Start with what is already strong.
Your experience, judgment, values, relationships, and results are not background information. They are evidence. We identify what should be trusted, protected, and used more deliberately.
About Kole Finley
Clear thinking. Honest challenge. Decisions you can stand behind.
I help experienced leaders make clear decisions about how they lead, which role or career direction fits next, and what action will move the situation forward.
Kole Finley, PCC, CPIC
Executive and Leadership Coach | Founder, The Unshakable Executive
Experience From Inside Organizations
I have led inside the kinds of environments my clients are navigating.
I know what it is like when a decision affects people, performance, money, trust, and the health of an organization.
Before coaching became my primary work, I built experience inside large organizations, growing businesses, and leadership environments where the choices people made had practical consequences. I have worked with people across organizations including Microsoft, Krispy Kreme, Blockbuster Video, and Keller Williams.
As a former CEO and Team Leader within Keller Williams, I was responsible for leadership, recruiting, development, performance, and the health of the organization. I learned that a sound strategy is not enough. People must be able to communicate it, earn trust, make decisions under pressure, and adjust when the facts change.
Across my career, I have coached hundreds of business owners and leaders. That range helps me recognize patterns without treating your situation as ordinary. Your role, organization, history, and ambitions still require individual judgment.
What that experience means in coaching
We can examine the organizational and human realities surrounding a decision, then prepare for what you will actually say or do.
How I Coach
My role is not to take over your judgment.
My role is to help you examine the facts, challenge your reasoning, and prepare an action that fits the real situation.
Name the real decision.
A broad concern becomes useful when we can state what must actually be decided: how to lead, what to communicate, which role to pursue, what to stop carrying, or what action comes next.
Say what I see with care and candor.
I will not manufacture certainty or agree simply to make the conversation comfortable. I will question assumptions, surface patterns, and remain respectful of the person making the decision.
Make insight usable.
A useful session changes what happens next. That may mean preparing a difficult conversation, revising a leadership approach, documenting results, testing a career direction, or making a clear choice.
What Informs My Coaching
Training matters. So does experience.
My coaching combines professional standards, leadership experience, and an understanding of how adults learn and change behavior.
Professional coaching
I am an ICF Professional Certified Coach and a Certified Professional Integrative Coach. My practice is grounded in coaching ethics, confidentiality, clear agreements, and respect for client agency.
Leadership and business
I have led organizations and coached hundreds of business owners and leaders. I understand the pressure created by people, performance, competing priorities, and decisions that affect more than one person.
Learning and development
My graduate education includes human resource development and instructional design. I use that background to create coaching structures that help insight become repeatable behavior.
Client Perspectives
Four clients. Four perspectives on leadership, career growth, and organizational change.
Dominic speaks to organizational clarity and sustainable growth. Cynthia describes confidence and career advancement. Bryant reflects on executive-level thinking and action. Lisa shows what changed in her leadership and across her department.
Dominic T. Executive coaching client
Recommendation published on LinkedIn
I highly recommend Kole to any executive or organization navigating significant operational challenges, leadership transitions, or the need for greater organizational clarity.
Kole brought an uncommon combination of strategic business insight and individualized executive coaching to our work. She was able to quickly identify what the business needed to stabilize, recover, and move in a positive direction. Her guidance was clear, direct, and efficient, focusing our attention on the issues and decisions that mattered most.
Read Dominic’s full recommendation
I highly recommend Kole to any executive or organization navigating significant operational challenges, leadership transitions, or the need for greater organizational clarity.
Kole brought an uncommon combination of strategic business insight and individualized executive coaching to our work. She was able to quickly identify what the business needed to stabilize, recover, and move in a positive direction. Her guidance was clear, direct, and efficient, focusing our attention on the issues and decisions that mattered most.
Kole was particularly effective at recognizing organizational misalignment, clarifying responsibilities, and identifying where existing personnel could contribute most effectively. She understood that improving operations required more than changing processes—it also required helping leaders develop the judgment, self-awareness, communication, and discipline necessary to lead those changes successfully.
What stood out most was Kole’s commitment to the individuals throughout the process. She remained genuinely invested, candid when candor was needed, and consistently focused on turning insight into meaningful action. Her ability to integrate executive coaching with practical business consulting helped create both immediate direction and a stronger foundation for sustainable growth.
She brought clarity to complexity to show what was really happening, determine what must change, and move forward with greater confidence and purpose.
Working with Kole has genuinely been one of the best investments I’ve made in my career. She has helped me build confidence in my capabilities, quiet my imposter syndrome, and see a much bigger vision for what I can achieve professionally.
