COACH JAMES GRAY
Coaching for Leaders and Professionals in the Tech Sector
Operate at peak performance and experience your true potential
💰 Increase Compensation ⚡️ Strengthen Performance ❤️ Boost Well-Being
Have you ever felt that you could achieve more?
Performance
- I am stuck and unfocused without a professional development plan and support to reach my goals
- I am not performing to expectations, and I am anxious that my job is at risk
- I am mostly playing defense and responding to tactical issues, thereby limiting my time for creative growth
- I do not know to respond to constructive feedback or I am anxious about asking peers and managers for feedback
Job Search & Path
- I am underemployed in a job or career path that does not leverage my full talent
- I have applied for numerous jobs and have not received any responses for an interview
- My resume and LinkedIn profile are not compelling enough to showcase my skills and experience
- I am anxious during interviews and feel that I am not well-prepared – I have not made it to the final round
- I feel my options are limited, and my livelihood is entirely dependent on my current employer
- The market has changed and I don’t know how to adapt my skills into a compelling value proposition
Leadership
- I am struggling to transition from an individual contributor to a leadership role
- I am an executive that needs to regain and strengthen the trust of my team and peers
- I can feel alone at the top, and I don’t have a safe space to talk about my challenges and support to drive change
Well-Being
- My work life is compromising my well-being and relationships with people who are important to me
- I am feeling financially strapped and anxious
- I am feeling alone as I lack mentorship to provide feedback, accountability, and support in a safe space
- I am feeling fear about the uncertainty of my career, and self-limiting thoughts are blocking my bias for action
Power & Influence
- I am invisible within my company or industry given that my brand, talent, and experience are not as well-known
- I feel boxed in or manipulated given the lack of control I have over my daily work and life
- I am stuck in an identity that no longer serves me, and I don’t know how to move past it
- I am feeling isolated and alone as I lack a strong professional network to support my career
- I often feel imposter syndrome and low self-confidence is preventing me from operating at my potential
Take back control of your work life with a transformation designed precisely for you
INCREASE COMPENSATION
Allocate your energy and talent to increase compensation and earn the rewards most important to you.
Strengthen Performance
Increase the breadth and depth of your impact with work full of meaning and purpose
BOOST WELL-BEING
Improve your physical and emotional health by pursuing a path and work routines that align with your identity, values, and talents.
Your Expert Guide to Help You Reach Your True Potential
Hi, I’m James Gray
James Gray coaches leaders and professionals to maximize impact for organizations and derive meaning and rewards unique to their identity. As a former Chief Information Officer, Chief Product Officer, and data scientist, James knows firsthand the challenges of those roles and working in startups to leading enterprises such as Microsoft. His coaching does not rely solely on clients finding answers to their problems but shares real guidance from 25+ years as a tech practitioner and leader. James specializes in helping leaders strengthen a unique style to maximize team performance and coaching professionals to transition and perform in roles that bring out their true potential.
Our work-life consumes a significant part of our time. The paths we choose and travel impact our wealth, health, and happiness.
Managing a successful career can be challenging given the demands of our personal life and external forces.
Over the course of my 30+ year career, I have recreated myself multiple times to travel the path that brings out my best self. I have experienced success, but also failures and losing my job due to situations beyond my control. How we respond and believe in our vision can be the game changer.
As a parent, leader, and professional, I relate to how important it is to shape a career that brings financial success, alignment with your family life, and boosts well-being.
I am here to help you do the same. I love working with people and have deep expertise in the technology sector.
Experienced technology executive as a Chief Product Officer, Chief Information Officer and Data Leader.
