About Dave
There's plenty on my LinkedIn where you'll see a lot of wonderful recommendations from clients, and info about teams I've had the good fortune to lead and support.
But how does that show up in coaching?
My clients consistently say that their time with me has a transformative impact - making them both better leaders and better people. They appreciate how I bring deep empathy, emotional intelligence, and my experience as a senior operator to find both actionable strategies and personal insights. I help them clarify their leadership style, align their actions with their values, and build high-performing teams…so they get more stuff done with less friction.
Leaders frequently highlight my structured approach, noting how I bring useful frameworks, follow-up resources, and clear agendas to each session, while also creating a non-judgmental, safe space for exploration. They routinely report making concrete progress on their most challenging problems, while using each problem as a case study to prepare for future challenges. I encourage personal reflection, values alignment, and I foster deep self-awareness.
They also describe me as authentic, inspiring, and deeply invested in their success. Many appreciate how I balance compassion with practical guidance, helping them navigate both important decisions and emotional challenges. As a result, many have achieved significant breakthroughs like radical reductions in stress, improved team and home dynamics, and long-lasting leadership transformations.
(h/t ChatGPT for this summary of my LinkedIn recommendations.)
Want the above for yourself?
If we're a fit, my experience is that all it takes is time together, a willingness to try new things, and opening up.
If you're going to open up with me, I think it's only fair to open up with you. Here goes:
Let’s go deep.
My parents divorced when I was ten, and I watched my mother work two jobs to make ends meet. I knew that my brain was my ticket off food assistance, so I made sure I got perfect grades, until they didn't matter any more. I discovered I loved the feeling of control I got from programming, and I followed that passion to two degrees in Computer Science at MIT. I minored in Creative Writing, and earned enough money as a poet to...buy a round of drinks(!) I dropped off the PhD track in Computer Science to go into industry and deliver value to customers, not academics.
I was asked to manage early in my career, won awards for leadership, and began teaching leadership in order to learn faster. My first startup in b2b SaaS nearly went public, while my partner and I had 3 kids under 5. I burned myself out, and my partner sent me off to a Zen Buddhist monastery to learn to meditate. That changed the course of my life, and 20+ years later I’m in aspirancy to become a lay priest in the Zen Buddhist tradition. My last startup was Orbital Insight, an AI company funded by Sequoia with a $250M valuation, which was acquired by Steve Wozniak.
I ran my first marathon at age 50, and I was fortunate to be in the best shape of my adult life when I discovered I had Stage IV cancer. I endured 1000 hours of chemo infusions and 3 surgeries to reschedule my death. I am now cancer-free, but with an exquisite sense of my own mortality, and what matters.
I have aligned my work with my life purpose, which is "to bring out the best in those around me." A personal goal is to live to my 80th birthday, and on that day receive cards from leaders telling me the difference our work made in their lives. That will be one mark that I lived my professional life well.
What will mark a life well lived for you?