Her guidance has already had a tangible impact on my career. She helped me negotiate 30% more than my original job offer, prepare for interviews and major presentations, and navigate challenging workplace situations with confidence and grace.
Read Cynthia’s full review
Working with Kole has genuinely been one of the best investments I’ve made in my career. She has helped me build confidence in my capabilities, quiet my imposter syndrome, and see a much bigger vision for what I can achieve professionally.
What sets Kole apart is her balance of warmth and directness. She never sugarcoats her feedback, but I always feel that it comes from a place of genuinely wanting the best for me. Her collaborative approach makes our sessions feel like a true partnership, and she brings an incredible amount of corporate knowledge and real-world experience to every conversation.
Her guidance has already had a tangible impact on my career. She helped me negotiate 30% more than my original job offer, prepare for interviews and major presentations, and navigate challenging workplace situations with confidence and grace. Beyond individual career milestones, she has given me strategies, books, perspectives, and lessons that I know I’ll carry throughout my career and life.
Most importantly, Kole has expanded what I believe is possible for myself. Although I’m currently at the specialist level, I now have the confidence and ambition to pursue leadership at the Director and even C-Suite level. Having Kole in my corner makes those goals feel achievable.
Bryant L. Vice President, Information Systems and Technology
Recommendation on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)
Kole has a strong ability to help leaders step back from the noise of the day-to-day and think more intentionally about how they communicate, lead, and show up at an executive level. Our work together helps me sharpen my strategic direction, improve how I frame complex leadership situations, and become more thoughtful about the impact I want to have across the organization.
She creates space for real reflection while also pushing you to move from awareness to action.
Read Bryant’s full recommendation
I have the opportunity of working with Kole Finley during an important period of professional growth and transition, and her coaching provides exactly the kind of clarity, perspective, and challenge I need.
Kole has a strong ability to help leaders step back from the noise of the day-to-day and think more intentionally about how they communicate, lead, and show up at an executive level. Our work together helps me sharpen my strategic direction, improve how I frame complex leadership situations, and become more thoughtful about the impact I want to have across the organization.
What I appreciated most about Kole was her balance of insight, honesty, and encouragement. She creates space for real reflection while also pushing you to move from awareness to action. I would highly recommend Kole to Directors, VPs, founders, or any high-capacity leader looking to grow their executive presence, increase clarity, and lead with greater confidence and intention.
Lisa J. Director of Sales Operations during the engagement
Verified review on Bark (opens in a new tab) . Executive Edge Program was the earlier program name.
Within one year, the same department that had been seen as a liability became the company’s top-performing division. Even more meaningful to me—three of my team members grew so much under this new culture of development that they were promoted to management roles in other parts of the company.
The Executive Edge Program didn’t just help me turn around a struggling department; it helped me become the kind of leader I always wanted to be. I can say without hesitation that working with Kole has been the single most transformative investment in my career.
Read Lisa’s full review
When I first stepped into my new role as Director of Sales Operations, I was honestly overwhelmed. I had just been promoted from managing one small team to running the entire department—and it wasn’t pretty. The department I inherited was the lowest producing in the company, morale was in the gutter, and the pressure to perform felt crushing.
That’s when I joined the Executive Edge Program with Kole. From the very beginning, she helped me shift my perspective. Instead of trying to demand results, she showed me how to create a culture where success was celebrated, not forced. We worked on my leadership style, how to inspire people instead of micromanaging them, and how to build trust while still driving performance.
The change was nothing short of remarkable. Within one year, the same department that had been seen as a liability became the company’s top-performing division. Even more meaningful to me—three of my team members grew so much under this new culture of development that they were promoted to management roles in other parts of the company. Today, my department is considered the envy of the organization.
The personal growth I’ve experienced through this program has been just as powerful. I’ve grown into a leader who can balance vision, accountability, and humanity. Because of that, I’m now being seen as a strong candidate for Vice President of Sales—a step I never imagined would come so quickly.
The Executive Edge Program didn’t just help me turn around a struggling department; it helped me become the kind of leader I always wanted to be. I can say without hesitation that working with Kole has been the single most transformative investment in my career.
Client experiences are individual. Coaching does not guarantee a promotion, compensation increase, job offer, business result, or other outcome controlled by an employer, market, organization, or another person.
A Clear Next Step
Bring the leadership or career question you need to answer.
In a private 40-minute conversation, we will discuss the situation, the change you want to create, and whether I am the right coach to help.
This is a fit conversation, not a coaching session or a pressured sales call.