Extensive experience coaching 100+ people with high customer satisfaction
Delivered career strategy workshops, 1:1 mentoring, and speaking at events that reached 3K+ people at Microsoft
MBA from the Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley, and Master of Information and Data Science from the School of Information, University of California at Berkeley
Instructor for the Berkeley Haas School of Business course “Data Strategy: Leveraging Data as a Competitive Advantage”
Technical Career Coach for MS Business Analytics program at Gies College of Business, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Brown University / ACT Leadership and Performance Coaching certification (in-progress)
200+
people coached
Numerous
5-Star reviews
Top 5% All-Star
LinkedIn Profile
What Others Say About Working Together
“The coaching session was a great experience. Through the entire process, I had a chance to think about my goals and learnt new ideas. James is very patient and did a lot of preparation prior to our session in order to understand what I was looking for and make the session most valuable and efficient. The notes are also extremely useful for me to refer to in the future. I highly recommend the coaching session with James!”
Jenny – Business Intelligence | Data Analytics, Healthcare sector
“I met James at a pivotal time in my life. My startup fell apart and I suddenly found myself needing a new source of income. James helped me learn to see my career as a product while giving me the feedback and encouragement I needed to transition and land my dream job. I highly recommend working with James.”
Josh Winters – Lead Software Engineer, Sensei
“James’ approach and attention to detail help you learn creative outlook for evaluation and build a strategy to align your goals and aspirations with the concepts you are most passionate about. Also his openness to feedback about the experience will continue to build an even stronger session for new comers looking to participate. Good luck and have fun!”
Alex – Tech Sales Executive
See my LinkedIn profile for 40+ recommendations to learn more about my leadership and coaching style
Three Ways I Can Help You
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02
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STRATEGY AND TACTICS TO SHAPE YOUR PATH
COMMUNITY TO SUPPORT YOUR TRANSFORMATION
1:1 and TEAM COACHING
Subscribe to the Product You newsletter on Substack (FREE!) to learn time-tested strategies and tactics, book recommendations, and videos to shape your mind and journey. Leverage the community chat to support your career.
Don’t go it alone and get the support you need from a thriving network of professionals. Connect on LinkedIn and join my network of over 4K+ people from leading tech companies, top universities, and tech hubs, including New York, Boston, Austin, San Francisco Bay Area, and Seattle.
Get personalized one-on-one coaching to accelerate your job search, path, and performance. Strengthen your performance and grow your power and influence through live and asynchronous coaching sessions.
Here is what you get with your coaching program:
Life is not forever. You need a coach who is accessible and supports you when and where you need it. Traditional career coaching is old-school, and not fast enough to deliver the benefits you need to compete in today’s business world. My approach to coaching uses asynchronous and synchronous interactions tailored to your unique needs and challenges.
- Collaborative Access: We will collaborate through Slack messaging, text, or video messages for timely coaching between live sessions. You will have a direct mobile phone number and get the support you need. I will also share information that is relevant to your coaching focus.
- Live Coaching with Check-ins & Accountability: We will connect on a live online meeting weekly or bi-weekly. The focus will be on topics that you prioritize and we will also review the status of your action plan.
Personalized Coaching
- Personalized recommendations to shape the design and execution of your plan
- Time relevant answers to questions you have as you navigate your journey
- Check-ins and accountability on your progress against the actions plan.
Personal Access
- Unlimited 1-on-1 asynchronous messaging interaction to ask questions and get timely feedback
- Easy asynchronous collaboration via a private Slack channel, Google docs, email. Synchronous via video
- Personal mobile phone number
- You will not feel that you are alone on this transformational journey
- Become a member of my LinkedIn network
- Get personal referrals to others in my network for your career transition
- Recommendations on how to improve your LinkedIn profile to earn “all-star” status
- Product You newsletter on LinkedIn
Career Strategy Framework
- A framework of strategies to productize a career to full potential
- Actual examples of strategies and artifacts to actively manage your career
- References to other resources including books, videos, and podcasts
Product You Newsletter
- Weekly reminders of strategies to shape your transformation
- References to books, podcasts, and other career resources
- Sign-up here.
A Mutual Promise
- My testimonials speak for themselves to deliver similar results for you
- No longer than a 24-hr response time when you ask questions or reach out for support
- With hard work, you will get to your next destination
What Are the Benefits to You?
Easy Collaboration
Our collaboration will be easy, effective, and timely as we engage using a private, secure collaboration platform with live video conferencing, chat messaging, and file sharing.
All you need is a smartphone, tablet, or computer.
