EXECUTIVE COACHING | SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA

What are you really trying to optimize?

Executive coaching for successful leaders who are ready to go further, from a coach with a PhD in economics and a lifelong habit of optimizing everything.

Clear goals. Honest Tradeoffs. Real Leverage.

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How I work

Jessica Rider, PhD
ICF Associate Certified Coach
Gallup-Certified CliftonStrengths Coach

You're already giving it everything. Let's make sure it's going to the right things.

You're successful, ambitious, and working as hard as humanly possible, and you still want more growth for yourself and your company. More effort isn't the answer, because you don't have more to give. Coaching is a dedicated space to step back, think clearly, and change how you work, not just how hard.

Optimal isn't the same as maximum.

In engineering and economics, an optimal system doesn't necessarily operate at maximum output or maximum speed at all times: optimal is the best balance of multiple competing constraints, necessary downtime, and the personal preferences of the humans in the system. The goal isn't to squeeze more hours out of you. It's to put your best thinking where it has the most impact.

HOW I WORK

Three moves, applied to your real situation.

1

Get clear on the real goal

What are you actually trying to achieve, for your company and for yourself, and which goal wins when two of them collide?

2

Confront the tradeoffs

Every yes is a no to something else. Economists call it opportunity cost; leaders experience it as a maxed-out calendar, too much firefighting, and not enough time for strategy. We make the tradeoffs visible so you choose them on purpose instead of by default.

3

Find the leverage

Then we design for what matters: the few changes to your time, your team, and your decisions that make the biggest difference, with some slack built in.

My Coaching Approach

Deep Listening

Understanding your unique challenges and aspirations.

Powerful Questions

Helping you discover solutions that work best for you.

Honest Feedback

Providing clear, kind, and actionable insights.

Accountability

Partnering in holding you accountable to yourself.

As your coach, I won't tell you what to do—I'll be your trusted partner in discovering the systems and solutions that align with your goals and values.

Two ways to work together

For Individual Leaders

One-on-One Executive Coaching

Weekly sessions built around your goals, usually over six months. Sessions follow what's live for you: a hard conversation coming up, a decision you're stuck on, a team that needs rethinking. No team program required.

A 90-minute kickoff to set two or three clear goals
Full CliftonStrengths assessment and debrief
Weekly 60-minute sessions, by video or in person in the Bay Area
Written recaps with action items, plus between-session support
Optional stakeholder interviews for company-sponsored leaders

Talk about coaching

For Leadership Teams

Optimize Your Team Around Strengths

A hands-on, one-day CliftonStrengths workshop for leadership teams of 8 to 14. Your team is already talented and working hard; the day makes sure all that talent is pointed at the right work.

CliftonStrengths assessments and reports for everyone
Agreed goals and a shared language for how each person works best
A Team Strengths Map of where talent is concentrated and where the gaps are
Practical work on trust, roles, decision rights, and feedback

In person in the Bay Area, or virtual as two half-days

Plan a team workshop

Recent Success Stories

Executive Breakthrough

Prepped a senior executive for a high-stakes client meeting by helping her adopt a grounded, authentic mindset—turning a tense situation into a success.

Purpose Rediscovered

Supported a burned-out project manager in rediscovering his "why" and charting a path forward on a challenging project.

Career Advancement

Coached an undervalued analyst to recognize her talents, define bold goals, and earn a new role she deserved.

Team Synergy

Helped multiple teams use their individual strengths to work together more effectively and achieve breakthrough results

First-Time Leader

Guided a first-time project leader in building the vision and confidence to manage a complex, multi-stakeholder initiative.

Life Transitions

Helped a long-time manager clarify her priorities as she transitioned into retirement and explored new ways to serve.

Anne B., Ivy League Professor

"Jessica is the master of the mindset shift. She listens deeply and intently, celebrates with you, and helps you get unstuck when your mindset is getting in the way of achieving your goals and living your values."

Matt L., Business Executive

"Jessica is a whiz at quickly recognizing the crux of an issue. She's a patient and active listener but isn't afraid to keep you honest. Jessica was able to challenge me to reconsider deeply-held patterns of thinking in a way that felt natural and comfortable. Honestly, she inspired me to be more committed in how I show up for people in important conversations."

J.A., Public Affairs Executive

"Special thanks to Jessica Rider, Ph.D., for leading us through an engaging workshop on using a strengths-based approach not only in our own work but also in how we work to bring out the best in each other and in all our teams!"

Regional Audit Forum Director

"Our audience of auditors and investigators really enjoyed hearing Jessica speak on giving feedback. Her presentation stood out because she provided real-world examples and actionable ways to give good and bad feedback - something that is not always an enjoyable task for a manager or colleague. Jessica's presentation was thoughtful and detailed, and received wonderful praise from our attendees!"

About Jessica

Engineer, economist, coach. It turns out that's one career.

I work with leaders who are already successful, already working as hard as they can, and still want more growth for themselves and their companies. Together we get clear on what they're really trying to achieve, confront the tradeoffs honestly, and design their time, their team, and their decisions around what matters most.

I trained as an industrial and systems engineer, where operations research is literally the science of optimization. I earned a PhD in economics, the study of how people make decisions under constraints and tradeoffs. And I've spent decades leading people and teams in the analysis of complex problems. I bring all of these lenses to coaching through powerful questions, deep listening, accountability, and a focus on action.

Clients describe my style as warm, insightful, supportive, and appropriately challenging. I bring rigor and structure, and I also believe work should be a little bit fun.