Kind Isn't the Problem. The Missing Edge Is.
Coaching for high-EQ sales leaders.
You remember what it felt like to have a manager who only watched the board, never asked how you were doing, never coached you through a slump. You told yourself you'd lead differently. So when a rep's pipeline goes thin, or their forecast stops adding up, or their calls have gone soft, you give them space instead of a hard conversation.
That instinct isn't the opposite of the manager you hated. It's the same failure with better manners. Your rep still isn't getting what they need to improve, and now your number is slipping too. Meanwhile, your anxiety and your needs go unspoken, unseen, and unaddressed, which causes burnout and hinders your ability to lead effectively.
I coach high-empathy leaders to keep the good, but finally build and reinforce the edges of their empathy. Establish healthy boundaries that foster respect and get more comfortable with hard conversations. To embrace vulnerable, courageous leadership without sacrificing your empathy and connection.
This is for you if:
Sales Leaders: you already lead with empathy, and you're afraid that holding your team accountable means becoming the manager you swore you'd never be. The gap isn't caring. It's what happens when caring and accountability start to feel like a tradeoff.
CROs: you're sponsoring coaching for a sales leader or a cohort, and you want them to keep exactly what makes them trusted while finally building the accountability and development conversations their role requires.
This is not for you if:
You need to be convinced that how your reps feel matters. This coaching doesn't start with convincing. It starts with the assumption that empathy is already part of your leadership style, and we develop the edges it's missing.
Client Reviews
“The things I learned and how I grew during my coaching sessions with Candice will affect me for the rest of my life - no exaggeration. She has the uncanny ability to be both comforting and challenging in the same breath - and while she certainly pushed me, it was always just to the point of the potential she saw, not more or faster for the sake of it. I felt seen, heard, supported, challenged, and encouraged during every session.”
— Tiffany K., VP, Client Delivery“Candice's process enabled me to put a name to a difficult emotion I had not been fully aware of and discover the meaning I attach to that emotion. By orienting me to a place of compassion for myself instead of blame, the journal cleared a path for me to work towards wholeness.”
— Karin G., Chief Data Officer“Candice exceeded my expectations as a coach. We went to places that I didn't expect to go but that needed to be visited. She created a psychologically and emotionally safe place for me to express myself authentically.”
— Emerald M., Sales Leader
Not sure where to start?
Let's talk for 20 minutes. Just a conversation about what's happening on your team.
1:1 coaching for high-EQ sales leaders ready to build accountability without losing the trust they've already earned.
Self-paced courses for leaders ready to build accountability and hard-conversation skills on their own time.
For CROs who know the gap is coaching. Scoped, reportable coaching support for your sales leadership team.
Dedicated Leadership Coach
Because "keep being everyone's favorite" or "start being respected" is a ridiculous choice. You can have both.
The Situation
Your team likes you. That was never the problem. The problem is the deal marked "commit" that everyone privately treats as a maybe. The rep whose activity numbers get a pass because they're well-liked. The forecast call where nobody wants to be the one to say it out loud. You've built real trust with your team, and you're still missing quota, because trust without accountability doesn't close deals. It just delays the conversation until it's a performance plan instead of a coaching moment.
There's a second blind spot underneath the first one. Your reps, especially your younger ones, want explicit conversations about where they're growing and where they're not. When those conversations don't happen, the best reps don't wait around. A coaching gap quietly becomes an attrition problem, on top of a quota problem.
How Candice Can Help
Sales enablement background, not just leadership theory. Coaching sales leaders explicitly since founding this practice, on top of 10 years leading Global Sales Enablement at ThoughtSpot and Sumo Logic, where the work was building onboarding and coaching frameworks tied directly to pipeline metrics and quota attainment at high-growth startups.
Organizational Anthropology, applied to your pipeline reviews. I don't ask you to trust an assertion. I watch for the pattern in real pipeline reviews and coaching conversations and show you exactly where the hard conversation is getting avoided.
Diagnosis first, always. Every sales leader already knows that prescription before diagnosis is malpractice. The best programs start with honest diagnosis, are designed around how people actually change behavior, and are measured against what the business actually cares about. That discipline runs through a single coaching engagement the same way it runs through an enterprise rollout.
Certified Emotional Intelligence Coach with 25+ years inside healthcare, academia, and technology organizations.
This work keeps your empathy intact. It doesn't ask you to become someone harder or colder, or become fundamentally different. This work builds the edges around the empathy you already have.