You will have my personal phone number when you need a quick answer.
A Proven Framework to Guide You
You will have access to the Career Strategy Framework – a process framework of seven strategies that are critical to managing your career. The content is updated monthly and includes written content, audio, and video.
Focused Discussions
A personalized coaching experience will ensure we focus on the areas and issues that are most pressing for you. Using the background information you provide prior to our session, I will be prepared to openly discuss your challenges, goals, and feedback to any specific questions where I have a point of view.
During each coaching interaction, you will receive at least one specific recommendation that addresses unblocking an obstacle you outlined or a topic you wanted help on.
Action Plan
The results of our conversations will feed into an action plan that will identify activities and deliverables that are required to move you toward your goal(s). The robustness and depth will be based on the number of sessions we work together.
You will gain more clarity and confidence with a plan that is actionable and provides evidence for small wins.
Personalized Coaching
Coaching is unique to your situation and can include:
- Upgrading your resume and LinkedIn profile to strenghthen the clarify of your skills, experience and value proposition.
- Job search strategy and interview preparation.
- Job offer compensation negotiation.
- Resetting after a layoff to formulate a plan and strategy for a job search.
- Serving as a listener and coach to create accountability.
- Strategically analyzing your expertise to outline a unique value proposition.
- Feedback on transition strategies to reduce friction and move closer to your architected path.
- Outlining a professional development plan to grow key competencies.
- Increasing credibility and name recognition in your company and industry.
- Growing your network and professional brand.
- Strategies to address workplace conflicts and politics.
Accountability
Experience a higher return on your time by delivering on the commitments of your personalized action plan. I will serve as your accountability partner to coach you and hold you accountable for the deliverables and dates we agreed to.
LinkedIn Network
Your network will expand to include highly talented professionals in major tech hubs including San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, and New York City as a member of my LinkedIn network.
This will expand your worldview, potentially open up more job opportunities and build relationships with people you may end up doing business with. I am also connected as an alumnus of the Haas School of Business and the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley.
How Coaching Works
1. Book
Select and purchase a coaching plan
2. Transform
We’ll collaborate in live and asynchronous coaching sessions to unblock your challenges and craft an action plan
3. Thrive
Realize the rewards most vital to you and experience your true career and life potential
Love the most important product of your life – you
Many people work in jobs where they don’t experience their true potential. With expert coaching from James Gray, you’ll accelerate change and productize your talents to experience meaning, impact, autonomy, and rewards from work you love.
Continue reading ....
As a coach and working professional, I know you who want to be in control of your career with compensation that provides security and options that create freedom. In order to experience that way of life, you need a career strategy aligned to your unique strengths, a path that offers the rewards you seek, and an action plan to elevate your brand.
The problem is a single book or formula does not exist on how to manage a career in today’s modern world which makes you feel frustrated or pausing a transition. I believe that the strategies, best practices, and routines for managing a career don’t have to be learned by time alone or only accessible to the privileged.
I understand that transitions can be complex, take mental energy, and time. This is why I have coached professionals for over 15 years to share my vast experience and simplify the process.
Here is how we do it:
STEP 1: Apply and enroll in a coaching program.
STEP 2: We will collaborate through video/messaging and live sessions to build an action plan, outline strategies, and hold you accountable to achieve your goals.
STEP 3: You will execute the action plan to accelerate your transformation and realized the rewards most important to you.
Personalized One-on-One and Group Coaching
Personalized 1:1 Coaching: offered as a subscription, this differs from conventional coaching to free you from hourly rates and long-term commitments. The goal is to get you to your desired state as quickly as possible while providing flexibility to go at your own pace. One-on-one personalized coaching is for people who value working directly together and want complete flexibility regarding the level of interaction. I also offer blocks of hourly coaching as well.
Education Institutions and Corporations: these coaching experiences are tailored to the organization’s unique needs to strengthen individual and workgroup performance and prepare students to succeed in the job market.
One-on-One Coaching
Direct one-on-one coaching personalized to you. Available to anybody in the world. Book 2x/month, 4x/month, or in hourly blocks.
