May the Craft be with you
A VP walks into a room. There's an elephant. 🚶♂️🐘
PM: "Seems like we need to squeeze this elephant in with Project Zebra. What are current blockers?"
Analyst: "How do we measure interaction success? Banana input vs output volume?"
Customer: "Handling elephants now, are we?"
SDM: "Told you this is a biggie - 3 more sprints, 5 engineers. Security's a wildcard. Good luck."
Designer: "Does the gray fit our style guide? We need to reposition this."
VP: "Where is my lunch?"
Marketing: "This elephant will 100% outclick the zebra. Can we get a promo budget? Think CAC, people. CAC."
Sales: "I sold this elephant to five different clients already. You can make that work, yeah?"
PM Mentor: "Do you think you can fit in two major blockers? You may want to review your backlog, engineering timelines are always a little wonky."
Consultant: "This is a fairly messy situation. It happens to 60% of teams in small tech startups. For $20k, we can tell you more."
PM Therapist: "And how do you feel in this moment of challenge?"
Team/Individual Coach: "Why is there an elephant in the room? And do you notice it's eating your lunch?"
So, What is Coaching?
Think about an obstacle course you need to get through (also known as "your already delayed product launch" or, generally, "Life"). A skilled coach will not hold your hand to commiserate about how big these obstacles are, shouting "impossible is nothing!"
Instead, they will help you to:
Find a functional flying vehicle and
Summon your courage to use it. Even if you hate flying.
Just like in our elephant scenario, where everyone focused on their piece of the problem while the coach spotted the bigger picture, coaching helps you see what's really happening beneath the surface.
The ultimate goal of coaching is to help individuals and teams gain mindset and perspective shifts so they can operate from a bigger, better, and bolder level. Modern neuroscience, particularly studies from researchers at Case Western Reserve University, has revealed why coaching creates lasting transformations. Coaching conversations activate the prefrontal cortex—our brain's command center for complex decision-making—while directive approaches often trigger defensive neural responses.
The Coaching Flywheel: From Challenge to Transformation
The coaching process operates like a flywheel:
Situation: Coaching often begins when things get uncomfortable—maybe you've been given a larger team, received challenging feedback, or recognize a gap between your current reality and where you need to be. This is typically when people seek coaching.
Skill-Building & Self-Discovery: A good coach assesses both practical skills and self-awareness levels, then crafts a plan that builds abilities while deepening understanding. Each new skill makes your self-awareness useful, and each insight makes your skills more authentic.
Transformation: As this flywheel picks up speed, your threshold for discomfort expands, and what once made you anxious becomes routine. You find yourself tackling bigger challenges with confidence.
What We Do
At All Minds On Deck, we're people coaches first and foremost. We bring together coaching and targeted training to create lasting transformation for tech leaders and their teams.
We specialize in:
Integrated development: We understand that sometimes, a powerful coaching question creates more immediate impact than another lecture on communication theory. Other times, practical training on specific leadership skills provides the foundation needed for deeper coaching work.
Tech leadership focus: We have deep experience working with tech leaders facing the unique challenges of rapid growth, remote teams, and high-stakes product decisions.
Whole-person approach: We recognize that leadership challenges rarely exist in isolation from the whole person—their history, emotions, and aspirations all play critical roles in their effectiveness.
What We Don't Do
To be clear about our boundaries and approach:
We are not experts. While we understand product management, we won't come into your company to tell you which features to prioritize or how to structure your experimentation program. Instead, we offer training and coaching approaches that will help you and your team become more aligned and skilled to reach these conclusions yourselves.
We generally don't advise, consult, or mentor. While advising offers opinions based on what someone thinks is best for you, we create judgment-free spaces where you discover your own answers. Unlike consultants hired to define problems and solutions, we view you as the expert in your own life and business.
We are not licensed therapists. While we may explore your emotional landscape to enhance self-awareness—as emotions are fundamental to how humans operate—we follow the ethics guidelines of the International Coaching Federation. We will refer you to a therapist if we notice patterns that might be better addressed through therapy.
Who Benefits Most from Coaching?
The coach is not the one responsible for a coachee’s development - it’s a partnership that requires a certain level of commitment.
Leaders who tend to be a good fit for coaching:
Embrace a growth mindset - comfortable with curiosity, accountability, emotional awareness, and challenging their own perspectives
Balance professionalism with authenticity - willing to bring playfulness, honesty, and appropriate vulnerability to their development
See coaching as a strategic investment in their leadership journey rather than a quick fix
Teams benefit from coaching when:
There's a need to improve communication and collaboration
They're facing significant change or transformation
Conflict has become counterproductive
There's a gap between current performance and potential
Team members are ready to move beyond surface-level interactions
Finding the Right Coach
When seeking a coach, consider:
Check the credentials:
What were the requirements of their coaching program? (One weekend vs. several modules?)
Are they accredited by the International Coaching Federation?
Do they have credible testimonials and background?
Always connect via a free chemistry session
Trust your gut on whether you are comfortable working with this person
Ask around—does your network have any recommendations?
The best coach isn't necessarily the one with the most industry experience, but rather someone who can help you discover your own leadership style and overcome the patterns holding you back from greatness.
Ready to Spot Your Elephants?
Coaching isn't just another professional development tool - it's a transformative partnership that helps leaders navigate complexity, build self-awareness, and create lasting change. In a world where technical expertise is supposed to be table stakes, coaching provides the edge that separates good leaders from great ones.
Ready to see if coaching could help you or your team reach the next level? Contact us.