What We Work on Together
Giving feedback that's honest and kind, not softened into uselessness
Saying no without the guilt spiral that follows
Having the hard conversation before it becomes an overdue one
Advocating for yourself the way you already advocate for everyone else
Building a team that trusts you enough to hear the truth, not just enough to avoid conflict with you
Calling a deal what it actually is, before the forecast call, not during it
Coaching a rep whose activity is slipping, even when they're well-liked
Delivering direct feedback that still sounds like you, not like the manager you swore you'd never become
Reading your own pipeline reviews for the moment avoidance happens, so you can catch it in real time
If any of these hit close to home, you're in the right place.
The most popular starting point. Enough sessions to go deep on a real challenge and walk away with a clear plan.
For the leader who needs clarity on one specific situation right now. Not sure if coaching is right for you? Start here.
Step out of your silo and get a research-backed sounding board, feedback loop, and solution incubator. For the leader committed to sustained growth. Six sessions over 3 months gives you the time and space to change patterns, not just solve problems.
Bringing This to Your Organization
Employer-sponsored and Cohort Coaching
Your sales leaders need to be better coaches. Here’s what’s broken.
You already have the AI tools to clearly see deal stage and rep activity. What you don't have is an explanation for the deal that died with no warning, or the one that sat in the wrong stage for weeks before anyone said so. You already know the root cause is coaching. What you don't have is the specifics about why your leaders aren’t able to close the gap between the Deal Data and the Story of the Deal with their reps and leads.
Every sponsored engagement leaves your organization with more than trained managers: documented best practices for building client and team trust, along with a repeatable accountability-skills development framework you keep using long after the engagement ends.
All sponsored coaching preserves participant confidentiality. Reporting to sponsors is thematic and aggregate, never session-level detail.
How Cultivate Empathy with Edges Can Help
Sales enablement background, not just leadership theory. Coaching sales leaders explicitly since founding this practice, on top of 10 years building and leading global sales enablement, including high-growth startups like ThoughtSpot and Sumo Logic, building programs measured directly against pipeline metrics and quota attainment, not soft engagement scores. Built and implemented many successful talent and leadership development programs.
Organizational Anthropology, applied to your pipeline reviews. I don't ask you to trust an assertion. I watch for the pattern in real pipeline reviews and coaching conversations and show you exactly where the hard conversation is getting avoided.
Diagnosis first, always. Every sales leader already knows that prescription before diagnosis is malpractice. The best programs start with honest diagnosis, are designed around how people actually change behavior, and are measured against what the business actually cares about. That discipline runs through a single coaching engagement the same way it runs through an enterprise rollout.
Certified Emotional Intelligence Coach with 25+ years inside healthcare, academia, and technology organizations.
Deep experience working with high-ego, low EQ leaders, so I truly understand the dynamics and have successful strategies for coaching and developing them.
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$3,000–$4,000 per participant
6 sessions over 3 months. Six sessions over three months, built around a manager's real pipeline reviews and 1:1s. A thematic summary goes to the sponsoring leader at the midpoint and at close.
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$12,000–$16,000 for a group of 6 (roughly $2,200–$2,800/participant)
A six-month program combining monthly group sessions with individual coaching, built around real forecast calls and pipeline reviews from your own team, so managers leave with a documented accountability skills framework and best practices built from their own team, not a generic one they heard once.
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$25,000–$40,000, SOW-based
For 8–12 managers, often timed to a new fiscal year or a leadership change. Includes a kickoff assessment, the full cohort program, a documented best-practices playbook built from what actually worked with your team, a closing workshop, and a formal report to leadership on themes and recommendations. Built as a rigorous, repeatable accountability skills development program your organization owns going forward, not a one-time intervention.
Available for keynotes and workshops for your team or next event.
Future-Proof Your Leadership Skills
Self-paced learning for leaders who are investing in their future success.
Online Courses
Prices vary
For managers and people leaders, our courses provide validation, inspiration, and the tools you need to level up and lead your team more effectively through the Age of AI. Because what got us here will not get us through this mess.
Currently featuring: Managing Change Fatigue — a self-paced course for leaders navigating AI-driven transformation. Starting at $97.
Webinars
Free
30 - 60 minutes to get inspired, learn something new, and be prompted to practice your leadership skills. Watch Candice in action: these videos give you a taste of what she brings to every room she speaks in.