CoachingExecutive

The higher you go, the less honest feedback you receive.

Executive coaching gives you an independent outside perspective for clearer decisions, stronger leadership and better communication.

Let's talk How I work

MBA, IIM AhmedabadFounder of LEAD

For founders, CEOs, directors and senior managers.

Reading glasses resting on an open leather notebook on a walnut desk, an espresso behind. On the page, in pencil-light handwriting: “What am I not seeing?”

What changes at the top

Somewhere on the way up, the truth gets edited.

Nobody is lying to you. People are being careful with their jobs, their relationships and your time. Follow one message up four floors.

An illustrative scenario, not a client case

  1. Ground floorThe team

    The launch date is unrealistic. We will miss it unless we cut scope.

  2. First floorTeam lead

    The launch date is unrealistic ambitious. We will miss it unless we cut scope may need to adjust.

    Why the team lead changed it: “No point alarming anyone before we’ve tried.”

  3. Second floorDirector

    The launch date is ambitious. We may need to adjust but achievable.

    Why the director changed it: “The board review is on Thursday. Keep it calm.”

  4. Top floorYou, reading the weekly summary

    The launch date is ambitious but achievable. Launch: on track

    Why the summary changed it: “One line per project. They’re busy.”

What reached the top floor
Launch: on track
What was said on the ground floor
“The launch date is unrealistic. We will miss it unless we cut scope.”
Edited out on the way up
  • unrealistic
  • we will miss it
  • unless we cut scope
  • we may need to adjust

Nobody lied. Everyone edited.

Each edit made sense on its own floor. Most leaders made one like it on their way up. Together, they removed the one thing that was yours to decide: whether to cut scope.

What we work on

Real situations, not a syllabus.

Executive coaching covers decisions, leadership, blind spots, communication, accountability and perspective. In practice, it usually starts with something specific, like one of these.

  1. 01 · Decisions

    The decision you can’t delegate.

    Several options are defensible, and your team has given you its best thinking. The final call, and what follows from it, is yours.

    What we’d work on

    Separating the real decision from the noise, and what you would have to believe for each option to be right.

  2. 02 · Communication

    The conversation you keep postponing.

    Something needs to be said to a co-founder, a board member or a long-serving colleague. Saying it badly has a cost. So does another month of waiting.

    What we’d work on

    What exactly needs to be said, what you want to happen afterwards, and how to open the conversation.

  3. 03 · Blind spots

    The assumption nobody is questioning.

    Everyone is working hard in one direction. The plan was right when it was made. Is it still?

    What we’d work on

    Naming the assumptions underneath the plan, and testing the one that would hurt most if it were wrong.

  4. 04 · Leadership

    The talented person who is costing the team.

    Their results are strong. The people around them are paying for it, and watching what you do about it.

    What we’d work on

    What you are actually tolerating, what that signals to everyone else, and the options you haven’t tried yet.

  5. 05 · Perspective

    The opportunity with incomplete information.

    Waiting has a cost. Acting has a risk. The data you would like won’t arrive in time.

    What we’d work on

    What you would need to see to act, how to make the bet smaller or reversible, and a date to decide by.

Also part of executive coaching: reading a 360° review without getting defensive, mapping stakeholders before a big change, stepping into a new role, and keeping up with technology and AI.

Client stories

In their own words.

I started working with Abhisek to practise conversation, but it quickly became much more than that. I valued his intelligence, independence of thought, and ability to read both business problems and the wider economic and technological context. Our discussions were always stimulating and often made me look at my own activities with a more critical and useful perspective.

Duccio NeriExecutive Chairman & Co-founder, PhilogenSource: LEAD · Executive coaching

He isn’t a consultant reading from a book. He’s built companies himself, so he gets the actual weight of the decisions, the lonely part, the personal side that leaks into the work. It changed how I lead, and honestly how I am outside work too.

Prakhar JoshiINT SolutionsSource: LEAD · Executive coaching

More client stories

Abhisek Kishor

Why me

I don’t observe leadership from the outside. I’ve carried the responsibility myself.

I’m an entrepreneur and operator. I’ve built companies on two continents and I run LEAD Educational Institute in Siena, so the decisions people bring me are the kind I make myself.

I won’t know your industry better than you do. What I bring is how these decisions feel from the inside, and enough distance to look at yours from the outside.

What an operator’s decisions weigh

  • PeopleWho to hire, who to trust with what, and what to say when it isn’t working.
  • MoneyPayroll, pricing and commitments you can’t take back.
  • TimingWhen to wait for more information, and when waiting is the decision.
  • ConsequencesWhat happens to the team, the clients and you if you’re wrong.
Founder
LEAD Educational Institute, Siena
Built
Companies on two continents
Studied
MBA, IIM Ahmedabad · computer-science engineer
Works
With senior leaders across countries, in English or Italian
More about me

How I work

One real situation at a time.

Structured thinking, honest challenge and practical follow-through. Our 1:1 sessions focus on the decisions you are facing now, not a fixed curriculum.

How it might run · an illustrative example, not a client case

You arrive with a conclusion“My head of sales has to go. I just need to work out how.”

You leave with a choiceA clearer decision, one conversation booked, and a date to review it.

  1. 01

    Bring the real situation

    A conclusion and a deadline: replace the head of sales before next quarter.

  2. 02

    Examine it honestly

    What actually happened: two missed quarters, a team that stopped raising problems early, and a reorganisation that changed the role six months ago.

  3. 03

    Challenge assumptions

    The assumption underneath: that the problem is the person, not the role you redesigned. Neither of us knows yet — that’s the point.

  4. 04

    Decide

    Reset the role and its targets first, with a clear deadline. Keep the harder option open.

  5. 05

    Act

    One conversation this week. Three measures agreed in writing. A review date eight weeks out.

  6. 06

    Review

    What changed, what didn’t, and what you would do differently. Then the next real situation.

  • 1:1Just you and me
  • ConfidentialOn terms we agree at the start
  • Your agendaCurrent decisions, no fixed curriculum
  • Usually one hourShorter, before an urgent call
  • Online or in SienaOr a mix of both
  • English or ItalianWhichever you think in

Sponsored by your company? We agree the goals together at the start, and I report progress on those goals — not what is said in sessions.

The wider approach behind my work is P.A.C.E.: Purpose, Accountability, Consistency, Education. Explore P.A.C.E.

Start with a conversation

You don’t need another person agreeing with you.

If there’s a decision, a leadership problem or a situation you’re thinking through, start with a conversation.

An outside view. No politics. No agenda.

Let’s talk

An introductory conversation, without obligation