Frequently Asked Questions

  • A Head of School coach is a thinking partner for a job that can be surprisingly lonely, the kind no one else in the building can fully understand from the inside. My role isn't to tell you what to do; it's to help you get clearer on your own judgment, so the decisions you make hold up under pressure and reflect the leader you actually want to be. Sessions might center on a specific challenge (a difficult board conversation, a personnel issue, a strategic pivot) or on the broader pattern of how you're leading. Either way, you'll be heard before you're advised, and the work stays grounded in your goals, not mine.

  • Consulting brings answers. Coaching brings questions. When you hire a consultant, you're paying for expertise applied to your problem: a strategic plan, a governance review, a policy recommendation. When you work with a coach, you're paying for a process that helps you find your own best answer, because you're the one who has to live with the decision and lead the follow-through. I offer both, and the line between them can blend in practice, but the starting posture is different: consulting starts with my expertise, coaching starts with your capacity.

  • Head of School coaching is at the center of my practice, but it isn't the whole of it. I also work with nonprofit executive directors, aspiring administrators preparing for their first leadership role, board chairs, and leadership teams. If you're carrying the weight of running a mission-driven organization, whatever your title, we're likely a good fit.

  • Yes. What you share in a coaching session stays between us. I don't report back to a board, a supervisor, or anyone else about the content of our conversations. That confidentiality is what makes it possible to think out loud about the parts of the job you can't say out loud anywhere else. Before we begin, we put the terms in writing so there's no ambiguity about what's confidential and what isn't.

  • The coaching is built on more than three decades in school leadership, most recently eight years as Head of School at a 310-student, 100-employee school with an operating budget that grew to $14 million. I've also led and taught in Montessori, single-sex, coeducational, and public school settings, across every grade band from toddler through twelfth grade, so the coaching draws on firsthand experience across a range of school types, not theory alone. I completed Brown University's Leadership Performance Coaching Certification program, an ICF-accredited training, and I hold a BoardSource governance certification and an AMS leadership credential, so board dynamics and school operations are part of the toolkit, not blind spots.

  • More like a candid conversation with someone who has done the job than a formal evaluation. I ask direct questions and listen closely, and I won't hesitate to name an assumption that's holding you back, but the tone stays supportive rather than clinical. Expect curiosity instead of judgment, practical grounding from someone who has actually run a school, and enough humor to keep the work from feeling heavy. If that sounds like a fit, a discovery call is the easiest way to find out.