You're allowed to lead before you have the title
If you're an experienced data professional already doing a lead's job, I coach you 1-on-1 on getting priorities agreed, getting buy-in without being pushy, and building the case for your promotion.
The conversations nobody trained you for
Your next title depends on winning priorities, buy-in and recognition from people who outrank you. Nobody trains you for those conversations, and the title that says you're allowed to have them only comes after you've had them, which is a damn annoying order to do things in. I didn't have those skills the first time I led a team either.
If a fourth urgent request comes in on top of three and your "not now" doesn't hold when the requester pushes back, your team covers it with its weekends. When a VP asks what the data team delivered this quarter and the honest answer is "kept everything running", the work counts for nothing.
What we work on
Stakeholder communication
Before the meeting with non-technical leadership, we plan what you open with, what you leave out and what you ask for, so the point they repeat afterwards is yours.
Promotion business cases
The case your manager takes into the promotion meeting you're not in, written with your impact in terms the business counts and the date you're asking for.
Data strategy and roadmaps
A plan past the next sprint, with each piece of technical work tied to revenue, cost or risk, so the people who fund the team can see what they're paying for.
Working without a playbook
Managing up, saying "not now" to a stakeholder, working out what "being strategic" means at your level. We work through your own situations, the ones the docs have no answer for.
How it works
It starts with a free 30-minute discovery call. You tell me what you're stuck on, I tell you whether I can help, and I share my rates on the call. If we're a fit, most people take the package of 6 calls below. A package of 3 and single calls are also at book.ivanovyordan.com if you already know what you want. The calendar for the discovery call is at the bottom of this page.
book a discovery callThe flagship: 6 private coaching calls
For the promotion case or the stakeholder situation that plays out over the next few months, not just the next meeting. The first call maps your case: who decides, what they need to see and the date you're asking for. After that you book each call yourself, before the document you're about to send or the meeting you're dreading, and it's me on every call.
- 6 one-hour calls, booked at your pace over the months the case takes
- We work on your real documents and meetings, before they happen
- Written feedback between calls on what you're about to send
- By the end, your case is in writing, in terms the business counts
What stops you from booking
As a manager, this is what I think when someone on my team takes the lead: "I love it when my team takes initiative. They take work off my plate, they show they've outgrown the role, and that's why they see the big picture". Pushy is asking without a case, so we build the case first.
How Erfan got to 22%
I coached Erfan Hesami through his promotion. A reorg changed his manager 3 months before his annual review, and the company's first offer was 12%. He finished with the lead title and 22% after 4 meetings over 3 weeks, and the case that got him there was in writing. I wrote up how he did it, meeting by meeting.
What people say about my work
The rest are on my wall of love.
Try my digital twin before you book
My digital twin is an AI assistant that answers the way I would. You get 10 questions here, free. Full access comes with the annual Data Gibberish subscription, and a year of it costs less than one coaching package.
30 minutes. No pitch.
If I can help, I'll tell you how and what it costs, and if I can't, I'll tell you that too. Pick a slot and tell me what you're stuck on.
Calendar not loading? Open it at book.ivanovyordan.com