For senior executives, newly promoted leaders, and founders
Executive coaching
Most leaders I work with arrive at a threshold. A new role, a wider remit, a team inherited from someone else, a strategy that asks them to lead differently than the one before. At those moments, a different kind of question surfaces.
Who am I becoming in this role, and is that the leader I want to be?
That question is what executive coaching is for. It is a confidential conversation, held over time, about how we lead and who we are as we do it. The work is quiet.
Why leaders work with a coach
The reasons rarely come singly. Most clients arrive carrying a few at once.
Thresholds in the role
Thresholds are the moments when what worked yesterday will not be enough tomorrow. They rarely announce themselves, and they rarely wait until you're ready. Coaching is a place to think them through before they think for you.
Seeing ourselves more clearly
Most leaders carry blind spots they have lived with for years. A good coach helps us notice them ourselves. The shift is usually small and specific. Hard to forget.
Becoming the leader you intend to be
This is the work of examining how we think, where we get in our own way, and what we are willing to change about ourselves to lead differently. The work is internal. Results show over months.
Listening and judgement
Listening well, asking questions that open rather than close, knowing when to speak and when to wait. These are acts of judgement as much as skill. Coaching is where we practice them — on ourselves first.
A confidential space to think
There are questions a leader cannot take to their team, their board, or even their peers. In coaching, one person sits with those questions — in confidence, without interruption. The session belongs to the client.
The weight of senior roles
Senior roles are lonelier than they appear. Coaching is one of the few places to speak of the doubts that go unsaid, and the decisions whose costs are not yet visible to anyone else. That part of the job needs somewhere to go.
How I work
I work 1:1 only. No cohorts, no group programmes, no drive-by training. Engagements typically run as a monthly retainer, or as a fixed package of sessions, agreed at the start. Confidentiality is absolute and contracted.
Sessions are 30 to 45 minutes, occasionally 60. Most clients meet weekly or fortnightly. Some prefer monthly, or ad hoc as needed. A first engagement typically runs 2 to 6 months. Many coaching relationships continue beyond that, often with pauses in between.
My practice follows the standards of the International Coaching Federation (ICF): supervised practice, examined competencies, and a published Code of Ethics. Some readers will care about that. Some will not. It matters to me.
Who I work with
Senior executives, newly promoted leaders and founders. The common thread is leaders who are performing well in their role and doing the harder, private work of figuring out who they want to be in it.
If that sounds familiar, a first conversation is a good place to start.
What clients say
"I worked with David Frew during a period when I was trying to figure out what I wanted my career journey to look like next. He helped me get there, and he did it in a way I didn't expect.
David is very good at pushing you, but he does it in a way that actually lands. He kept nudging me out of my comfort zones and offering different lenses through which to view the same situation. Often, those lenses entirely changed how I saw the problem.
What I appreciated just as much was his respect for my pace. Some weeks I moved quickly. Other weeks, especially when I was trying to put a new approach into practice, I slowed right down. David never treated the slow weeks as a problem. He let them be what they needed to be.
Some of the most useful work we did involved unlearning rather than learning. That was harder than I thought it would be. But David held the space for it, allowing me to reflect honestly and take the first real steps in a new direction.
If you are at a point where you want a coach who will challenge you, listen carefully, and stay with you through the messy parts, I'd recommend reaching out to David."
Eugenio Villamizar, Founder & Chief Catalyst Officer, France
"I reached out to David during a period of transition across several areas of my life, including my health, business and personal life. For the first time, I felt that I could not fully carry or navigate this period on my own.
Working with David created space for conversations and reflections that were not always easy for me to express or admit. The process felt very natural from the beginning. He combines professionalism and genuine involvement with humanity, calmness and humor, which makes the conversations both profound and accessible.
You can clearly feel his years of experience throughout the sessions. Not only through the insights he shares, but especially through the questions he asks and the way he quickly gets to the core of what truly matters.
In a relatively short period of time, we have already created more clarity, calmness and perspective together. He also brought practical tools and valuable business insights that continue to influence the way I think and make decisions today.
I am grateful to be going through this journey with him and I look forward to what the coming months will bring."
Youri Gesquiere, Serial Entrepreneur, Belgium
A first conversation
Half an hour, by phone or video. No charge, no obligation. We talk about what is on your mind and decide together whether it is worth continuing.