’s where I learned something I still believe:
Influence isn’t about finding the perfect thing to say. It’s about noticing more, having more ways to respond, and still sounding like yourself.
Later, at Stanford GSB, I saw the same pattern again. Warm, funny, curious people would suddenly get stiff the moment they were asked to play the boss.
Authority made them perform.
Today, I facilitate Interpersonal Dynamics at Stanford GSB and coach executives taking on more senior roles who are wrestling with the same question I was at 23:
How do I grow into this role without becoming someone else?
I’ve now coached more than 100 executives through those moments.
And I still think about that 23-year-old trying on somebody else’s wink.
The work, for me, has always been the same:
Become more yourself, with more range.
When I’m not coaching or facilitating at Stanford, I’m usually on a tennis court, mom-ing, or tracking down a bite that makes me dance in my seat.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to have a problem to work with a coach?
Not at all. Some clients come after a piece of hard feedback. Plenty come earlier because their scope got bigger and they’d rather build the range now than wait for something to go sideways.
What actually happens in coaching?
We start with more structure: goals, key relationships, and a shared set of tools.
Then sessions increasingly revolve around whatever is happening in your actual work — the meeting, relationship, feedback, decision, or ask in front of you right now.
The foundation gives us a common language. Your real work gives us somewhere to use it.
I already have bosses and mentors I trust for advice. What would a coach add?
Those people are invaluable. But they also have their own perspectives, experiences, and sometimes a stake in what you decide.
Think of Inner Radio as a creative studio for your leadership. A place to step outside the day-to-day, play with new approaches, and experiment with ways to stretch your range.
You'll put those discoveries into practice, then come back to reflect on what happened and what you learned.
A mentor might tell you what worked for them. Coaching helps you discover what works for you.
How much time does this take?
Up to two 55-minute sessions a month. The practice happens in the meetings, conversations, and relationships already on your calendar. No extra homework for the sake of homework.
How will I know if it’s working?
We define what success looks like at the start and score where things stand today. Then we check in regularly.
Are you speaking up more? Are key relationships improving? Are situations that used to throw you off getting easier to navigate?
You'll have evidence of what's changing, not just a feeling that things are better.
What do I walk away with?
A clearer understanding of how you lead at your best, what tends to throw you off, and more ways to handle the moments that matter most.
You'll also build your personal Influence Playbook: a living collection of the insights, tools, and strategies you've tested in real situations. Something you can keep using long after coaching ends.
If my company is paying, is this still confidential?
Yes. The coaching conversation is yours.
If your company sponsors the work, we'll agree up front on goals and what progress, if any, will be shared. The substance of our sessions stays between us, subject to any legal or safety-related exceptions explained before coaching begins.