Education Institutions
One-on-one and group coaching for students in higher education institutions. Contact me at [email protected] to tailor a unique coaching program.
Corporations
Organizations seeking coaching for their employees virtually or in person. Contact me at [email protected] to tailor a coaching program to your culture and business priorities.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is coaching?
The International Coaching Federation (ICF) defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity, and leadership.
We all have goals we want to reach, challenges we’re striving to overcome, and times when we feel stuck. Partnering with a coach can change your life, setting you on a path to greater personal and professional fulfillment.
What are the plans and pricing?
I offer monthly subscription plans and hourly engagements to meet your needs.
- The 2X coaching plan is a $500 monthly subscription, and our interaction includes 2 hours of live coaching and asynchronous collaboration via various channels, including video, messaging, text, and documents. This includes personalized research and recommendations throughout the month.
- The 4X coaching plan is a $900 monthly subscription, and our interaction includes 4 hours of live coaching and asynchronous collaboration via various channels, including video, messaging, text, and documents. This includes personalized research and recommendations throughout the month.
- You can cancel your subscription plan anytime – my goal is to get you where you want to be as fast as possible.
- Coaching per hour at $175/hr.
What is included in all membership plans?
- Access to the Career Strategy Framework.
- Personalized coaching: unique recommendations to shape the design and execution of your plan. Time-relevant answers to questions you have as you navigate your journey.
- You will receive accountability check-in and personalized coaching through live interaction, video, or messaging.
- Unlimited access: You can send me a voice, written, or video message when you need help. You will have a direct mobile phone number and get the support you need to guide your progress.
- A member of my LinkedIn network (ranked in the top 95% of profiles).
How does the coaching work?
After your subscription is purchased and activated, the following describes how the coaching logistics typically work. The coaching program is flexible to accommodate the uniqueness of the individual.
- I will send you an invite to join my LinkedIn network.
- To initiate the coaching, you will share details about your career goals and challenges in written or short-video form. This background provides the basis of my analysis to provide a focus for the coaching sessions.
- You will document your progress on the actions in your plan and share challenges or obstacles you need help with.
- For the 2X plan, members have up to 2 hours of live coaching that can be scheduled on my coaching calendar.
- For the 4X plan, members have up to 4 hours of live coaching that can be scheduled on my coaching calendar.
What type of people is an excellent fit for coaching?
As a strategy coach, I work directly with a limited number of aspiring professionals seeking to reach their true career potential through focus and hard work. I would be an excellent fit for people with the following profiles.
- Individual contributors in the technology sector such as Engineers, Product Managers, Data Scientists, Data/Business Analysts, or Marketers. I have experience working in large enterprises such as Microsoft to small entrepreneurial startups.
- Leaders and Executives who are seeking to strengthen their leadership style or make a transition. I have held jobs as a Chief Information Officer and Chief Product Officer.
- College students seeking to select a career path, apply for internships and jobs, and grow credibility.
- Committed to working hard, open to feedback, and delivering on the accountabilities we align on through our coaching.
What are your expectations of people seeking coaching?
Here are a few expectations to ensure we can create value by working collaboratively.
- You adequately prepare for the coaching session, including sending information in advance that will make our discussion productive.
- You ultimately own the decisions and actions based on our engagement, as you know what is best for you. I will offer suggestions and perspectives based on my extensive experience.
- You have a LinkedIn profile.
- Everything we talk about is private and confidential.
- You must work hard and deliver on your commitments to realize an impact from our coaching sessions.
Engagements can range in intensity from a single coaching session to sessions over months for more significant transformations. The outcomes you seek will likely take time, and the progress will be commensurate with the effort you apply to the action plans we have designed.
Why is coaching not available for purchase?
I limit the number of people I work with to ensure I can deliver a significant life-changing experience. Please email [email protected] if you want me to add you to the waitlist.
I still have questions. How do I contact you?
No, worries – I love hearing from people. Please send me an email at [email protected] You may also schedule a 30-minute informational session for us to determine if there is a mutual fit.