I'm Muriel Wilkins and this is Coaching Real Leaders, part of the HBR Podcast Network.

I'm a longtime executive coach who works with highly successful leaders who've hit a bump in the road.

My job is to help them get over that bump by clarifying their goals

and figuring out a way to reach them so that hopefully they can lead with a little more ease.

I typically work with clients over the course of several months, but on this show, we have a one-time

coaching meeting focusing on a specific leadership challenge they're facing.

Today's guest is someone will call Alex to protect his confidentiality.

So I am probably what you call a seasoned consultant.

I've spent most of my professional years as an advisor or in the consulting industry. I started out as a

big four consultant. I worked my way up to becoming a experienced senior manager, as they say.

When I was looking at what the partner track looked like and what the managing director

track looked like, I realized the amount of

travel and the lifestyle was not what I wanted. So I got off the road and ended up doing more

local consulting, which is really a lot more individual contributor type of roles. Alex spent time at a number of

firms eventually leaving consulting for a VP position at a small company.

Some roles have felt like a better fit than others.

Even in some consulting gigs that were meant to have an end date, Alex was asked to stay on because of the value he adds.

And that has given him more of a sense of a kind of executive positions he would really enjoy.

So that's another thing that I found as a theme in my career is that, you know, I'll land in a spot and then continue to add value

where clients or whoever I'm working with will continue to extend me because I always find different

opportunities to try to be a valuable contributor to the organization. From a recognition standpoint, it was important to me to be recognized

for kind of what I brought to the table. And then also, you know, when I say season, like,

...