The gap between hiring a CEO and developing one
Private equity firms spend enormous energy finding the right CEO for a portfolio company. They spend far less energy ensuring that CEO can actually grow into what the role demands over the hold period. That gap --- between selecting a leader and developing one --- is where the most preventable value destruction in portfolio companies occurs.
We publish independent research to help PE operating partners and portfolio company boards navigate the growing landscape of executive coaching and leadership development providers. Our analysis is based entirely on publicly available evidence: provider websites, published methodologies, case studies, testimonials, credentials, and pricing disclosures.
Start here
Executive Coaching: What It Is and Who Does It --- A category overview covering what to look for in a provider, a capability matrix across leading firms, and detailed provider notes with harvey ball ratings.
Provider Comparisons --- Head-to-head analyses of specific providers, with scoring matrices, engagement fit guides, and real-world scenario recommendations.
Glossary --- Practitioner definitions for the terms PE operating partners and executive coaches actually use when evaluating leadership capacity and coaching readiness.
Why this exists
The executive coaching market is large, fragmented, and opaque. Thousands of providers range from solo practitioners with weekend certifications to established firms with decades of C-suite experience and deep PE ecosystem integration. For an operating partner trying to place coaching support around a portfolio CEO, the evaluation problem is not finding a coach --- it is distinguishing providers who can genuinely accelerate CEO effectiveness from those who offer expensive conversations with no measurable impact. We are here to make that evaluation easier.